Why isn't there more federal help in New Orleans?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I agree they needed to be moved, but if we had the capabilty to move prisoners in shackles and whatever, we should have been able to get out old ladies in wheelchairs</p>

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<p>From today’s WSJ:</p>

<p>" Willie Caston, 57, who drove one of the trucks to Gulfport as part of the FEMA relief effort, said he wasn’t dispatched to Mississippi until late Tuesday. he and many other truck drivers loaded with critical supplies spent three days in West Palm Beach, Fla., near where Hurrian Katrina made its first landfall last week. “I think we shoudl have been here a whole lot sooner,” Mr. Caston said."</p>

<p>Keep in mind:</p>

<ul>
<li> Katrina was never forecast to be above Cat 1 in east Florida.</li>
<li> They actually had MORE warning time for the Gulf Coast.</li>
<li> What the Gulf did not have was the right governors…</li>
</ul>

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<p>It was forecast to a 5 last Thrusday or Friday at the latest, people had DAYS of warning to get out, we saw the lines of traffic on the roads, yet over 25000 people were left behind because, well, whatever</p>

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<p>From our local small town paper. Our county is about 35,000.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>At least 30 trucks left here today, including 10 or so of the mobile kitchens that the churches keep for disasters.</p>

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<p>Guess What</p>

<p>This month, September is</p>

<p>Homeland Securuty National Preparedness Month</p>

<p>I feel MUCH better now</p>

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<p>

That may be what your source of news (Air America) may be telling you, but the truth is a bit different - as it usually is. <a href=“http://168.100.10.114/ATL-12A/JavaPlot.html[/url]”>http://168.100.10.114/ATL-12A/JavaPlot.html&lt;/a&gt; As of 11 PM on Friday it was just off the Florida coast and they were talking about a possible Class 2 or 3 storm and had no idea where it was going to hit.</p>

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<p>Fine, but when they called for MANDATORY EVACUTIONS, why was there no way for those without cars to get out…</p>

128

<p>Probably because the mayor who called for the evacuations thought that the Dome and the convention center would be adequate. But, why don’t you call him and ask.</p>

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<p>This was from Monday</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/hurricane.katrina/[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/28/hurricane.katrina/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Let me do some math</p>

<p>Friday the 26 to Monday night, seems like, at least 2 1/2 days to me</p>

130

<p>What math are you doing? All I see is the mayor calling for a mandatory evacuation as of Sunday. By Sunday night they had already closed the roads because of high winds and by Monday morning it struck full force. That’s less than 12 hours.</p>

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<p>Each and every person who has questions should read the following…it is written by a active military USAF pilot. It had answers to most of your questions…</p>

<p><a href=“http://members.boardhost.com/hurricanecity/msg/93812.top[/url]”>http://members.boardhost.com/hurricanecity/msg/93812.top&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I have also seen mention that the MANDATORY evacuation call came a bit too late in NO. (I had actually thought the mayor started on Sat. , but I was confused since I forgot that the hurricane actually struck land on Mon. AM.)
If they really only had 12 hrs notice for mandatory evacuation, then it is a miracle that so many people got out at all.</p>

133

<p>I find many of the excuses, that, excuses</p>

<p>Isn’t it better to drop food even if some of the drops are not reached, if even some of the dropped food is reached, that is better than none at all. So to say, well we aren’t going to drop any food, cause not all food will be retrieved</p>

<p>I saw Bush today landing by helicoptor and those people where he landed wondered where the food was, didn’t he bring any with him</p>

<p>Since 40% of the guard troops were deployed, we only had 60% to draw from, so yes while many themselves where affected, by having only 60% to pull from, we have lowered the response quite a bit. for example, say you have 100 guards, you send away 40, leaving you with 60. If of the hundred guards 30 were effected you would have 70 available, say with 60m you have 15 effected, you would have 45 to draw from</p>

<p>We have marine/navy vehicles that make beach landings and off load troops in a war</p>

<p>And while it takes “much longer” to plan for an airdrop, what the )*&% has the Department of Homeland Security been planning for for four years</p>

