Earth to the President: warnings ignored at your peril

[Jeannieb43]

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Ed Dickerson said:

I didn't realize I'd have to do the math for you. Landfall is Monday. 72 hrs later is? THURSDAY.

The best case scenario was that they would begin THURSDAY.

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It's not simply a math problem when for other devastating emergencies, FEMA was on site within 24 hours [e.g., the 1994 Northridge earthquake]. (Of course, that was eleven years ago, before FEMA became emasculated.)

Also, Hurricane Katrina was already active and its intensity was already known, more than two days AHEAD of the day it made landfall.

Comparisons with the Florida hurricane relief last year show also that the president and FEMA are able to respond instantly, if they 're motivated.

[One of the letters to the editor of L.A.Times this past week said: 'The lesson to be learned from Hurricane Katrina is, Be sure to live in a state whose governor has a brother who is President of the United States.']

P.S. I hadn't read all the preceding dialog here when posting this comment. If it goes beyond the pale, feel free to purge.

[there buster]

Yes, well, that article was written about a year ago, and dealt not with a California earthquake, but with the specific logistical problems in the case of New Orleans hurricane strike.

Again, the willingness to assume evil (Blanco is not Bush's brother nonsense) is unfortunate and, frankly, illogical. According to that theory the President wants to look bad, is somehow punishing his own image to hurt Blanco. No wonder people think Karl Rove's a genius.

For those with experience in the emergency business, the different terrain in New Orleans alone would cause delay (hence, the non-partisan professional study a year ago).

And Blanco has clearly been incompetent and indecisive. Maybe Jeb, Hayley Barbour, and the Alabama governor (don't know anything about him/her) are just more competent officials.

So, yes. If you ignore the difference in scope between the '94 earthquake and Katrina; if you ignore the differing terrain; if you ignore the different government styles -- who was Gov. of Calif. in '94? If you ignore that New Orleans is below sea level and flanked by one of the world's largest rivers, and massive Lake Ponchatrain; if you ignore the culture locally; yes--- if you ignore all those factors, then FEMA should have been just as fast to New Orleans in '05 as to California in '94.

That's what too many people have been doing: ignoring the facts, and assuming evil, even illogical evil, about others.

[there buster]

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Also, Hurricane Katrina was already active and its intensity was already known, more than two days AHEAD of the day it made landfall.

Comparisons with the Florida hurricane relief last year show also that the president and FEMA are able to respond instantly, if they 're motivated.

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On Aug. 27, with the hurricane gaining force in the Gulf, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called for a voluntary evacuation of the city. But even after he ordered a mandatory evacuation the next day, he made no plans to transport the elderly, the infirm, or those too poor to get themselves out, much less thousands of tourists stranded without cars. On the afternoon of Aug. 27, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco held a press briefing in which she answered a question about what could be done to avert disaster: "We can pray very hard that the intensity will weaken. We don't know what it's going to be yet, but we're all watching the weather service. I believe that's the best we can do right now."

The governor had the power to call out the National Guard in advance of the storm. Indeed, it was imperative that she do so if troops were to be available in the immediate hours after the hurricane hit since it takes 72 hours to fully mobilize. Gov. Blanco delayed taking crucial actions -- in fact, it was the president who called her to plead that she declare an emergency. "Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding," the Associated Press reported Aug. 28.

The city had hundreds of vehicles at its disposal: school buses, city buses, garbage trucks, and city cars. But the mayor failed to mobilize these or to set up procedures for all city employees to be available to assist in keeping order and organizing evacuation. For those unlucky enough to end up at the Superdome, no plans were in place to get thousands of desperate people out of there once the winds died down.

In our federal system of government, the national government does not step in -- even in dire emergency -- until state officials request that help. But what do you do when those officials are dysfunctional, as they clearly were in Louisiana? According to The Washington Post, federal officials have asked the governor for "unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law." And, the Post reported, "Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said."

Wonder what it takes to get the Louisiana Governor suitably motivated?

