OT New Orleans

Here's a pretty good take.

Blame Amid the Tragedy Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.

BY BOB WILLIAMS Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible--local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.

A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.

The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.

The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.

In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.

State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."

I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.

The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected--and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.

Mr. Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a free market public policy research organization in Olympia, Wash.

AMEN, brother... Remember this one? "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

Yeah, right... The only idiot left out here is Ray Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security. He didn't have a clue about what was going on.

What is happening to the people down there is tragically sad.

To answer your questions: It is a known "inevitable catastrophe" (see link from Oct. 2004 -read at least the first 5 paragraphs - its spooky)

- go to Google, type in "failure" and click "I'm Feeling Lucky"

I will now duck and run for cover as things might get ugly around here!

Good read, thanks.

This guy nails it too:

Its all over our news, but focusing on the immediate sensationalism as is the norm for news channels. It seems the head of FEMA has been sacked, but with the pics I'm seeing, it looks like a really hard job to evac that many people and keep back that amount of water. But, I'm 6K miles away and have never been there, hence the questions ! You guys know me well enough to know I'm not trolling.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

There were failures at every level of government, probably most IMO from the Lousiana state government and its lack of leadership. I find it interesting that Governor Blanco is hiding from the national media. The local government simply wasn't able to function after the hurricane hit due to the infrastucture damage but that is a result of poor planning. But the federal govenerment has its share of responsibility too...compare Federal response to last year's Florida hurricanes. Of course last year was an election year and the First Brother is governor there...

Dave Milne proclaimed:

Over 10 years ago, Scientific American ran a feature article on that area being a disaster just waiting to happen. The natural barrier islands that helped protect the mainland were being washed away. The city was pumping water out from under the city, which caused the marshy soil to sink below the levels of the surrounding rivers and lakes. The greenies wouldn't let the Corps of Engineers redredge the rivers and canals. The same greenies wouldn't let the Corps of Engineers rebuild and strengthen the levies. The government cut the budget for even maintaining the dikes and levies. The article did miss-call the source of the flooding, however if the article had been correct it would be even worse than it is. Then you have to ask how come all those special terrain vehicles, large rescue and support ships, and military personnel weren't placed on standby with over two days advance warning that a Category 4 to 5 storm was drawing a bead on the gulf coast--even if the target wasn't known that accurately, whatever ended up being a target would be reasonably expected to be a disaster with that big a storm. And I guess if you appoint your old drinking buddy as an emergency coordinator, you might want to make sure he could handle the job... and with over two days warning it wouldn't be that difficult to see if he was preparing for the worst or sitting on his ass.

Brown won't be sacked, you're talking about an administration that won't fire anyone no matter how inept, as long as they remain loyal and follow the official line. After the revelations that he padded his resume on top of his inaction, he was just relieved of his responsibility to oversee the FEMA operations as a PR recovery move, but remains head of FEMA as of now.

The failures of government in this disaster aren't recent, they are a culmination of the last 30 years or so, inasmuch as recognizing the need for building a levee to withstand a Cat 5 storm, competent evacuation planning, and the lack of motivation for federal response.

Unfortunately folks too far down the totem pole will become the scapegoats to protect the real culprits.

Dave Milne proclaimed:

Note the date of this article (09/07/05), there have been a lot of startling revelations since then.

There is plenty of blame to go around and despite what Scott McClellan says, now is the time to play the "blaming game".

1. lack of funding to prevent flooding (federal)
2. mis-management of insufficient funding (state)
3. wait and see management style (fed,state,city)
4. bureaucracy (everywhere)
5. FEMA bungling

It seems to me the heroes in this affair have been Supt. Compass, Gen. Honre and their charges. Local, National and International volunteers. Countries around the world offering support including of all places Sri Lanka - still struggling from the tsunami. I have the mental image of someone in Sri Lanka watching the news and thinking 'why would they have a city below sea-level?'.

It also pains me to admit this but the media has done a great job with coverage and foremost, reuniting evacuees. They still have their painfully obvious political agendas however.

-Brian

I tend to disagree. As the totem poll nears the ground there are far more citing of heroism and competency. The media has done a pretty good job focusing on "the good guys" and I don't think the public will soon forget the incompetence of the elected officials.

-Brian

I watched an interview with the author of Bayou Farewell (2003) and he cited that the levees were a cause in the city sinking. It was a rather brief explanation about disrupting the natural flow of water and dispersing of sediment... it made sense on the surface as he described it. He states the solution is diversion and it's not too late. The cost would be about 14B prior to Katrina, about the same as the Boston dig or a month of spending in Iraq. The Iraq comparison was spine tingling.