<p>I hear all about planning</p>

<p>What about communication systems, why don’t things work…we have technology that can work in a war zone, but not here in our Homeland</p>

<p>There was one incident of shots at a helicoptor and yet our military can’t handle that </p>

<p>So, there was one shot in one place, so that is an excuse to not drop food and water elsewhere</p>

<p>Sure there are huge problems with road etc, but so much has not been done well and people are dying three four days later</p>

134

<p>Below is a link to a photo essay of Bush’s response to hurricanes Charley and Ivan. Of course these hit Florida in an election year, when Bush was doing what he does best - campaigning. It is interesting how quickly he managed to get to Florida after Charley struck. Maybe he should appoint his brother to be in charge of the emergency response in NO. Also, note this essay is from the White House website.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/hurricane/photoessays/index.html[/url]”>http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/hurricane/photoessays/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>devasating in Florida, by trying times in LA</p>

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<p>fundingfather, </p>

<p>Quit with the selective data. Go to the definitive source, NOAA/NWS/NHC:</p>

<p><a href=“Hurricane KATRINA Advisory Archive”>Hurricane KATRINA Advisory Archive;

<p>On Friday, the official discussion said:</p>

<p>"…SOME ADDITIONAL WEAKENING IS
ANTICIPATED DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS. HOWEVER…KATRINA IS
EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY STRENGTHEN ONCE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO AS
SUGGESTED BY ALL GUIDANCE. THE GFDL AND SHIPS MODELS BRING KATRINA
TO A MAJOR HURRICANE…WHICH IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION. IN
FACT…THE ECMWF MODEL DROPS THE PRESSURE OF KATRINA IN THE GULF OF
MEXICO TO 961 MB. THIS IS VERY IMPRESSIVE FOR A GLOBAL MODEL…HIS PATTERN SHOULD FORCE KATRINA ON A
MORE NORTHERLY TRACK OVER THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO AHEAD OF THE
TROUGH. THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH MOST OF THE NUMERICAL GUIDANCE AND
THE OFFICIAL FORECAST FOLLOWS THE GLOBAL MODEL CONSENSUS.</p>

<p>ALL INDICATIONS ARE THAT KATRINA WILL BE A DANGEROUS HURRICANE IN
THE NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO IN ABOUT 3 DAYS."</p>

137

<p>Delay was asked directly about the makeup of the displaced, mostly black, poor or old, in the superdome and the street NOs…and what that said about the poor, the black, the elderly that were left behind and are still there, and what that says about the state of affairs here in America,first he dodged the question, saying it was great they were getting help and that Americans are great…okay</p>

<p>The reporter asked again,and Delay said, I can see where you are going with this, and if you notice the people at the at the Astrodome getting help are mostly black as well…</p>

138

<p>OK, I’ll use your “definitive” data source. At 11 PM on Friday (the time that I mentioned) it was a Category 2 hurricane (not Category 5 as CGM had indicated it was since “Thursday, Friday at the latest”). The probability storm track had it going anywhere from Texas to Florida. By 5 AM Saturday, it was Category 3. By 4 AM Sunday it was Category 4 and then escalated to category 5 by 7 AM Sunday.</p>

<p>So, who’s data was more “selective”? Mine, which was accurate, or CGM’s which was political hype?</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#076042[/url]”>http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#076042&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>FF - I understand where you are coming from, but you are pointing out the actual categories the storm reached, and when. But it’s not when it was a cat 1 or 2 - what was key was the predicted strength at landfall, and that was fairly clear. Our meteorological models are way beyond having to look to current readings for all their info - they’re very good about predicting strength. </p>

<p>And any of you weather bugs out there who were listening to the weather channel know this: any hurricane that goes over land without breaking up, then enters the Gulf of Mexico (with its warmer and calmer waters) ALWAYS gets very strong. That’s just the nature of the physics. So as soon as it made it across Forida, which was days in advance of last Monday, my husband said “weather channel, here we come”. So regardless of when it was categorized, everyone who follows weather knew it was going to be a monster. The only question at that point was where the cone would be.</p>