[Dr. Shane]

Katrina was a cat 5 hurricane headed straight toward New Orleans up until a few hours before she hit. That is what the local and state officials should have been preparing for. If it had hit New Orleans directly at 155 mph sustained winds and gusts upto 185 mph it would have tore the roof completely off the Superdome. And yet local officials were putting people in there for shelter!

I am a building contractor and build a lot of schools here in a hurricane prone area. Every school I build must be built to withstand a hurricane because the schools they will be used as shelters. I suspect that New Orleans also has schools built to withstand cat. 5 hurricanes. I suspect they even have ones built in the high end of town. These should have been used as shelters for those that couldn't leave. Furthermore they should have had beds, food and water in them for the evacuees.

FEMA should make sure that cities not only have disaster plans but also have the resouces to follow the plans. The mayor of New Orleans told the poorest of the poor a month before Katrina hit that in the event of a hurricane they would all be on their own. FEMA should have known that the mayor had no intention of saving one single life in his city. Even if FEMA followed protocol here, their mission has to include making sure local communities have plans and resources. Why is TX and FL so prepared for huricanes but not LA?

[Fran]

Jennieb:

The difference in response to a Florida disaster and a New Orleans disaster is that a Bush is governor of Florida. Bubba has to take care of bubba!

I feel FEMA did what they could do under their circumstances.

I am upset at the media. They were there reporting and taking pix. Why weren't their helicopters out there doing rescue?

Those empty, unmoved, flooded school buses speak volumes about the local governments effectiveness.

[Dr. Shane]

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The difference in response to a Florida disaster and a New Orleans disaster is that a Bush is governor of Florida.

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That's all you had to say. <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

[Paul Beach]

Dear Francis,

Why would one expect the media to be able to do rescues with their own tiny helicopters that can't hold anybody and don't have the ability to haul people in?

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gray

[there buster]

Back in the Clinton administration, when "FEMA was universally praised"

(Not to Fran, just tagging on).

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MANY OF THE 1995 HEAT WAVE DEATHS WERE PREVENTABLE ACCORDING TO NOAA REPORT

The number of deaths that occurred during the July 1995 heat wave exceeded the average number of lives lost each year in the United States to floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes -- and many of these deaths could have been avoided, according to a Disaster Survey Report issued today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

More than 1,000 people died during the July 1995 heat wave that hit the Midwest and many cities along the East Coast. In a normal year, about 175 Americans succumb to the demands of summer heat.

Chicago experienced its worst weather-related disaster, with 465 heat-related deaths recorded during the period from July 11-27, 1995. Milwaukee was also severely affected, with 85 heat- related deaths recorded during the same time period.

"In both Chicago and Milwaukee, the National Weather Service issued warnings of the developing heat wave several days in advance, which were quickly broadcast by the local media," said Kathryn D. Sullivan, former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist and leader of the national disaster survey team that investigated this event. "Given this advance warning, many, if not all, of the heat-related deaths associated with this event were preventable."

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" Despite accurate National Weather Service warnings and advisories and effective media coverage" FEMA did nothing.

President Clinton, James Lee Witt, and other officials essentially ignored the problem--and since no "neutral" jounralists demanded, in indignant tones, what was wrong with the President, and no one took a poll asking how much of it was Clintton's responsibility, we now have the myth of Clinton's excellent FEMA.

The actual cost in deaths was much higher, because the death toll only included those who died during the heatwave itself. While many of those admitted to the hospital because of the heatwave actually died as much as two weeks later.

The 'official' death toll for Chicago alone was nearly 500. yet rather than calling the President to account for his lack of caring in the emergency, twelve months later Chicago officials welcomed Clinton there to be nominated for re-election. No questions, no recriminations. All was forgotten.

The beginning link is NOAA press release more is available from there.

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The difference in response to a Florida disaster and a New Orleans disaster is that a Bush is governor of Florida.

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And the difference between a disaster and no disaster apprently has to do with your name being "Clinton."