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| image source: NPR |
Era Of Wisdom
BrandonTurbeville.com
February 5, 2016
As the flood waters began to rise in South Carolina, so did the level of awareness that the vast majority of South Carolinians were wholly unprepared for such a disaster. But local governments also proved themselves to be unprepared, poorly prioritized, and inept and dealing with the destruction left by a historic amount of rainfall over the Palmetto state.
As the flood crisis got under way, South Carolina saw its major cities inundated with so much water that city centers were unnavigable without a boat, coastal areas saw houses collapse, and both city and rural areas saw roads wash out completely. With dams bursting and bridges washing away, local governments, citizens, and emergency management personnel clearly had their hands full. Most of them, to their credit, did their jobs well enough with the resources they had.
However, the floodwaters have raised an important issue for the state of South Carolina and for the rest of the country – infrastructure.
While the force of nature is capable of amazing and terrifying demonstrations of power that manmade structures often cannot withstand, the fact that much of South Carolina’s infrastructure crumbled so quickly is both a testament and a warning to the general public about just how weak America’s infrastructure has become.
While, admittedly, South Carolina saw a record amount of water during this recent crisis, significant portions of infrastructure showed signs of collapse early on with numerous highways simply washing away, bridges collapsing, and dams bursting.
