Hurricane Aftermath (Political Observations)

Parent Cafe
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<p>Unfortunately they can’t be everywhere at once. There is an area the size of Great Britain impacted by the storm. Thousands WERE saved. Many more saved themselves by evacuating. If my mother were in a home in the path of the storm I would have gone down and removed her myself ahead of time. There will be many sad stories out of this disaster but many more lived than dies and I will focus on making life better for the living. </p>

<p>I looked up Broussard LA and it is not in a heavily impacted area–it is near Lafayette which was not impacted. There is no Broussard MS so I don’t know where this place is.</p>

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<p>Considering who they have put in charge</p>

<p>Brown had briefings with the Hurricane Center way before the Hurricane hit land. Several briefings, yet Brown tells us, “We had not idea” The briefings said that he and his staff was told very likely the levees would be breached </p>

<p>And during the Hurricane Pam “planning” FEMA was aware that most likeley 80,000 to 100,000 would remain in NOs for a wide variety of reasons</p>

<p>So when less then half of that remained, you would have thought they would have been prepared</p>

<p>All this “we had no idea” is garbage…they knew, jsut didn’t care</p>

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<p>What happend in St. Bernard’s Parrish this week was a stunning display of:</p>

<p>a) private local volunteerism in the face of insurmountable hardship</p>

<p>b) state and national government neglect of unspeakable proportions</p>

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<p>Barron:</p>

<p>The Broussard in this case is the chief executive of Jefferson Parrish. Look up Jefferson Parrish on your map.</p>

<p>The elected officials across the entire metro New Orleans area are consistent in their condemnation of FEMA, using language that conveys the deepest possible anger.</p>

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<p>The elected officials are aftaid to look in their mirrors and wish to displace the blame worse than anything as their guilt is killing them. The Big Easy mentality came back to haunt them. Sometimes it is not easy.</p>

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<p>CGM,
I hope you didn’t take my point as criticism. I just didn’t want anyone to read the article and think it was true that Blanco didn’t ask for help.
I apologize if it came across that way.</p>

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<p>Anybody else see the “Hurricane Party” in the French Quarter on the news Saturday and Sunday? I think personal responsibility comes first. Even if you can’t leave, you can buy a case of bottled water (instead of beer) and some Spam. Everybody was told to prepare for at least 3 days.</p>

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<p>“it really show the incompetency of the administration”</p>

<p>………………………………………………………………………………………………</p>

<p>Some posters are quick to deal out fault and judgment, but I wonder if these same posters honestly (honestly, not politically) believe that a democratic administration would have handled the situation much better. </p>

<p>I believe the real devil here is the bureaucracy implied in the word “administration,” not one specific administration itself.</p>

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<p>“Everybody was told to prepare for at least 3 days.”</p>

<p>Everybody was told to come to the Superdome and to the Convention Center as well. In the later case, FEMA didn’t even know they were there for 3 days, despite the fact that NBC News went back and forth in an SUV (no blockages), and broadcast from there for 60 hours. And that’s just the point - FEMA didn’t need 7,000 troops, “convoys”, helicopter drops, etc. Just 10 SUVs, with 10 drivers, and some folks to pack up water and food. Maybe add a well-equipped army medic. They could have saved dozens, maybe hundreds, of lives of people who took personal responsibility and followed directions. </p>

<p>I think it should be the expectation of citizens that FEMA should have acted as if their own parents were there. If this is our Homeland Security apparatus, I think we should leave them to examine our library cards.</p>

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<p>Several briefings, yet Brown tells us, “We had not idea” The briefings said that he and his staff was told very likely the levees would be breached</p>

<p>I’m curious, citygirlsmom. I’ve seen dozens of things quoted that show that something like this was anticipated, but never in any of them do I see a reference to the levees being burst. Lots to water coming in over them, but none for them bursting, particularly the concrete levees that burst. As a matter of fact, according to the NY Times those levees were apparently considered finished and there was no work planned for them in the money that was cut. Have you looked that closely?</p>

