2005 - 09-01-05

When I arrived in Baltimore, the people were courteous,
the city was clean and charming, the hotel was first class.
The people I met, especially those from Agora, could not have
been more accommodating and friendly.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (meaning Miami),
the "nothing to worry about" hurricane did come ashore.
It came in about 25 miles north of where I live in Miami. And
then, the hurricane lived up to the name given it by the mayor
of New Orleans (he called it the "x-factor hurricane").
Hurricane Katrina made almost a 90 degree left turn and
headed dead south for Miami. The weather stations clocked gusts
of winds of 95 miles per hour about 2 miles south of where I
live. Then Katrina made a right turn and headed in a westerly
direction into the Gulf of Mexico.

Then, in almost no time whatsoever, Katrina morphed
into the biggest Category 5 hurricane (meaning sustained winds
topped 155 miles per hour) in recorded history. I don't think
I need to describe to you what has happened since. It is the
biggest natural catastrophe in United States history and it
virtually dominates the news.

I'll talk about the problems being experienced
by the people in the hardest hit Gulf states (Louisiana, Mississippi
and Alabama) in a moment. But first, I'd like to tell you a
little bit about what this "nothing to worry about"
hurricane did to Miami.

As of yesterday, there were still 70,000 people
living here without electrical power. The estimated hurricane
damage to the Miami area is 100 million dollars. And
we are the people who got off "easy".