Katrina - what they SHOULD have done

[vraiblonde]

Okay, let's come up with scenarios where this situation could have been managed more effectively.

First of all, the mayor should have sent buses around to all neighborhoods to transport the people who couldn't get out under their own power. Those who refused to go should have been left alone to fend for themselves.

They should have been taken not to the Superdome to wait it out like cattle, but to temporary emergency shelters outside the path of the storm. And they should have been sheltered in smaller groups so there's less likelihood of panic and lawlessness, or at least it would have been more manageable. Cramming all those people in the Superdome was a stupid idea and a recipe for disaster.

What else?

 

[rack'm]

The state should have assembled rations of water and emergency food supplies on higher secured ground.

The state should have been in constant contact with FEMA with regards to what has been done locally and what they will need from the Federal Govt. within a few days of the storm.

The state should have started massing fuel for the rescue vehicles.

 

[Ken King]

Okay, let's come up with scenarios where this situation could have been managed more effectively.

First of all, the mayor should have sent buses around to all neighborhoods to transport the people who couldn't get out under their own power. Those who refused to go should have been left alone to fend for themselves.

They should have been taken not to the Superdome to wait it out like cattle, but to temporary emergency shelters outside the path of the storm. And they should have been sheltered in smaller groups so there's less likelihood of panic and lawlessness, or at least it would have been more manageable. Cramming all those people in the Superdome was a stupid idea and a recipe for disaster.

What else?

What should have been done? A little hindsight armchair mayor-ing and governor-ing?

On 25 August when Katrina hits Florida you;

1. Broadcast warnings to the citizens of potential danger.
2. Place the National Guard on alert. Expect to evacuate, transport supplies, rescue and enforce the laws.
3. Obtain the necessary emergency supplies either from stock or get required supplies inbound by emergency purchase (subject to cancellation or return for full price).
4. Ready emergency shelters and prepare to move the most desperate and in need.​

On 26 August as storm goes over the Gulf and warmer waters;

1. Activate the National Guard.
2. Start moving those that need to be moved.
3. Recommend to residents a precautionary evacuation.​

On 27 August as storm turns more northerly and intensifies;

1. Evacuate the flood zone. Arrest those that do not comply and remove them. Use all assets and go door to door in areas known to be lacking of transportation.
2. Put a curfew in place, police action turned over to National Guard.
3. Local police to provide security at shelter sites.
​

On 28 August as Katrina draws a bead on New Orleans;

1. Extend evacuation zone based on storm path and strength.
2. Pull the Guard back to a safe zone. Block entry into evacuation zone.
​

There was time and it can get expensive, but guess what the US government agrees to cover 75% of the cost. The real purpose of FEMA.

 

[Lenny]

Why not go farther back to Sept 11, 2001 and subsequently?

Why not do this thing right?

Four years ago the city of New Orleans should have realized that they were a major sea port for the United States and they should have elected a mayor who would be able to initiate planning for a local major disater (manmade, accidental or natural disaster). They should have had plans in effect to deal with a major disaster on the waterfront (a terrorist could either blow up a dirty bomb in the shipping containers or BLOW UP THE LEVEES). Why didn't the current mayor develop an executable plan, obtain resources to execute that plan, exercise that plan with surrounding communities, etc.? If he wants to call a spade a spade (as he said to Russert) he has to recognize he is the ace of spades in New Orleans.

 

[Penn]

I just watched Chris Wallace interview Sen. Landrieu(sp?) from Louisiana, on Fox News, who did her best to spin away why those 200+ busses sat underwater - useless, I might add - and were not available for the evacuation of those unfortunate people who didn't own a vehicle, or were too poor to make it out on their own.

With 4 or 5 days notification that a Cat 4+ hurricane was on it's way to that area, those busses should have been moved to safer/higher ground.

As far as I know, they are STILL there, underwater!

 

[willie]

I just watched Chris Wallace interview Sen. Landrieu(sp?) from Louisiana, on Fox News, who did her best to spin away why those 200+ busses sat underwater - useless, I might add - and were not available for the evacuation of those unfortunate people who didn't own a vehicle, or were too poor to make it out on their own.

With 4 or 5 days notification that a Cat 4+ hurricane was on it's way to that area, those busses should have been moved to safer/higher ground.

As far as I know, they are STILL there, underwater!

I didn't see it. How could she put any spin on incompetency? Was she asked why she used the money she got appropriated for the levees on other projects? She is a big part of the problem.

