Hurricane Katrina Exacts Another Toll: Enduring Depression
The News Review:
- Hurricane Katrina Exacts Another Toll: Enduring Depression
- Aid for Hurricane Rita victims lags officials say | Chron.com -…
- Mexico issues tropical storm watch for hurricane Ivo
- Insurance officials hold hurricane public hearing
- Man injured in Kansas tornado dies
- Scarce property coverage during storm season
Hurricane Katrina Exacts Another Toll: Enduring Depression
Washington Post – Sep 23, 2007
“”If anyone had told me before that depression could bring me this low I’d have said they were a phony” Gowland 46 married and a father of three said during a break from fixing his flooded home. “Everything bothers me. “More than two years after the storm it is not Hurricane Katrina itself but the persistent frustrations of the delayed recovery that are exacting a high psychological toll on people who never before had such troubles psychiatrists and a major study say. A burst of adrenaline and hope propelled many here through the first months but with so many neighborhoods still semi-deserted inspiration has ended. Calls to a mental health hotline jumped after the storm and have remained high organizers said. Psychiatrists report being overbooked at least partly because demand has spiked. And the most thorough survey of the Gulf Coast’s mental health recently showed that while signs of depression and other ills doubled after the hurricane two years later those levels have not subsided they have risen… I say ‘Congratulations. ‘ “Depression is often discussed in terms of chemical causes but interviews with psychiatrists and patients here ascribed its appearance in post-Katrina New Orleans to the stresses of rebuilding. Because of the hurricane many have lost or changed jobs. Thousands are still living in cramped. "If you’ve lost your job you’ve lost your house and you’ve lost your friends — well you ought to be depressed man or else you’re out of touch with reality" said psychiatrist Elmore Rigamer the medical director for.
Aid for Hurricane Rita victims lags officials say | Chron.com -…
Houston Chronicle – Sep 23, 2007
Local and regional officials say the state has been slow in loosening the purse strings. State officials blame restrictive federal rules and a lack of money compared to Louisiana and Mississippi. Advocates of storm victims contend the entire process has been broken from the start. “It really appears to me that the state has had an overabundance of caution to prevent fraud and abuse” said Walter Diggles executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments… The state and three regional councils of governments or COGs have distributed less than $200000 of the more than a quarter-billion dollars available in two separate allocations of federal housing assistance. And more than $210 million has sat frozen for months while a state agency seeks to hire a private contractor which isn’t expected to have initial disbursements done until next summer. By then the third hurricane season since Rita will have begun and Evie McBride just wants to know whether she’ll still be living in a Federal Emergency Management Agency travel trailer. “I’ve just been having a rough time of it. I’m just a widow lady” McBride 72 recently told Diggles who visited her in the tiny Newton County community of Wiergate. McBride’s right foot is bandaged because of a strained ligament. She fights high blood pressure and heart trouble and cancer claimed her 49-year-old daughter this summer.
Mexico issues tropical storm watch for hurricane Ivo
Times of India – Sep 23, 2007
The closest town to the projected landfall area appearedto be Todos Santos said Francisco Cota Marquez civil defense director of themunicipality of Cabo San Lucas to the south. The Interior Department saidin a statement the storm could still be strong enough to cause mudslides orminor flash flooding in some areas. The area was hit on Sept 4 byHurricane Henriette which killed 10 people including two Japanese touristsand destroyed about 2000 homes. getElementById(“storydiv”). substring(0storycontent.
Insurance officials hold hurricane public hearing
Houston Chronicle – Sep 23, 2007
html MOBILE Ala. — Insurance regulators have scheduled a public hearing Monday morning in Mobile to hear comments on coastal insurance issues that have stirred debate and lawsuits since Hurricane Katrina struck two years ago. Alabama Insurance Commissioner Walter A. Bell who is president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said the session with limited seating will be held at 9 a. Bell will be joined by state insurance regulators from Florida Louisiana Mississippi and South Carolina.
Man injured in Kansas tornado dies
Denver Post – Sep 23, 2007
- A man who was struck by debris and suffered brain damage when a tornado destroyed this town in May died Wednesday making him the 12th victim of the storm. Max McColm 77 of Liberal was staying with his daughter Beverly Volz while recovering from shoulder surgery when the tornado hit May 4. Ross McColm of Lakewood said his grandfather was hit in the head with a large piece of metal. He fell into a coma and was taken to a Wichita hospital. At the end of June he was moved to a long-term care center in Overland Park.
Scarce property coverage during storm season
Jamaica Gleaner – Sep 23, 2007
To others it threatens profits and weakens their balance sheets. It is within this context of markets in general that I will try to answer the three questions you posed about the market for hurricane insurance. What happens in other countries? The demand for hurricane insurance increases when a storm or hurricane approaches. Maybe the surge is linked to the sale of candles batteries corned beef and sardines during the months of August to October. Some house owners and business persons who avoid thinking about insurance use the 24 to 36 hours when storm or hurricane conditions are possible to try to buy coverage. I saw proof of this while I was in a broker’s office last month. Telephones were ringing off the hook… They ‘lock-up shop’ when a hurricane or storm approaches. In much the same way that houses were wrecked by Dean storms and hurricanes can ruin insurance companies. When Hurricane Ivan struck Cayman in 2004 it caused one local insurer Dyoll to go out of business. Other regional insurers were also hurt by that event. It did lots of damage to their balance sheets. Local and regional insurers often carry all their eggs in one basket. They operate in one country or throughout the region.