<p>The City of New Orleans has housed refuges during hurricanes in the Superdome three times now. The first time, people were assulted and raped like this time. The second time it had National Guard troops from the beginning to keep order. Why not this time? </p>

<p>Note that during Ivan just last year, the City only reluctantly opened the Dome to refugees who couldn’t evacuate. They said they were reluctant because they were afraid they’d be trapped in there for days if there was flooding. If they knew that, why didn’t they make better provisions for the people they put there this time? FEMA is very clear that the local govenment shouldn’t count on outside aide for up to 72-96 hours. Nothing changed since last September to suggest that anyone was going to get to them any sooner that I know of. </p>

<p>Facinating to think about, isn’t it.</p>

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<p>I vote to put Mini in charge of FEMA–it’s all so easy. Go for it. BTW I doubt TV reports are considered official information in these cases. Maybe they should be but that would leave out all the areas they chose not to cover.</p>

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<p>FS, I am contrasting the FEMA operation in New Orleans with the 1994 earthquake here in the Los Angeles and the contrasts are staggering. The message to the state & local governments, and the individuals caught in the situtation, is: “You’re on your own.” I’m sure that someone who was through one of the more recent major hurricanes elsewhere could make similar contrasts. </p>

<p>That “you’re on your own” philosophy hits hardest at the poor, the aged, the infirm, the very young, and those without much cash, transportation, or mobility. </p>

<p>It’s a problem of scale. States back up cities and counties when the problems get too big and the Federal government, when it has worked best, has backed up the states. The current evasions and tapdancing coming out of the current administration that disasters are primarily a state responsbility are disgusting.</p>

<p>Then you have the wonderful irony that by underfunding the disaster mitigation efforts–engineering, mitigation, relief–to in part fund the war in Iraq, we amplify one disaster in order to sustain another.
It’s such sad a bit of karma, too much to even cry about.</p>

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<p>Barrons, you’re being obtuse. TV reports may not be official information but if flipping on the TV gives you information that you don’t have, there’s no reason not to act on it.</p>

<p>Fwiw, I received an e-mail from a former Army colonel who has done much disaster work (engineering) and he says one of the biggest impediments to getting a clear picture was that emergency communications were mostly knocked out by the storm. National Guard troops from Illinois are using maps purchased at a local book store as their area of operation maps: the company has one map of Louisiana and three with sufficient detail of the city of New Orleans.</p>

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<p>“I vote to put Mini in charge of FEMA–it’s all so easy. Go for it. BTW I doubt TV reports are considered official information in these cases. Maybe they should be but that would leave out all the areas they chose not to cover.”</p>

<p>I’ll take it, and, having worked in the Santa Cruz earthquake and at the center of tsunami damage in India, as well as in the local, state, and federal coordination of homeless services, I am much better trained and have substantially more experience than the fired former head of the International Arabian Horse Show Association.</p>

<p>When can I start?</p>

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<p>On Saturday, Bush said FEMA was in charge, last Saturday, they had notice, they had time, they blew it</p>

<p>If you want to keep defending an Republican Amdinistration who promotes people who are incapable of doing the work go ahead</p>

<p>It is coming out and the more people ask questions the more reports given out the more memos, the more we will see how the Feds did so poorly and are making excuses</p>

<p>For Instance, the Hurricane Center briefed Brown and FEMA before the Hurricane Hit landfall, before it was finished in Florida- told them most likely the levees would be breeched, that it was going to be very strong etc</p>

<p>The Hurrican Center spokesman made the point that the communications were on record. </p>

<p>And yet Brown say WE HAD NO IDEA IT WOULD THE LEVEES WOULD BREAK</p>

<p>If that is incompetence in our faces, then what is</p>

<p>Maybe the Democrats would have done the same, but who cares? We are dealing with this mess now. And hour by hour more information comes out about poor handling</p>