 

[Penn]

Slightly , however, Geraldo Revera just ran a piece, focusing on a Lousiana State Trooper whose name is Omar Landrum, if I heard it right.
I don't know this gentleman, but he instantly gained my respect; he was shown out on a street - water looked like 4 or 5 feet deep, in a boat searching for survivors. He was telling Geraldo what this catastrophe meant to him and his city, his state, his people.

Yes, he's black, and he's concerned, worry was there in his demeanor, but he was very hopeful that it would all bounce back. He lost his home- underwater, because they showed film of the house. The house he had planed to bring his fiance to, after their marriage. That's not going to happen now. But he refuses to give up; said he will start again, somewhere closer to New Orleans, and get his life back together again. He talked to his fiance on TV, reassured her it would all be alright in a while. Told her he loved her.

Asked by Geraldo - why he didn't just walk away from all the terror, the destruction, the homeless and the helpless, he said: "I couldn't do that, man."

Wow, there's a man who makes you proud to be an American. That is the kind of people they need to help turn things around down there. Amen

 

[Lenny]

I just watched Chris Wallace interview Sen. Landrieu(sp?) from Louisiana, on Fox News, who did her best to spin away why those 200+ busses sat underwater - useless, I might add - and were not available for the evacuation of those unfortunate people who didn't own a vehicle, or were too poor to make it out on their own.

Mary's claim to fame is that she was a cheerleader. You probably missed the hand up her back making her lips move. The message came from Howard Dean (who currently plucks Mary's strings).

 

[Bustem' Down]

Let's go back even further.

When we bought it from the French, we should have leveled the town and brought in fill dirt to raise it abouve sea level.


Woulda, shoulda, coulda.

 

[kom526]

With 4 or 5 days notification that a Cat 4+ hurricane was on it's way to that area, those busses should have been moved to safer/higher ground.

As far as I know, they are STILL there, underwater!

There is a picture of the city trash trucks parked on an overpass high and dry. If they had time to move trash trucks, then they had time to evacuate citizens or move the buses for later use.

 

[Penn]

Mary's claim to fame is that she was a cheerleader. You probably missed the hand up her back making her lips move. The message came from Howard Dean (who currently plucks Mary's strings).

I should have added that she's a windbag. Chris Wallace had a hard time getting a word in, or asking another question - once she got to talking! You could tell he was getting impatient with her!

 

[Larry Gude]

Obviously...

...this storm is nowhere near as bad as we've been told. Property damage, yes. It's just money. Make cash available at low interest for long term. Help insurance companies be lenient to get construction and clean up rolling.

Human lives lost...200 or so this far.

Overall, it ain't that bad.

 

[meme]

I woke up to the news this morning (on the radio) and heard more and more blame was now being put on the local government. Apparenlty there the National Hurricane Center warned the local government that there could be potential flooding, especially if the levee's broke (they were warned a few days of the actual storm.) There as also a 900 person passenger train that left New Orleans 2 days prior to the storm, however the train was almost empty.

I guess no matter how much finger pointing we do, what's done is done.

 

[aps45819]

They could have at least transported the prisiones from the jail out of town instead of just releasing them. Wonder who was doing the beating and raping?

 

[teverheart2002]

They could have at least transported the prisioners from the jail out of town instead of just releasing them. Wonder who was doing the beating and raping?

 

[truby20]

Human lives lost...200 or so this far.

Overall, it ain't that bad.

Actually the BBC is reporting over 500 confirmed dead.

Making this the deadliest hurricane in over 65 years.

You have to go back to the 1930's to see death tolls like this and you have to remember back then there was no 3 day warning, we didn't have satellites monitoring the oceans. Yes the population along the coast has grown substantially but there still is little excuse for what happened.

It is that bad.

 

[Cletus_Vandam]

I know there have been hundreds of posts (either in this thread or others) on the aspect of "what-ifs". But I think that Bush took the first step in assigning blame. If you noticed, he said that someone screwed up "in all levels of government". When are the Governors and all the other Democratic politicians going to man-up and admit their guilt in "screwing the pooch" on the evacaution and other aspects of this CF?

And for all those sitting back asking why isn't more being done... I really don't think that anyone who isn't there (me included) can truely grasp the amount of devistation seen there....

 

[truby20]

Actually the BBC is reporting over 500 confirmed dead.

Making this the deadliest hurricane in over 65 years.

Today Fox News is reporting 710 dead...

Katrina Aftermath

Making Katrina the deadliest hurricane in 75 years, and the fifth deadliest EVER recorded in the US.

it is that bad.