Posted on 09/01/2005 5:56:26 PM PDT by longshadow
New Orleans radio system flooded
FEMA gets Hurricane Katrina help from unlikely place [FCW.com, 08/29/05] BY Bob Brewin Published on Aug. 31, 2005
Operation of the New Orleans police radio system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has been plagued not only by floodwaters but by a lack of natural gas to power generators.
Not only that, Louisiana State Police turned away repair technicians when they attempted to reach the city, according to an on-scene report the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International relayed to Federal Computer Week.
The report, contained in an e-mail Wednesday from Dominic Tusa, a communications consultant in Covington, La., to Willis Carter, chief of communications for the Shreveport, La. fire department said the New Orleans Police Department’s dispatch center on the second floor of police headquarters was flooded. The police were forced to relocate to the nearby Hilton Hotel.
Tusa said the police department’s citywide 800 MHz radio system functioned well during and immediately after the hurricane hit New Orleans, but since then natural gas service to the prime downtown transmitter site was disrupted and the generator was out. Transmitter sites for the police radio system “are also underwater with the rising water and [are] now disabled,” Tusa said.
Owners of the sites that housed police radio transmitters would not allow installation of liquefied petroleum gas tanks as a backup to piped gas, meaning generators did not have any fuel when the main lines were cut, Tusa said.
Radio repair technicians attempting to enter the city were turned away by the state police, even though they had letters from the city police authorizing their access, Tusa said.
In contrast to the problems in New Orleans, Tusa said the Harrison County, Miss., Department of Public Safety’s radio system, which serves Gulfport and Biloxi, remained fully operational throughout the storm and continued to operate afterward. He added that the system has experienced generator problems, “but those are being resolved as they crop up. “
This isn't a FEMA screw-up, this is a home-grown cluster-f*ck by the incompetent boobs in New Orleans and Louisiana government.
TV reports indicate that the widespread looting and lack of information or assistance to the refugees in New Orleans was the result of a failure of the police communication system AFTER the hurricane had passed. Basically, the cops in the field had $2000 walkie-talkies that were useless to them, and none of them knew where to go, or what to do.
I'm absolutely astounded by the degree and pervasiveness of the incompetence and malfeasance at both the municipal as well as state goernment level in this disaster.
It is inconceivable that the police communication system was this "brittle" and that apparently no one had a contingency plan for what to do in case of a radio system failure during a disaster.
stunnning find....
NO pols don't want their constituents arrested for looting..
My father was born and raised in New Orleans. He was the 3d generation of his family to live there. In retrospect, the best move he ever made was to move elsewhere.
Incompetence? Or perhaps...
No. I'm not going to say it. We'll just see, as this unfolds.
(steely)
You hit it on the head!
Total incompetence at the local and state level.
Where is the darn Mayor?
And what roads into and out of New Orleans are open?
I am really beginning to wonder if the local/state even had an emergency plan to implement. Nobody appears to have been in charge in NO once the evacuation order was issued(Sat.?).
You just said the "Magic Words": "Who is in charge here?"
Am I the only person to notice that the MSM hasn't asked this question AT ALL?
Hmmmmm.......
"I'm absolutely astounded by the degree and pervasiveness of the incompetence and malfeasance at both the municipal as well as state goernment level in this disaster."
Can you say "Cronism"?
Just think of all the billions of dollars provided by the Homeland Secuirty funds being spent(wasted) by greedy pols on their supporters.
Makes one sick.
I agree with the above comments that this lack of backup communications is prima facie evidence of incompetence and malfeasance by police and elected officials, I am astounded at the level of the four Ps, piss poor prior plannning, that abounds throughout.
Likewise, I am shocked that with all the choppers flying around that a police repeater hasn't been placed on top of the highest building. Likewise, if they put up a two meter amateur repeater as well, then hundreds of amateur could assist with health and welfare type traffic. Nah, this is too logical.
Oops. "amateur" should read "amateurs (HAMs)"
Here is my creative hypothesis.
The drug gangs own the NOPD. That is why 8 cops can't enter the Superdome where people are reportedly being beaten and raped. That is why there is essentially no law enforcement effort.
The drug gangs are in charge, and it is the NOPD's job (apparently) to serve them.
(Just my fictional hypothesis.)
Hmmm. putting your critical radio equipment below sea level in a hurricane alley.
I am sure there was plenty of prior planning...all on paper. Kinda makes you wonder how much corruption has occurred in every other major metro center.
You really do want to open Pandora's box, don't you?
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