I'm not a big fan of the "greenies" or other extremists but this guy is only one of hundreds that foretold this nightmare through research and writings. I have a lot of compassion for people that try so hard to get their message out and despite devoting their lives to what ever cause they probably feel that they haven't done enough to get the word out.

Here is another interview originally aired 06/22/03

-Brian

The 'big picture' is that New Orleans should not exist in its present location at all. In hurricane country, surrounded by water and partially below sea level all suggest that New Orleans is a very dangerous place to live.

In the US, the Federal government has no say in where people may or may not live. If populations settle in poor locations, it is up to that population, in concert with their local and state governments, to provide the infrastructure necessary to protect and preserve public health and safety.

New Orleans and Louisiana have failed miserably in that regard. They have not built the levees and sea walls sufficient to prevent catastrophic flooding despite billions of dollars of federal assistance and they cannot protect against hurricane winds and flooding produced by hurricanes.

With one and half million people living in an inherently dangerous location with inadequate protection from storm surges and no protection from high winds and massive rains, New Orleans should at the very least have had the contingency planning to provide food, water and transportation sufficient to evacuate the area should the inevitable hurricane wreak its destruction.

The above protective construction, and contingency plans, supplies and transportation are the responsibility of New Orleans, Louisiana and their citizens.

Yes, it is expensive, but that is a choice they made when they chose to develop and build in the area. They have failed themselves when they, through creeping development, did not prohibit that development in at least the low lying areas.

Should the burden of those poor choices be spread across the US population as a whole? Should those folks in Iowa and Nebraska pay to develop the sea walls and Levees that only partially protect New Orleans? That is not our form of government, but if it were, the folks in Iowa and Nebraska would have a say in development strategies if only to avoid exposure to unlimited damages.

It is obvious to one and all that if a man chose to build his home on stilts in the Gulf of Mexico (or Key West Florida, for that matter) because he liked the view and fishing from his balcony, would not be protected from his folly at the expense of those who make more reasonable accommodations with Mother Nature. New Orleans is that man writ large, as is much of eastern and southern US costal areas, especially Florida. Los Angeles and San Francisco also fall into this category as they thumb their noses at earthquakes.

The Federal government has no say, and should have no say, in where people decide to build and live. With freedom, however, comes responsibility. Do we want the Feds to prohibit mountain climbing, deep sea diving, parachute jumping and other high risk activities? I think not. Instead, the risk is borne by those who choose to participate in such activities.

What exactly is it that the Federal government should have done in preparation for this hurricane? Should they have prepositioned troops and supplies? Where? Nobody knew where the hurricane was going to hit or what damage it would cause. It would be the height of folly to send troops and supplies in early only to have them become additional victims of the storm.

Additionally, had the Federal government prepositioned near New Orleans, the major population center under threat, it is quite likely that those men and supplies would not have available to the citizens of Mississippi and Alabama where the worst of the hurricane actually struck. Flooding, downed bridges, loss of power, water shortages and the like would have greatly hampered any rescue attempt even if the prepositioned troops and supplies avoided a direct hit themselves.

It is impossible to react to a disaster before it has happened. What is needed, where is it needed and how can it be brought there all must be known before anything can be done.

Aside from shutting the doors on New Orleans years ago, the orderly evacuation prior to the hurricane was the only reasonable alternative. President Bush was reduced to begging Governor Blanco to order a mandatory evacuation on the eve of the hurricane, something the governor should have done entirely on her own days earlier. The evacuation, as we've seen was a failure because it was not ordered soon enough and the city and state failed to provide transportation to the large number of citizens who the local government knew had no transportation.

Can the Federal government commandeer local resources and wrest control away from local government? Of course not, doing so is against the law. The Federal government can act only at the request of the local government.

Should the Federal government surrender control of national resources and troops to local government? Of course not, that is also against the law. Imagine some loony governor given charge of the 82 Airborne Division.

What usually happens is the governor of the state requests federal assistance and then relinquishes control of local resources to the Federal government. This is the only legal way to accomplish the desired ends of both parties.

The above did not happen in Louisiana and New Orleans. Governor Blanco was playing CYA with the lives of her citizens. This limited the ability of the Federal government to act in this case, to the detriment of all concerned.