<p>Keep defending bcause it doesn’t matter, the truth can not be hidden</p>

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<p>Strick:</p>

<p>Again, the breeched levees didn’t materially change the flooding relative to the predictions for a close-hit by a major hurricane.</p>

<p>Here are lo-rez and hi-rez links to a graphic published by the Times-Picayune in 2002:</p>

<p>Hi-Rez PDF (24 meg):</p>

<p><a href=“Hurricane Center | NOLA.com”>Hurricane Center | NOLA.com;

<p>Lo-Rez JPEG (1.3 meg):</p>

<p><a href=“Hurricane Center | NOLA.com”>Hurricane Center | NOLA.com;

<p>This graphic is based on modelling done by LSU’s Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute and the Army Corps of Engineers.</p>

<p>It shows the flood level for a slow moving Category 3 storm making landfall just east of New Orleans. The predicted flooding is virtually identical to the flooding that actually occured this week in a faster moving Category 4 storm with the eye centered perhaps 20 miles further east. The only substantive difference is the model predicts somewhat wider flooding in Jefferson County (Kenner, Metarie, etc.) than acutally occured. For Orleans Parrish (downtown N. Orleans), the predicted flooding was accurate to with a foot or so.</p>

<p>Another pair of graphics from the same newspaper series details the levee systems:</p>

<p>Hi-Rez PDF (24 meg):</p>

<p><a href=“Hurricane Center | NOLA.com”>Hurricane Center | NOLA.com;

<p>Lo-Rez JPEG (.5 meg):</p>

<p><a href=“Hurricane Center | NOLA.com”>Hurricane Center | NOLA.com;

<p>This graphic details eight potential levee trouble spots in the New Orleans area. Major flooding occurred at four of the eight trouble spots, including the three areas of levee breaks.</p>

<p>The modelling done by the academics and engineers proved to be incredibly accurate predictors of what just happened in New Orleans.</p>

<p>You can read the entire 5-part series from 2002 here:</p>

<p><a href=“Hurricane Center | NOLA.com”>Hurricane Center | NOLA.com;

<p>It details every aspect of what just occurred, from the impossibility of pre-storm evacuation, to the post-hurricane flooding, to the expected death tolls.</p>

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<p>I hope they put NO back together faster than Santa Cruz.<br>
I was there several years later and downtown was still an empty shell.</p>

<p>Watching CNN last night the prediction after leaving Florida was that the storm would turn north and hit the Panhandle. It kept moving west and south surprising the forecasters. </p>

<p>For the record I don’t think they blew it. Having one week to move in and remedy the situation to stable is reasonable. Everyone else is in a dream world if they think a force can be assembled from mostly part-time soldiers and a few full-time coordinators with equipment at multiple locations 100’s of miles from the site.</p>

<p>I will take care of myself and family in the event of a disaster. That’s why I have been here most of the weekend working while others play.</p>

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<p>I just went down to St Mary’s Catherdral and signed up to help the 300 coming into San Francisco.</p>

<p>I think my job will be helping type resumes and doing paperwork as well as helping with the children if any come</p>

<p>Its at minimum a 60 day commitment</p>

<p>At least I can help someone directly, not just $$</p>

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<p>Tho barron is a bit twitchy with his federal defense, he is 100% correct about relying on government to move one million people instantly. They batted, what, 700? Over an area the size of Great Britain? </p>

<p>Frankly, if Americans don’t want a repeat of the Katrina aftermath, they ought to plan to evacuate their families–AND one or two of the less able. That might get the batting average up to 900 or even 950. It would be huge.</p>

<p>mini, how can we organize that kind of grass roots responsiblity?</p>

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<p>Why shouldn’t we have expected this. Consider what happened with Isabel.</p>

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<p>Please notice how Michael Brown refers to the creation of staging areas, pre-positioning teams and the development of shelter packs prior to requests; when discussing what FEMA does. Why didn’t he do it this time? Was it because everyone at the top of this administration was on vacation so he wanted to clock out early…was he afraid to bother the President during his vacation? </p>

<p>Good work CGM</p>