Posted on 07/02/2012 4:43:44 PM PDT by Kartographer
We’ve seen it time and again over the last decade. An emergency strikes and panic grips the city or region for days or weeks on end.
We saw a complete breakdown of emergency response and law & order during Hurricane Katrina. The 2011 Snowpocalypse on the east coast led to runs on grocery stores and empty shelves within a matter of hours. Widespread blackouts during Hurricane Ike left large sections of the Houston power grid down for up to four weeks. In all these cases gas was almost impossible to find, what was in your pantry was what you had until food distribution resumed, local water was not safe for consumption, and government response was limited to reinstating essential services first and foremost.
The bottom line, as Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project notes, is that after billions have been spent by Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and local law enforcement, we are no more prepared today than we were the day before September 11, 2011.
(Excerpt) Read more at shtfplan.com ...
Three days later, countless traffic lights are still out, hundreds of thousands of residents are without power, including myself, grocery stores and gas station are closed for lack of power, and the federal government is encouraging employees to telework.
[SHTFplan Editor's note: Brilliant recommendation from the best and brightest - to "telework" when the grid is down. ]
…
Is this the work of a terrible terrorist attack? No, it is the complete disaster non-preparedness a decade after 9/11. Despite the fact that billions if not trillions have been spent since 9/11 on counter-terrorism and so-called “homeland security” measures, one of the major terrorist targets, the nation’s capital, cannot cope with a severe thunderstorm.
…
I received a message from PEPCO that most D.C.-area residents may not have power until next Friday at 11:00 pm – a full week after the storm hit. With temperatures this week set for the mid to upper-90s, that is a long time for residents to be with air conditioning, or fans, or refrigerators.
Two years ago, the Washington Post’s comprehensive examination of the billions of taxpayer dollars spent on “homeland security,” “Top Secret America” reflected that the D.C. metropolitan area was burgeoning with infrastructure, though apparently none of it focused on keeping the D.C.-area up and running after a severe thunderstorm.
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I am not the only D.C. taxpayer wondering, where are billions in “critical infrastructure” protection and “homeland security?” They are not going toward obvious solutions like putting power lines underground.
The D.C. area’s responsiveness to unexpected events has not improved, but taxpayers’ pockets have been drained to create an entire secret city of “national security” in northern Virginia. Making sure citizens have food and power in an emergency should be a top priority, not a distant second to security theater like taking our shoes off before getting on an airplane.
(Pictured: Run on grocery stores; Snowpocalypse 2010)
Once again we are provided with ample evidence that not only is the government ill-prepared to handle a large scale city-wide emergency, but the residents of this nation are completely oblivious to the fact that if the shit hits the fan, no one will be there to provide assistance.
When Houston was hit almost head on by Hurricane Ike in 2008 the residents of the entire metropolitan area were shocked. Never mind the mass chaos as millions tried to flee the region, with drives to neighboring cities taking upwards of ten times longer than they normally would. Power for 90% of the city went out, and for some areas, including where we lived, power was not restored for almost a month. Suffice it to say our community was anxiety ridden, frustrated and tempers were flaring. When gas became wholly unavailable and the generators stopped running and we were overtaken with near 100 degree heat during the day, the situation for many became untenable.
FEMA’s own web site calls on Americans to have a two week supply of emergency items, yet most citizens have only a three day supply of reserve food available – whatever’s in the kitchen when disaster strikes is what they’ve got until things get back to normal.
Even after these recommendations from the very people who are tasked with responding to emergency and disaster situations, not a single resident in our community that we were aware of had emergency supplies on hand when Ike hit – even though many had gone through countless hurricanes before and knew what to expect.
After Katrina, Ike, the various earthquakes, wildfires, snow storms, “Derechos,” power outages, and tens of billions in taxpayer funds supposedly appropriated into infrastructure, security and emergency response, it’s simply incredible that we are so unprepared as a society.
Imagine, for a moment, what happens in a scenario that affects not a single city, but an entire multi-state region, or, perhaps the entire nation. And imagine that the event(s) is so widespread that government is totally overwhelmed – food transportation stops, refineries can’t get gas to local areas, water and power utility workers stay home to care for their families, law enforcement is faced with widespread looting, the internet becomes inaccessible as do all avenues of communication due to blackouts, and grocery store shelves remain out of stock for weeks or months.
Such a scenario may be unlikely, but certainly possible – and the resulting effects on the population and our way of life would be nothing short of complete and utter pandemonium, especially for those who have failed to prepare.
D.C. Still Unprepared for a Severe Thunderstorm, Despite Billions in So-Called “Homeland Security”
by Jesselyn Radack on July 02, 2012 ( The Whistleblogger / 2012 )
Preppers’ PING!
You’d think that everyone and anyone would be able to keep three days of food and water on hand.....
I don’t know whether to laugh at the libs living in these places who demanded green energy and slavish devotions to labor unions
or to cry because one storm brought the most powerful nation on Earth to its knees.
:(
Quite frankly I’m pleasantly surprised that there are not more stories of looting and violence in DC following this storm. Best wishes to all those stranded there.
How about the electric car owners?
“I received a message from PEPCO that most D.C.-area residents may not have power until next Friday at 11:00 pm – a full week after the storm hit. With temperatures this week set for the mid to upper-90s, that is a long time for residents to be with air conditioning, or fans, or refrigerators.”
If they weren’t such a sorry bunch of leftist freeloaders in DC, I could almost (well, maybe just a little) feel sorry for these @$$e$. Time for them to pee up a rope and stand in the falling shower...
What would really be nice is if the WH was totally w/o power, and the Usurpers were locked inside...
Go check the government buildings. bet the lights are on, computers are working and the a/c is humming..
You “common folks” where never their concern when they spent those billions.
“How about the electric car owners?”
Electric cars should come with exercise machines tied to generators so that ‘they’ can recharge the car’s battery’s...each hour of vigorous exercise gives them 10 minutes of driving time...and make the WH staff all drive Volts...
Ill bet a dollar to a doughnut the golden child’s ears don’t get tarnished with a hint of blame. Its that damn rove and his weather machine again
Don’t worry Obama and the Dems will have a new global warming plan any day now
We had a bad snow storm a few years ago with power out for 7 days. No problem for us - even had an old neighbor gal stay with us. Of course once the kids saw me crank up the wood stove (which we never use) then they wanted s’mores. Cross-country skied to the store, and they DID have marshmallows! (I had the chocolate and graham crackers).
Not much else was on the shelves, and the checkout lady looked at me funny when all I bought was a couple bags of marshmallows!
With the “just in time” shipping combined with bad roads, it doesn’t take long for the stores to run out.
Telework when there’s no power. Reminds me of my old disk jockey days. When a snow storm knocked out the power someone was always telling a greenhord to announce that the power was off and we’d be broadcasting as soon as power was back on. You’d be surprised how many people would fall for that. When I was new they pulled it on me and I’ll admit I reached for the mic switch before I realized I was being had.
and not one DC resident will think THEY should have been prepared. Only that the federal government needed to run to their rescue right away.
Whoever wrote this, and whoever he quotes are idiots.
The vast majority of real Americans are not helpless, ignorant victims who exist at all at the pleasure of government. Those are little more than dumb animals normally viewed as pets.
The millions of past Americans who created the country, now on the verge of collapse, relied on themselves, on family and community.
Quite successfully, I might add.
Today, voters need only be warm and breathing (mostly.)
To avert total collapse as a culture, voters need much higher qualifications.
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