Escape from Hurricane Katrina + Live Blog from N.O. Hell

[Kanegrundar]

There are reports this morning that the explosions that happened early in the morning was a chemical plant. It just got worse.

Kane

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

There are reports this morning that the explosions that happened early in the morning was a chemical plant. It just got worse.

Kane

And fire trucks which could use water from the nearby Mississippi to fight the fire refused to respond for fear of being fired on by the cowardly filth now running rampant in the city.

 

[Hand of Evil]

And fire trucks which could use water from the nearby Mississippi to fight the fire refused to respond for fear of being fired on by the cowardly filth now running rampant in the city.

At least the order has been given to, shoot to kill, which is sad enough but has to be done to take control and provide help.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

At least the order has been given to, shoot to kill, which is sad enough but has to be done to take control and provide help.

It's sad that it's become so necessary to do so, I agree. It's also too long in coming. Martial Law should've been declared as soon as the wind died down. It's utterly naive to think this sort of thing would not happen.

 

[spider_minion]

I've been on a news binge lately, and I'm simply amazed at how ineptly the government has handled this. A program designed to improve the levees and pumps has had its budget all but eliminated for the last few years. The news agencies and the Red Cross were able to get into New Orleans right after the hurricane, yet federal relief is noticeably absent. Those programs are supposed to be designed for exactly this sort of thing too. Some government officials have said that 'this has totally caught us by surprise' even though the hurricane threat to New Orleans has been a long-standing concern, and that everyone knew for at least 24-hours ahead of time that this worst-case scenario would come to pass. The director of FEMA is even blaming the victims themselves (as if everyone had the means to evacuate). And just to fuel the cynicism: September is National Preparedness Month.

While 9-11 brought out the best in people, Katrina has done just the opposite.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It's sad that it's become so necessary to do so, I agree. It's also too long in coming. Martial Law should've been declared as soon as the wind died down. It's utterly naive to think this sort of thing would not happen.

Agree, but this is one shock after another, one failure after another. I still can't believe that officials did not know hospitals had people in them!

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I am as appalled by the ineptness of the Feds as I am the deplorable looting and attacks on the people who ARE trying to help. It was in the news from day one about the crowds and the hospitals. And they try to say they didn't know?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I've been on a news binge lately, and I'm simply amazed at how ineptly the government has handled this. A program designed to improve the levees and pumps has had its budget all but eliminated for the last few years. The news agencies and the Red Cross were able to get into New Orleans right after the hurricane, yet federal relief is noticeably absent. Those programs are supposed to be designed for exactly this sort of thing too. Some government officials have said that 'this has totally caught us by surprise' even though the hurricane threat to New Orleans has been a long-standing concern, and that everyone knew for at least 24-hours ahead of time that this worst-case scenario would come to pass. The director of FEMA is even blaming the victims themselves (as if everyone had the means to evacuate). And just to fuel the cynicism: September is National Preparedness Month.

While 9-11 brought out the best in people, Katrina has done just the opposite.

I agree that the idea of being caught by surprise seems far-fetched, but I also know that many times the "scenarios" that are worked up for disasters do not properly take many factors into account. I would venture a guess that their plans did not account for so much widespread devestation, the number of people who had not evacuated, that people would start shooting at rescuers. This kind of planning is exactly like battle plans - the plans quickly become useless once the real situation is understood.

And as horrible as this sounds, 9-11 was a great tragedy that was over pretty quickly and was on a much smaller scale. Most of the people caught up in 9-11 either escaped early on, or were killed. You didn't have the city full of people trapped without food and water. Yes, they were rushing to try and find survivors trapped in the wreckage, but all the rescue efforts were concentrated in one small area, not over an entire city, and an even wider region.

Last thing I believe is that I suspect there are a lot of good and heroic things happening along the Gulf Coast, but at the moment the media perfers reporting on the tragedy and negative events - they make for better ratings, and they are easier to locate. The people doing heroic things are just out there continuing to work, not attracting media attention.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

A program designed to improve the levees and pumps has had its budget all but eliminated for the last few years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/n...gin&adxnnlx=1125669906-rsH40ZjR2538oOEDo2KwCw

No one expected that weak spot to be on a canal that, if anything, had received more attention and shoring up than many other spots in the region. It did not have broad berms, but it did have strong concrete walls.

Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was "along a section that was just upgraded."

"It did not have an earthen levee," Dr. Penland said. "It had a vertical concrete wall several feel thick."

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Oh, and on the ineptitude of the Feds, I heard an interview on NPR yesterday with Michael Chertoff, Secretary of homeland Security, who is now responsible for FEMA. The NPR anchor was asking him about the people trapped at the Convention Center without food and water. Chertoff replied that they had no confirmation about this and that the media should not be reporting on rumors and stating them as facts. The achor said they had a reporter on another line who was at the scene, that this was not a rumor, but Chertoff kept putting it off as unconfirmed reports. Apparently later a spokesperson from the DHS called to tell NPR that they had received confirmation of the conditions at the Convention Center and were working to get food and water to the area.

Obviously there are communications issues, but it also sounds like there is little to no organization on a larger scale.