Ray, I love you

I just read this article on the BBC and it made me really sad. To think of all those families that have lost EVERYTHING.

Across the south hundreds of thousands of Americans have been unceremoniously dumped: displaced by Katrina in rest stops and hotel lobbies; among strangers in shelters and in hospitals.

And for most there is no going back, for weeks, and more probably, months.

[...]

Entire families crowd into one room with little information, power that comes and goes, and no air conditioning.

[...]

Most people in Baton Rouge are from the suburbs around the Big Easy, and every now and again they'll let out an audible sigh as they recognize their own community and presumably their own house, submerged at best, but in many cases, simply not there anymore.

[...]

The men and women of the Louisiana Air National Guard are busy loading food, water and medical supplies onto Blackhawk helicopters.

There are many helicopters, landing and leaving like a bizarre scene from Vietnam portrayed by the Hollywood studios.

Only this scene is real.

At the airport there is cable TV. So no-one talks, they just sit and watch. Not since the aftermath of 9/11 does it seem America's airports have been so quiet or so focused on one thing.

[...]

They are headed to Florida and the safety of mum and dad. What they have with them is all they have left.