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It's a heart-wrenching situation on the Gulf coast today. The news was bad Monday as Hurricane Katrina passed through the area, but it seemed that perhaps they'd avoided the worst, but today, as the damage is being assessed and as the levees around New Orleans are breeched, the news is deteriorating. It makes me glad I only have to put up with 100+ heat during the summer along with lightning storms and miss out on the hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other awful natural disasters that plague many areas of our planet. It's hard to imagine areas flooded with up to 20 feet of water. I hope I never have to find out what it must be like for folks there to watch images of their homes under many feet of water, not to mention trying to ride out such a storm with 140+ mph winds and rain and tsunami like tidal surges washing through an area. It's an awful reminder of just how powerful and indiscriminate nature can be and how fragile life on this planet can be.

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