What did the Federal government do despite these handicaps? They shipped seven trailers of food and water to the Superdome on Monday, the day the hurricane struck New Orleans. Another seven trailers arrived on Tuesday. The Coast Guard reacted quickly, rescuing over

The need for the evacuation wasn't known until the levee failure was discovered later Monday. Prior to this time, the whole world was breathing a sigh of relief that New Orleans had been spared the worst of the storm. Rather than shipping 2.5 million pounds of food, water, medicine and clothing each day to New Orleans, the relief effort now had to be changed to the evacuation of the victims. A massive change under dire circumstances. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men...

Still, even at this late point, Governor Blanco had not declared a state of emergency and had not yet authorized Federal assistance. The Federal government, rather than acting without legal authority, provided assistance through auspices of the Louisiana National Guard.

It wasn't until Wednesday that the Federal Government received the authorization to act from Governor Blanco, though she stubbornly continued to maintain control of the situation until as late as the following Saturday, further hampering the Federal efforts.

By Thursday, the evacuation began in earnest, by Friday at least

What seems to be taken as a given in this disaster is the authority of the Federal government to fail to anticipate the path of the hurricane, the location of its hit and the damage it would cause. We could always say that the Feds should have anticipated the worst case scenario and acted accordingly.

What was the worst case scenario? Had the hurricane veered west into Galveston, Texas, what then? What if it had veered further east and hit Mobile Alabama? What if it had continued straight into New Orleans?

Planning and prepostioning for any of these alternatives would have acted to the detriment of the others. As it was, supplying food and water to a relatively intact New Orleans had to be switched to a full eviction after the storm had passed and the levees had failed.

It was the massive failure, over the past decades, of Louisiana and New Orleans to restrict the development and growth of their coastal areas that is to blame for this tragedy.

Were mistakes made? Of course. Football, baseball, wars and civilizations have always made mistakes, it is the human condition. Was there any gross negligence or even just plain negligence in this case? On the part of Louisiana and New Orleans, not just gross negligence, but criminal negligence in my opinion.

How about the Federal government? They made mistakes, yes, but were they negligent? No. They made a remarkable effort to clean up the mess in short order.

What should we do now? We should remove the levees from Lake Pontchartrain and restore the low lying areas to natural wetlands. We should allow the Mississippi a natural way to flood deposit its silt in the delta to keep it from sinking beneath the waters of the gulf.

Will this make New Orleans less populated? Of course, it should be less populated. There is little we can do to protect New Orleans from a direct hit of a category 5 hurricane. The levees won't help then.

Due to the extreme negligence of the local government, Louisiana ought to be assessed the costs of the relief effort if only to discourage a repetition of this disaster.

-- msosborn at msosborn dot com

This is local, not federal. The responsibility for damage falls to those who assume the risk. State and local planning must account for these risks or foolish development will, and in this case did, occur.

The federal government's responsibility is management of the transportation infrastructure necessary for national purposes. This would include navigation of the Mississippi river, but not Lake Pontchartrain.

To which I would add the massive failure to plan development in a sensible manner.

You are correct when it comes to the city and state. The Feds acted correctly, however. Why send troops, equipment and supplies where they will fall victim to the hurricane or be unavailable had the hurricane veered west only to hit Galveston?

What bungling? This assumes that a disaster has no cost or at least is avoidable. This simply isn't a reasonable assumption given that we are but mere mortals.

-- msosborn at msosborn dot com

Building the levees to protect against a cat 5 hurricane are a state responsibility. I believe the Federal government has been more than generous in providing assistance in this regard. New Orleans is not, and should not be, a federal responsibility. In any case, the levees will not protect against the damage caused by a cat5 hurricane. The city would have flooded from the rain, even had the levees held.

The Feds delivered seven trailers of food and water to the Superdome the day the hurricane hit and seven more trailers the very next day. The Coast Guard rescued 1200 people within the first 48 hours. In the same time frame, the Navy provided doctors and medicine to treat the ill and injured. Within two more days, the feeding and evacuation of over 60,000 people had been accomplished.

-- msosborn at msosborn dot com

There have been plans for improvements over the years but many have been blocked by environmental terrorists (greenies).

Perhaps they should be rounded up and held accountable for the deaths/damage.

Billy Ray did pass the time by typing:

They are also responsible for the screwed up mess that is our refining industry. Thankfully the fed has now pulled head out of arse and lifted many of the regulations and red-tape. Still though it will take years to build up the capacity we actually need.

Or track them down and cut off their fuel