Evacuees being turned away from Houston's Astrodome

[blatz]

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A lot of the people that will be found dead after all that water recedes are people that were caught completely by surprise by the ensuing flood. Those people should NEVER have been there - many of them could have left, but decided not to.

There were safety personnel and vehicles ready to go as soon as this thing hit, but they couldn't get in there because you couldn't get mass amounts of vehicles into the city quickly due to the rising waters.



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Some of what you say is true, a percentage of people stayed by choice, but I'm not sure what you know about the lower 9th ward, choice does not predominate there.

And I know people who drove out on the Crescent City connection on both Tuesday and Wednesday, I pray the people who left today made it, but if they can make it out, I want to find the people who could not make it in in the safety personnel and vehicles, and I suggest next time they hitch a ride with a reporter.

(And yes, I'm letting my rage out here, because I don't want my friends to have to deal with it...they have enough problems)

[whiskeytown]

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I know I'll be told to take it to another forum, so I'll just say that the lack of leadership here has been apalling.

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and yet in many ways, consistant with the pattern of the last 5 years -

RB

[ligastar]

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So let me get this straight - they are supposed to just let everyone into the Astrodome? What do you think would happen if they didn't control how many people were let in there?

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No, everyone can't be let into the Astrodome. The fire marshall and local authorities understand that X number of people can be sustained there. A few posters have touched on one of the main issues here ... THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP. None. Zip. Unacceptable. No gameplan. No logistics. No communication. Not enough National Guard, Airborne, Marines, Infantry in NO. This hurricane was bringing menace. National Guard (at least 5,000) should have been stationed in NO BEFORE Katrina hit land. One poster stated its too early to tell how the relief effort is going. Ummm, come again. I heard the director of FEMA say tonight that he didn't realize people were at the convention center until today. I knew this information yesterday. Lack of foresight. Lack of leadership.

I am pissed that people are dieing as I type this. I am pissed that American citizens have gone 72 hours without food and water. What are you missing people. American citizens have gone without food and water for 3 days. Hello. I'll go out on a limb and say we'll hear our first canabilism report tomorrow.

Greg H.

[blatz]

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Most of the people we see in the video footage from NO are black.

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I assume you are agreeing with me, I am fairly aware of the racial mix in New Orleans, and can't help but think you are stating my case just without the furious ramblings. Like so many others, I've had a rough week, apologies if i missed something.

[illini99]

Who should be leading this effort? Probably the governor, right? But we have the FEMA people, director of homeland security, the mayor, the president, etc. making statements. Presumably they are all making decisions. Or not making decisions, which actually seems to be the case. Who do you think should take over?

[siccjay]

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Someone [censored] take charge. Please.

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Who Bush? BAHAH

[Edge34]

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[ QUOTE ]
So let me get this straight - they are supposed to just let everyone into the Astrodome? What do you think would happen if they didn't control how many people were let in there?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, everyone can't be let into the Astrodome. The fire marshall and local authorities understand that X number of people can be sustained there. A few posters have touched on one of the main issues here ... THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP. None. Zip. Unacceptable. No gameplan. No logistics. No communication. Not enough National Guard, Airborne, Marines, Infantry in NO. This hurricane was bringing menace. National Guard (at least 5,000) should have been stationed in NO BEFORE Katrina hit land. One poster stated its too early to tell how the relief effort is going. Ummm, come again. I heard the director of FEMA say tonight that he didn't realize people were at the convention center until today. I knew this information yesterday. Lack of foresight. Lack of leadership.

I am pissed that people are dieing as I type this. I am pissed that American citizens have gone 72 hours without food and water. What are you missing people. American citizens have gone without food and water for 3 days. Hello. I'll go out on a limb and say we'll hear our first canabilism report tomorrow.

Greg H.

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I just had to think about this...sending 5000 troops to NO before the storm hit, when literally EVERYBODY in NO knew that it was coming and were being told to leave...that just seems counterproductive. They can do no good DURING the storm, and they can no more force people to leave than local police could.

I think this situation is FAR more complex than you give it credit for being. Yes, its a tragedy, and I'm as saddened that people have and may still lose their lives over this. But the shelters are filling to beyond max capacity, and there's only so much that can be done at once.

In an ideal world, people would have been sent to N'awlins 3 or 4 days before the storm and FORCED people out of their homes. But that was no more logical than the plan that has been taken. The authorities are clearly doing everything in their current capacity to remedy this situation, to think otherwise is shortsighted and not fully informed.

[blatz]

That's a damn good question. None of the obvious choices fit, and Mayor Ray Nagin, who I voted for, needs to toss in his badge like the scared deputy who crumbles under pressure in all good westerns. He is a business man who wanted to stamp out corruption, and has done as admirable job as possible, but he is so out of his league here, it would be funny, if people were not dying.

The best I can think of is take whoever is the top military strategist in Iraq, give him a 12 hour briefing and give him a post as special commander to Katrina Relief. He would know how to deal with chaotic situations like this, and would have to be respected by the bumblers who were now below him.

[cbfair]

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I am pissed that people are dieing as I type this. I am pissed that American citizens have gone 72 hours without food and water. What are you missing people. American citizens have gone without food and water for 3 days.

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If I may add, I'm also pissed that these same Americans are wallowing around in horribly toxified water and in several days or a week many will wish they had died of dehydration. Small lacerations will lead to gangrene, cholera will be rampant, mosquitos will breed bearing countless diseases only known to 3rd world countries in our lifetime.

By the way, none of this is a surprise. I posted a link to this article on Sunday night when someone wondered if the concern was all hype. Again, I don't know when this article was written, but it doesn't matter as this scenario has been contemplated for some time. Here's a little excerpt:

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"Filling the bowl" is the worst potential scenario for a natural disaster in the United States, emergency officials say. The Red Cross' projected death toll dwarfs estimates of 14,000 dead from a major earthquake along the New Madrid, Mo., fault, and 4,500 dead from a similar catastrophic earthquake hitting San Francisco, the next two deadliest disasters on the agency's list.

The projected death and destruction eclipse almost any other natural disaster that people paid to think about catastrophes can dream up. And the risks are significant, especially over the long term. In a given year, for example, the corps says the risk of the lakefront levees being topped is less than 1 in 300. But over the life of a 30-year mortgage, statistically that risk approaches 9 percent.

In the past year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have begun working with state and local agencies to devise plans on what to do if a Category 5 hurricane strikes New Orleans.

Shortly after he took office, FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh ordered aides to examine the nation's potential major catastrophes, including the New Orleans scenario.

"Catastrophic disasters are best defined in that they totally outstrip local and state resources, which is why the federal government needs to play a role," Allbaugh said. "There are a half-dozen or so contingencies around the nation that cause me great concern, and one of them is right there in your back yard."

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And despite countless articles and NOVA and PBS specials about this particular disaster scenario over the years, Our dear leader went on the Today Show this morning and said "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

edited to fix the movie link.

[Matty]

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And despite countless articles and NOVA and PBS specials about this particular disaster scenario over the years, Our dear leader went on the Today Show this morning and said "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]There are many more smoking guns to this particular piece of bullshit from Dear Leader. No major media outlets will cover it yet, but dailykos.com (although even there it's only found in the individual diaries) among other blogs are compiling a lot of stuff and it's just plain disgusting.

I guess the free market was supposed to save New Orleans.