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

Parent Cafe
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<p>Once again…Hayden is a voice of reason.</p>

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<p>One thought keeps occuring to me over and over again: if every religious congregation in the country would agree to “sponsor” ONE family and provide services for indefinite resettlement in their community, perhaps the individual needs of each family could be addressed in a more humane way.</p>

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<p>Wisteria, You may be on to something. Franklin Graham was on Fox last night urging the same thing, with churches serving as the central point of operation. At least one town in NC has had all of its chuches get together and offer to “sponsor” another town in the hit area by families in the churches offering to each take in another family from the affected town.</p>

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<p>My s. and his roommates (in Houston) were scheduled to travel to San Antonio this weekend. Instead, they cancelled their plans and will all be volunteering at the Astrodome. They are in the process of finalizing their shifts as I type. I will be happy to post updates and reports from “the front” as he reports in.</p>

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<p>jym626 - what a wonderful contribution by your son and his friends! That’s absolutely terrific. thanks for offering to post reports - I’m sure all posters on this site, regardless of our political leanings, appreciate your son’s actions, and look foward to hearing the reports.</p>

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<p>Thanks, hayden. I started a thread in the “Tulane Hurricane Emergency” sub category in the parents forum. I thought rather than hijack this thread, it makes better sense to put the thread there. So I will post the updates there. In fact, I already posted one follow-up. Things we don’t think about-- like bringing their chargers for cellphones… They will not only let people call out on their cellphones, but they will bring chargers for people who may have phones with dead batteries… All these things we take for granted…</p>

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<p>Hayden, as of Friday during the day, they were predicting a Category 2 or 3 storm. The reason that I know this is that I was driving on Sunday listening to a radio show on XM radio that was taped on Friday. In it the host was talking about the hurricane potentially growing to a Category 2 or 3 which I found ironic since when the taped show broke for live (i.e., Sunday) news, they were at that point talking Category 5. I remember thinking, “boy, they sure blew that prediction”.</p>

<p>Here is what the site linked to above said at 9 AM on Friday (when CGM said it was already a category 5):</p>

<p>

This is hardly a dire forecast calling for extreme measures.</p>

<p>Also, last year hurricane Frances went across the Florida penninsula back out into the Gulf, but never regained strength.</p>

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<p>FF</p>

<p>Good grief, where do you get this stuff? At 11:30 am Friday, NHC said the following:</p>

<p>"ZCZC MIATCDAT2 ALL
TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM
HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL DISCUSSION NUMBER 13
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
1130 AM EDT FRI AUG 26 2005</p>

<p>THIS SPECIAL ADVISORY DISCUSSION IS ONLY TO MODIFY THE INITIAL AND
FORECAST INTENSITIES. RECENT DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE
RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT MEASURED A SURFACE WIND OF 83
KT IN THE SOUTHEAST EYEWALL. THE MINIMUM PRESSURE OF 971 MB ALSO
CORRESPONDS TO ABOUT 88 KT SURFACE WINDS. THEREFORE…THE INITIAL
INTENSITY HAS BEEN INCREASED TO 85 KT…OR 100 MPH.</p>

<p>GIVEN THE RAPID IMPROVEMENT IN THE INNER CORE STRUCTURE AND THE
SHARP PRESSURE DROP…RAPID INTENSIFICATION SEEMS LIKELY FOR THE
NEXT 12 HOURS OR SO. AFTERWARDS…STEADY INTENSIFICATION TO NEAR
CATEGORY FOUR STRENGTH BY 72 HOURS APPEARS TO BE IN ORDER GIVEN THE
VERY WARM GULF WATERS BENEATH THE HURRICANE AND THE VERTICAL SHEAR
FORECAST TO DECREASE TO LESS THAN 10 KT BY 48 HOURS.</p>

<p>FORECASTER STEWART</p>

<p>FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS</p>

<p>INITIAL 26/1530Z 25.1N 82.2W 85 KT
12HR VT 27/0000Z 25.2N 83.1W 90 KT
24HR VT 27/1200Z 25.5N 84.3W 95 KT
36HR VT 28/0000Z 26.2N 85.2W 100 KT
48HR VT 28/1200Z 27.1N 85.9W 105 KT
72HR VT 29/1200Z 29.5N 86.3W 110 KT
96HR VT 30/1200Z 34.5N 83.5W 35 KT…INLAND
120HR VT 31/1200Z 40.5N 77.0W 25 KT…DISSIPATING INLAND</p>

<p>$$
NNNN"</p>

<p>Now, go split hairs and tell me it was an ADVISORY, not a forecast. I don’t care, and a disaster planner should not care either.</p>

