As Harvey makes a second landfall, the poor and people of color are the ones taking the biggest hit

In both Texas and Louisiana, the victims of flooding from record rains churned up in the wake of Hurricane Harvey are more likely to be poor, and more likely to be black or Latino. It may not seem this way from watching coverage of the storm. Television crews have focused on more affluent suburbs, partly because it makes startling television to show McMansions sunk in water to their decorative stone trim and fancy SUVs unable to ford streets turned to rivers. Those areas are also the ones most likely to be assisted by “colorful” dudes on paddleboards and flotillas of white guys in bass boats. 

With Katrina, the nation was aware of who was really bearing the brunt of the damage, but with Harvey, the media-face of the storm isn’t a good match for the reality of the aftermath.

Creeping deep below the fast-rising floodwaters of Harvey are the countless thousands who have no home insurance, no assets to tap into for recovery, no savings (if any) to access for a sudden move and no transportation options when cars get flooded (if they have those). And since federal disaster response—including an underfunded National Flood Insurance Program—is geared toward homeowners, those who either rent or who are stuck in public housing find even fewer options. As was the case post-Katrina, black families end up receiving fewer dollars on average for home recovery because they live in undervalued neighborhoods.

Houston isn’t unique. In many cities, poor neighborhoods are the ones that are already prone to flooding, already lacking in updated infrastructure, already suffering from runoff as more affluent areas are increasingly covered by larger homes and concrete drives. They’re the areas most likely to flood, even without record rain. They’re the areas where no one is paddling bright kayaks and looking forward with certainty that all will eventually be back to normal.

What makes it worse in Houston is that urban planning in the city is essentially nonexistent. Those people with money can afford to live in areas with good infrastructure. Areas that have been raised above the surrounding floodplains and protected by levees. The poor … can’t.

from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2x4zj5A