Lessons From Katrina Boost FEMA's Sandy Response

KUHF-FM Houston ^ | November 3, 2012 | Brian Naylor, NPR

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The federal agency has received praise from politicians and storm survivors alike for being prepared before the storm and responsive immediately afterwards - two things the agency was not when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in 2005.

......."FEMA is a very different organization than it was during Katrina," says Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

Lieberman chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which helped spur post-Katrina reforms at the agency. Those changes, Lieberman says, have proved themselves during Sandy.

"[FEMA] was proactive, and it didn't used to be. It doesn't wait for the storm to hit, it pre-positions personnel, equipment, food supplies, water, etc.," he says........"

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I think Bloomberg wanted his cops to do the job saying he didn’t want more people with guns on his streets

Public Sector Union overtime.

[silverleaf]

when obama’s team rewrites history, Sandy will be reclassified as a “kinetic climatic occurrence”

Maybe FOX should take over the disaster relief effort, it seems adult leadership is desperately needed

Where are Shep and Whorealdo? Shouldn’t they be standing on a bridge crying?

[pops88]

FEMA is a very different organization than it was during Katrina
Yes, it has now been elevated to an unimaginable level of graft and corruption as only the RATs can do. It is totally unable to lift a finger, except the middle one.
____________________________________________________________

My husband sat next to a bunch of FEMA big wigs at a restaurant who were attending a convention. They’re laughing their a$$es off all the way to the bank on the tax payer’s dime that’s paying their salary and pensions, with no intention of helping anyone. He was thoroughly disgusted by what he overheard.

[TomGuy]

No worries, people. Obama is already at FEMA HQ this morning.

He will be kicking a** this morning, because, so far, the FEMA response has been kicking his.

And the election is Tuesday, so he needs some good photo-ops and adoring Media coverage.

[Right Wing Assault]

The problem with Katrina, of course, was not as much the hurricane but the flooding. I remember our local paper headline: "New Orleans dodges Katrina" or something like that.

Then the levees blew. Local, state, and federal people knew for years that day would come but didn't do near enough to prevent it. Lucky for most of them it was not on their watch. Bush had the bad luck to be there when it happened.

Most of their planning was done for typical hurricane scenarios such as housing, food, flooding in places, restoration of power but not for flooding of a Noah's ark proportions, which prevented movement of people and supples in the quantities needed.

Where they had buses and trucks to move people and supplies, they needed a navy. Toss the stupidity of state and local Chocolate City politicians in the mix and you've got a major disaster.

More than enough people to share the blame, but it was easier for politicians and the MSM to pass the buck to Bush rather than share the truth.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Where are Shep and Whorealdo? Shouldn’t they be standing on a bridge crying?

[PGalt]

GRRRREAT thread (posts & taglines) BUMP!

[TomGuy]

Bloomberg showed where his priority was — by saying that the marathon would take place.

Later yesterday, political and people pressure caused him to retract that position.

It did, however, show Bloomberg’s incompetence.

[mo]

FEMA, like the BATF and TSA..is another intrusive, expensive, un-Constitutional federal agency running around trying to justify to Congress and the American people its existence, mission, budget and salaries.

Maybe a Romney administration will in its mercy, put it out of existence? Spare us all the existential dram? /s

[AFPhys]

LOL

This is sure a different story than the articles that are featured on Drudge...

[kearnyirish2]

“Brian Kilmeade told the viewers that FEMA said they can’t come out to assess his damage because THEY [FEMA trucks] DON’T HAVE any gas AND they asked if they can get out there, could Kilmeade find them a hotel room on Long Island!”

When they said the fuel shipments had to be directed to utility and law enforcement vehicles, I felt it was worth waiting for hours to fill the tank (I had about four days’ worth of gas in the tank); today we’ll start rationing in much of NJ, but if the stations’ tanks are constantly drained I don’t know this will help.

[TomGuy]

Obama at FEMA this morning ‘... no bureaucracy, no red tape. Let’s get things done.’

==

Rush Limbaugh was classic yesterday — saying both Bloomberg and Obama were dissing big government, which both support, to get relief moving to those in need.

Both Bloomberg and Obama are advocating the suspension of bureaucratic and agency regulations which, in emergencies, are hindences and roadblocks.

[IMR 4350]

I never did understand why people on FR thought “Droopy” was such a great person.

Droopy has been a left wing partisan hack his entire life.

Some people are easily fooled by the Droopy routine I guess.

[Lady Heron]

"[FEMA] was proactive, and it didn't used to be.

Bull!

FEMA was sitting on the border of Louisianan waiting before Katrina hit. A dem governor did not let them into her state.

[Kozak]

Bob Beckels lips are buried in Baracks nether region.....

[trebb]

FEMA is not suitable as a first responder. NOLA was in chaos after Katrina and Mississippi rolled up its sleeves and got to work while the Governor took the lead. The Northeast is like NOLA with all the Dims who will sit in their own dirty diapers and cry because someone from the government hasn’t stopped by to change their diapers. That said, Blooming Idiotberg and others up there are not impressing me with their talk and lack of leadership - they are the ones who need to take the initial lead and not get diverted by such oh-so-important things like a freaking foot race...

[762X51]

The Northeast is like NOLA with all the Dims who will sit in their own dirty diapers and cry because someone from the government hasn’t stopped by to change their diapers.

As a Mississippian who lost it all in Katrina I can attest to the accuracy of your statement. We did what needed to be done. We didn't wait for the FedGov to help or we'd still be waiting. New York is New Orleans all over again.

[jch10]

No, LLS, Nagin, of NO, was the worst. Bloomie is second.

[trebb]

I live 10 miles East of Biloxi so I can verify what you say as true - we busted our butts to make sure those who were worse off were OK, then we all started putting the are back together. Makes me proud to be one of them "Damn Yankees" who came here with the Air Force in '86 and decided to settle down in this backwater, racist God loving, gun-carrying, hard working State.

[Scotswife]

We had a flood in our area last year.
Now I could be wrong of course - but I don’t recall FEMA being involved WHATSOEVER in that first wave of relief (water, food, shelter,clearing roads)

From what I recall....FEMA doesn’t bother with that - AT ALL.

When their people first came in - they began the process of surveying the area - taking photos of damage- setting up offices to start the long term relief paperwork - and issuing psa’s informing flood victims how to begin their recovery process.

The national guard was here first - they were the very first group to show up in our small town to start feeding people and clearing roads.