<p>FF, you also seem to be confused by the fact that the storm had TWO different forecast components - one for the east florida coast, one for the gulf coast after re-intensification over gulf waters.</p>

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<p>newmassdad, with all due respect, you are missing the point of CGM which implied A) the storm was known to be a major storm by Thursday, Friday at the latest and B) headed for NO so that all evacuations. etc. could have started. </p>

<p>Obviously between 9 AM and 11:30 AM on Friday the forecast did increase to potential Category 4. But, if you look at the probablity storm track at that same time there was a greater chance of it hitting Jacksonville (12 percent) than New Orleans (11 percent). So, should Jacksonville also have been evacuated? And where would you have started to send relief supplies at that point?</p>

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<p>This timeline may help some people understand how long it takes to bring aid to a situation. Remember that in this case there was no water standing.</p>

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<p>FF,</p>

<p>who said anything about evacuations? Not me. I used the term “planning” And if the NHC forecast even a relatively low percentage chance that far out, I’d start planning. Obviously, our national leadership does not agree, as they left the trucks in Palm Beach.</p>

<p>bandit,</p>

<p>how far in advance was that earthquake forecast? Just think of what they could have done with 24-48 hours of notice…</p>

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<p>At the risk of getting flamed, I must say that some of the bickering on this thread brings new meaning to the term “petty”. Lets agree-- you are all right in your own ways. Watch this chilling prediction (4 1/2 minute video)of this disaster from New Orleans/Jefferson Parrish Emergency management Director <a href=“http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2005/08/28/zarrella.worst.case.cnn&wm=10[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2005/08/28/zarrella.worst.case.cnn&wm=10&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Just trying to say the response hasn’t been that slow given the circumstance. I will say again, you cannot out guess a hurricane. You could have moved all of NO and landfall could have been Port Arthur 6 hours later.</p>

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<p>And if it was in Port Arthur, the troops, the water, the food, the materials would have been ready</p>

<p>I heard today that a woman’s daughter, who a Junior in college, in the ROTC/Guardsman was called up from Michigan to go to LA</p>

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<p>So those of you who think this Adminsration has done well, is there one thing you would have done differnenlty on the Federal level, now or in the past</p>

<p>Anything at all</p>

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<p>It is simply to compare the treatment of NYC during 9-11 and this tragedy. The record speaks. . .</p>

<p>NYC mayor Rudolph received a call from the Administration offering support and dollars hours after the planes hit the buildings.</p>

<p>Bottom line. . .There should be no difference</p>

<p>Friends from outside of this country are appalled and confused about the fingerpointing. . .They see the dead bodies floating in the street. Is this AMERICA, the strongest country in the world???</p>

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<p>One wonders one wonders</p>

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<p>Well I don’t know about anything the Federal government can do about it…but when NOAA puts out a bulletin (which was in turn posted here on CC) and people blow it off as unfathomable fiction, which was done here and I’m sure elsewhere, and it in turn becomes fact, perhaps more people should listen and take heed. Just because you think that it can’t happen to you doesn’t give anyone the right to stick their head in the sand. That includes politicians and the general public. Because theres more than enough blame here to go around. To place it all on any ONE faction is ridiculous.</p>

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<p>I can just hear the indignation of all those poor people after being forced out of their homes at gunpoint by the National Guard only to have the storm change course in the last few hours.</p>

<p>And yes, there are things I might have done differently given the opportunity. Of couse, I might have screwed it up worse too. CGM would have staged all the troops and supplies in Biloxi and then where would we have been :)</p>

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<p>I never said that. I would have had them loaded, called up</p>

<p>ANd where is the First Lady and Cheney</p>

<p>THere are kids with no schools for months- I would LOVE if Mrs. Bush came out now (with school supposed to be starting now) and saying- we need books, we need supplies, we need teachers, we need volunteers to work with the kids</p>

<p>And Cheney is invisible, where is he? DOes anyone know… as VP I would think he should have a big role in the rebuilding relief or something</p>

<p>I am glad Bush Sr and Clinton have been asked to help, but I am wondering about Cheney</p>

<p>Anyone have a clue</p>

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<p>“I can just hear the indignation of all those poor people after being forced out of their homes at gunpoint by the National Guard only to have the storm change course in the last few hours.”</p>

<p>And it happens…you heard it over and over last year in Florida. And ironically a lot of folks evacuated right into the path of another storm. So many people look at the “cone” and right down the middle at the expected path that they don’t realize that the only safe place is 200 miles from the “cone.”</p>