Sure blame the local govt

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

You know, if 1/2 of the energy that is being used up pointing fingers and making accusations was used in a constructive manner, the darned place would be rebuilt already!

[not2late]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

The whole Mississippi River basin is a flood zone. The most castastrophic flood was in the 1920s. More recently the Mississippi River Flood of 1993 and 1995 were bad as well. I was living in Des Moines in 1993 when the municipal water system was contaminated by flood waters---the geniuses there had a levee built around the water treatment plant but it was to only withstand a certain level of water because the flood waters never reached that high in the previous floods. The river overflowed by 6 inches. Anyhow, I spent 19 days without water--not fun. FEMA and Clinton showed up in town about 3 days after the flood. Whoop-de-do. The water system still took almost 3 weeks to be returned and parts of the town were still under water. Anyhow...

Part of the Mississippi River's problem is that it naturally floods each spring. But in order to keep it from flooding, people have been building levees along its banks for centuries. The problem with that is if you build a levee upstream, you have to build a higher one downstream to prevent the downstream banks from flooding. A particularly wet winter and wet spring can almost guarantee a flood.

New Orleans is in a weird position because it's under water the only thing that prevents it from flooding is the levees and the pump system. As I wrote in another thread, NO has flooded before---with Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Betsy was a category 3 hurricane. Katrina was a category 5. Do the math.

Basically, the situation has been one of neglect for 40 years. That's why I find it really silly to blame any one Federal administration/political party for this catastrophe---the city has been neglected for 40 years. To me it's as silly as blaming Atkins for causing a health problem because you've been neglecting your body for 40 years and on week 4 of Atkins you have a heart attack or you're diagnosed with diabetes. Plain silly.

[not2late]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

No, they asked for help on SUNDAY-BEFORE the hurricane. Here is a link to the letter/email where she requests aid:

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20...%20Request.pdf

Interesting letter but Blanco doesn't specifically request pre-hurricane evacuation aid from the Feds. She's asking for post-disaster cash.

Again, Nagin and Blanco KNEW that at least 100,000 people were trapped in that city because they had no means of transportation out. It's irresponsible to overlook their incompetence in not getting those people out using the city buses, city school buses or the Louisiana National Guard.

I agree with you, but that really doesn't cut it during natural disasters of this magnitude. I don't think the frail and the elderly had any choice but to rely on the government.

Unfortunately, they relied on the incompetent and inept local and state government who failed to provide adequate evacuation transportation for them. And unfortunately for them they probably voted for that incompetent local and state government. That's why it's a great folly to rely on the government to rush in like a knight in shining armor to help you.

It's amazing how quickly the Limbaughs and Hannitys got out the Rove talking points. However, all roads lead back to federal mismanagement and the White House.

Actually, I find it interesting that no one takes the time to actually read official documents carefully.

Editing to add this link dated August 28, 2005 from the Times-Picayune
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpa...3007249320.xml

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin followed at 5 p.m., issuing a voluntary evacuation.

Nagin said late Saturday that he's having his legal staff look into whether he can order a mandatory evacuation of the city, a step he's been hesitant to do because of potential liability on the part of the city for closing hotels and other businesses.

Mayor doesn't want to order a mandatory evacuate because it might effect the hotels and other businesses in New Orleans....Oh yeah, sacrifice 100,000 indigent and poor people because the service industry might lose money. Wow. Nagin is such a great political leader. I can see exactly how the Feds dropped the ball on this one.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Great Post Megs.

You see, the only thing they asked for in advance was granted. Money.

[Finelly]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

Mayor doesn't want to order a mandatory evacuate because it might effect the hotels and other businesses in New Orleans....Oh yeah, sacrifice 100,000 indigent and poor people because the service industry might lose money. Wow. Nagin is such a great political leader. I can see exactly how the Feds dropped the ball on this one.

So, basically, since tourism is WAY down in New Orleans, that's the feds' fault.

[sadie147]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

from everything i've seen up till now on tv i'm of the opinion that there were mistakes (some very big ones) made at all levels of gov't in this one.

IMO anyway.

[Desertthorn]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

I keep thinking, what if this happened in my town and while we don't have hurricanes, we are sitting below the most dangerous volcano in the US and a 7.0 earthquake could easily wipe large areas off the map. Maybe this is the time for all of us to make some plans for the "what ifs". Every area in the world has something. Wildfires (happened in Oakland) Terrorism (NYC, OKC) Hurricanes (East Coast and Gulf) Earthquakes (West Coast) Tornadoes, Blizzards, Tsnanmis,
Where would you go and how would you get there? My home in the US has one road in and one road out and a mass evac would be a mess.
What would you take. You need water and food, clothing etc, but then there are the pets and Moms pictures. Think about it now and not when the event is happening.
Do you have someone in the family away from your area that you and the rest of the family could call? Local calls are sometimes impossible while you might beable to all call Grandpa in the next state. And while I am on this subject, what if something happened while the kids were in school and the were evacualted south and you north. Do they have any emergency numbers in their school backpacks. Can they call Grandpa and tell him they are okay?
Do you have emergency kits in your car? Hey, water, first aid kits, blankets, some food would be really handy if you got stuck someplace.
Do you rotate the water you do have. Remember water stored in Plastic is not the healthest of things.

[Laurenfra]

Re: Sure blame the local govt

On the evening of 9/11 DH and I made such a plan. At the time he worked 80 miles from home. We picked a town in another state and a time to meet if we ever got seperated. We had a run from the house box packed as well as food and water. We also picked a friend that lives in Hawaii as a person we could all contact if seperated. Katrina just reminded us of all that.