State of the Union Address

[jfuh]

Nagan and Blanco had the SAME amount of time to prepare for Katrina that the President and FEMA had. They could have and SHOULD have done more for the residents of their city/state in the days prior to Katrina. Katrina was forecast to make landfall in NO on Thursday... yet the mandatory evacuation wasn't handed down until Sunday. Is that complimentary planning? (and why is this being revisited? It isn't like most don't already know where the facts lie)

A new update on this. Federal officials in particular the white house knew much further ahead that local officials would be overwhelmed with a major hurricane yet did nothing.
Source

 

[jfuh]

Actually, such powerful storms are NOT so common along the Gulf Coast. They are far more common further south as well as on the southeast ATLANTIC coast.

Common or not has nothing to do with the situation. Point is that NO is situated in a specific geographic location that is prone to be hit by tropical storms. Being nearly entirely under sea level, the precautionary measures are much more differnt than that of say Jackson County Fl.

Actually, the Caribbean is not that close to the equator (the equator runs through Ecuador and northern Brazil).

Let me clarify, Carribean is within the tropic of cancer and recieves nearly direct solar radiation during the summer months. Translation, higher surface temperatures.

Also, New Orleans is no where NEAR the Caribbean and Katrina was never in the Caribbean. It formed just off the southeast coast of Florida, quickly strengthened to a category one storm less than two days before it was classified as a tropical storm. After passing through the Florida Peninsula, the original forecast track had the storm running north along the west coast of Florida where it was expected to his the Florida Panhandle near Pensacola. It was only about 24 hours later that it was clear that the course would be further west and it strengthened with frightening speed. It was about TWO DAYS before landfall that New Orleans was within the 'cone of uncertainty' of the storm forecast. To say that they had months or even weeks of warning to prepare for Katrina and evacuate the city is pure fantasy.

You're right, it didn't form in the Carribean, point though is that even with 2 days, you can still easily evacuate. Hell even with 24 hours you can still evacuate.

They were unable to get the supplies in because the local infrastructure was destroyed or severely damaged!

So...... the US has full capacity to send supplies to places where absolutely no infrastructure ever existed for the purpose of war (ie desert of Iraq). Yet then has no ability to cross a few canals and flood riden areas that are very much on the coast? Is it just me or does that just sound flawed.

 

[ludahai]

You're right, it didn't form in the Carribean, point though is that even with 2 days, you can still easily evacuate. Hell even with 24 hours you can still evacuate.

So why didn't Mayor Negin and Governor Blanco get the evacuation done?

So...... the US has full capacity to send supplies to places where absolutely no infrastructure ever existed for the purpose of war (ie desert of Iraq). Yet then has no ability to cross a few canals and flood riden areas that are very much on the coast? Is it just me or does that just sound flawed.

We DID have the ability, and it was done MUCH faster than it was done in Iraq. It took MONTHS to position all of the material for the invasion of Iraq. They had 48 hours to prepare for Katrina, and the local officials have a lot of blame for lack of preparation in the Superdome and the Convention Center.

 

[jfuh]

So why didn't Mayor Negin and Governor Blanco get the evacuation done?

Good question that I'm asking as well. Frankly I don't know what was keeping those two at all. I'm sure more should surface as time progresses. Then again I can also say that local officials do not always get "all the information".

We DID have the ability, and it was done MUCH faster than it was done in Iraq. It took MONTHS to position all of the material for the invasion of Iraq. They had 48 hours to prepare for Katrina, and the local officials have a lot of blame for lack of preparation in the Superdome and the Convention Center.

As I've repeated, there's plenty of blame to go around. Variance so far is that local officials almost immediately accepted responsibility for thier lack of response and issued apologies. What of the federal response. "We had no prior knowledge yada yada yada yada....." However now more and more evidence is surfacing that indeed they had sufficient evidence and knowledge of what would happen as was written in the NYTimes of official documents today.
What I'm really interested in finding out is the exchange of information between agencies and the White House right prior to and during Katrina, phone calls and ect. That should prove interesting. I'm only saying it's interesting because they're so unwilling to release those documents.

 

[ludahai]

Good question that I'm asking as well. Frankly I don't know what was keeping those two at all. I'm sure more should surface as time progresses. Then again I can also say that local officials do not always get "all the information".

Actually, local officials should have had MORE information about local conditions and needs, NOT less. That NY Times article puts a lot of the onus on local officials for their inadequate response.

As I've repeated, there's plenty of blame to go around. Variance so far is that local officials almost immediately accepted responsibility for thier lack of response and issued apologies

.

That isn't true. They all lambasted the federal government for their lack of response. Have you already forgotten Nagin's profanity-laced tirade on the radio in NO.

What of the federal response. "We had no prior knowledge yada yada yada yada....." However now more and more evidence is surfacing that indeed they had sufficient evidence and knowledge of what would happen as was written in the NYTimes of official documents today.

Actually, that article said nothing about PRIOR. It said the White House was informed of the levy breaks on Monday night. They weren't informed of the breaks BEFORE they happened.

What I'm really interested in finding out is the exchange of information between agencies and the White House right prior to and during Katrina, phone calls and ect. That should prove interesting. I'm only saying it's interesting because they're so unwilling to release those documents.

I am also interested in this, not to assign blame but to improve the system in case of future disasters, REGARDLESS of the administration that has to deal with it.

 

[jfuh]

Actually, local officials should have had MORE information about local conditions and needs, NOT less. That NY Times article puts a lot of the onus on local officials for their inadequate response.

That isn't true. They all lambasted the federal government for their lack of response. Have you already forgotten Nagin's profanity-laced tirade on the radio in NO.

Actually, that article said nothing about PRIOR. It said the White House was informed of the levy breaks on Monday night. They weren't informed of the breaks BEFORE they happened.

This article says otherwise.
Republicans' Report on Katrina Assails Response