Latest - January 9, 2022
Learning from our Past: 1932 Flood Recovery Lessons being applied.
The Omicron virus continued to rage in the Delta. This is our fifth surge since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The people and their institutions have gained experience from the previous surges. The Ouachita River have been running low and temperatures have been mild. This will change. We should prepare for overlapping hazards in addition to the pandemic.
In December 1931 the Monroe News-Star reported the river was rising and would hit flood stage by Christmas. The old river watchers said the river would continue to rise and it did. Local governments held meetings to prepare. The great deluge came in early January 1932.
The 1932 epic floodwaters surrounded First West and you needed a boat on South Grand and the downtown. The flood occurred at a time when Northeast Louisiana was in the throes of the Great Depression. Relief groups were having a hard time meeting basic needs before the flood, it got harder.
Monroe Mayor Arnold Bernstein established a committee to coordinate flood relief efforts. The City of West Monroe, Ouachita Parish Police Jury, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Ouachita National Bank and other relief organizations participated.
The relief committee distinguished unemployment relief from flood relief and focused on the economic problems existing before the flood began.
The relief committee did some good recovery work managing an economic crisis and an epic flood. We know they were successful because we are still here. Some of those lessons have been incorporated into of post pandemic recovery planning as well as other recovery efforts.
Remote Workforce in the Louisiana Delta
When I was in Trenton, NJ and New York City Ă few years ago, I really enjoyed sitting in coffee shops working on stuff. Even then when you looked around you could see some were having business meetings, creating web content, gaming out a new product etc. The remote workforce appears to be exploding. There are some interesting questions when you start thinking about it. Thank goodness the City of West Monroe has been planning ahead. Many remote workers are small businesses. They can live anywhere. They will come.