Notes from another Bad Person*

I am embarrassed to say I have been obsessed with the stories about the tragic floods in Texas. Since childhood, I have been interested in natural disasters. As a youngster, I tried to understand the causes of wind, rain, and fire in hopes of controlling my fears. Earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. drew me in, since I was certain a calamity would strike me at any time. I suffered from transmitted survivor's guilt. I knew my parents survived World War II and the Holocaust. So, in my child's mind, I deduced I would have my catastrophe. This seemed quite logical to me.

My mother ignored my fears; my father called me the "fire marshall." My parents were quite lackadaisacal about certain aspects of safety. So I took command. I think they figured that if they tricked death once, they could do so again. My mother had already suffered more loss, before I was born, than most people her age. She had glimpsed dead bodies, lived through bombings and typhoons, and had been hungry for years, so when anything else came her way, she merely shrugged. This did not occur with illness; when my sister was ill, she was by her side continuously. My father feared illness.

I have coped with the survivor's guilt by now, decades later. I remain attracted to news about hurricanes and other destructive natural phenomena. Human interest stories grab me, in general. As I get older and have taken responsibility for my life--which is the only control one has--I am astounded that people do not heed warnings. Our weather and emergency preparedness has reached such a level, that one has to purposely ignore reality not to be aware. I have sat in audiences when alarms for a storm warning have occurred. Most people ignore the alert. I do not panic because I know what to do. Acting sensibly is not foolproof, but I can try to be safe.

This brings me to Texas. I recently visited the state and was pleasantly surprised to learn there are liberal strongholds, such as Austin and Dallas; "blueberries" is the descriptor someone used for the small blue islands in a red sea. I respect Texas pride, not that I understand it--which is somewhat my problem. When a significant group of people have strong feelings about a place, there must be a good reason. But safety, common sense, care for children?

The Uvalde shooting horrified me. The people's attitudes about gun control did not significantly change after that tragedy. Affluent parents continued to send their girls to a camp in the Texas hill country, with a history of flooding, where the youngest slept in cabins built on a floodway. Due to blind devotion, they left their childrens' lives in the hands of a fatherly figure.

Pride, nostalgia, dreams for an idyllic life, or political viewpoint influence individuals and local governments to the extent that communities, summer camps, and vacation areas are in danger. Ignoring science and daily experience for the sake of living in a place, replete with hazards (and not make proper preparation) confounds and concerns me. There was Maui; authorities in Lahaina knew that a part of town was in danger due to its location at the base of a mountain. Florida, where people build houses on barrier islands, and then rebuild over and over. Palisades in southern California--densely populated winding streets make escape in a fire prone area next to impossible. The list is endless.

While people have the luxury of denying geography and climate change in affluent parts of the United States, millions of people in undeveloped countries have no choice but to live within the grasp of mother nature's wrath. Regulations, in less developed countries often ruled by corrupt leaders, are nonexistent. Contractors construct high rise apartments without following laws for safety; the devastation after the earthquake in Turkey a few years ago boggled my mind. Buildings collapsed--1,2,3-- like houses made of cards. Thousands died. Poor farmers do not get warnings of floods in rural Guatemala or Brazil; literally everything and everybody gets swept away, including helpless farm animals.

Time will tell whether the rural communities and vacation spots in Texas or North Carolina (devastating floods in 2024) will develop improved safety guidelines, building regulations, and warning systems or life will return to the status quo. Residents in vulnerable areas of the United States seem willing to risk life and limb to avoid higher taxes or more government intervention.

The tragedy on July 4 along the Guadalupe River was a glaring example of what will become a common occurrence, due to extreme cuts in government services. Usually, reports of the resulting tragedies will not appear in national news. FEMA was absent until three days after the massive flooding. The head of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, did not get around to approving aid. And where was the head of FEMA? Evidently AWOL, disappeared. Irregardless of what locals desire in certain areas of the country, we need a federal response, along with state, county, city, and volunteer help, when disaster strikes. Certainly, FEMA should be improved not eliminated. Given the spotty local response during the actual inundation last week, this is obvious. Texas may be able to afford emergency services, but what about poorer states? The same reasoning should apply to Medicaid, school lunches, and public education, to name a few federal programs at risk from the axe wielded by extremists.

The loss of life has been heartbreaking, but death does not seem to deter those who have a stake in maintaining "the good ole days."

*Trump called individuals who asked questions about the federal response to the flood, as "bad" people.

© Karen Levi 2025