The big disconnect on New Orleans

CNN ^ | 9/2/2005

[gitmo]

The official version; then there's the in-the-trenches version

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Diverging views of a crumbling New Orleans emerged Thursday. The sanitized view came from federal officials at news conferences and television appearances. But the official line was contradicted by grittier, more desperate views from the shelters and the streets.

These conflicting views came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, evacuee Raymond Cooper, CNN correspondents and others. Here's what they had to say:

Conditions in the Convention Center

FEMA chief Brown: We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need. (See video of CNN asking why FEMA is clueless about conditions -- 2:11)

Mayor Nagin: The convention center is unsanitary and unsafe, and we are running out of supplies for the 15,000 to 20,000 people. (Hear Nagin's angry demand for soldiers. 1:04)

CNN Producer Kim Segal: It was chaos. There was nobody there, nobody in charge. And there was nobody giving even water. The children, you should see them, they're all just in tears. There are sick people. We saw... people who are dying in front of you.

Evacuee Raymond Cooper: Sir, you've got about 3,000 people here in this -- in the Convention Center right now. They're hungry. Don't have any food. We were told

[gitmo]

Are the feds sandbagging the nation?

[nuffsenuff]

No.

[hiredhand]

Everybody needs to read THIS -

http://tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1026

[vbmoneyspender]

Who do you trust more to have a handle on what needs to be done, President Bush or the Mayor of New Orleans and the nitwits at CNN

[Max Flatow]

CNN Producer Kim Segal: It was chaos. There was nobody there, nobody in charge. And there was nobody giving even water. The children, you should see them, they're all just in tears. There are sick people. We saw... people who are dying in front of you.

Wasn't that the mayor of NOs job to be the team leader? Where was he at when this chaos was taking place? How much supplies did they have in the Superdome any way? This is the first I heard of any supplies at the S'Dome. I thought it was supposed to be a 'place of last resort', not a place for long term care.

[whershey]

"Wasn't that the mayor of NOs job to be the team leader? Where was he at when this chaos was taking place?"

I've been wondering this too. From what I can see all he's done is complain and fan the flames.

[gitmo]

Who do you trust more to have a handle on what needs to be done, President Bush or the Mayor of New Orleans and the nitwits at CNN

I wouldn't be waiting on any of them. I'd be as far from that deathtrap as humanly possible.

[Max Flatow]

The Intellectual Activist

This may help.

[discostu]

This is what happens when you declare shelter areas mere hours before the disaster starts and didn't mobilize any national gaurd troops to set them up. Had the done things the right way (declare evacuation by friday at the latest, mobilize the entire state's contingent of NG troops, declare shelter areas before even starting the evacuation, using NG troops to prepare the shelter areas in the 3 days notice they got because you acted early) these things wouldn't be a mess. Instead they gathered 15,000 people in these shelters then said "hey there's not enough food and water and nobody to keep the order, why did FEMA screw up?"

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I linked it for you.

[Max Flatow]

Well maybe not.

[conserv13]

In general, the person complaining the loudest is the one responsible for the problem.

[rineaux]

powerful report. thanks for the link.

[JimBianchi11]

Nice read!

[Trust but Verify]

Yep, that's exactly what happened. They didn't plan on having to take care of the people in the SD for more than 24 hours. When it became apparent it was impossible for people to go back home, there was no back-up plan. I would dearly love to know what the actual evacuation handbook says and how closely it was followed.

Either the plan was horribly flawed or it was not followed by local and state officials.

[PJ-Comix]

Wasn't that the mayor of NOs job to be the team leader? Where was he at when this chaos was taking place? How much supplies did they have in the Superdome any way?

The Mayor of New Orleans has been OUT of New Orleans. I believe he is in Baton Rouge. Yeah, the mayor is out of NO and the liberals are gripping about Bush not going there.

[Southack]

New Orleans, which was on the weaker, West side of Hurricane Katrina, is suffering from a lack of local leadership (e.g. the NO Mayor refuses to personally oversee the relief efforts at the Super Dome...he's in some condo somewhere else).

Mobile, which was hit by the stronger East side of Hurricane Katrina, is handling the natural disaster just fine.

Compare. Contrast.

Florida suffers through hurricanes this (and even more) powerful on a regular basis, and handles each crisis in a calm, well-prepared, well-lead manner. Ditto for Texas, though it gets hit less often, Galveston epitomizes rational adult pre-planning (e.g. sea wall, raised town floor, evacuation systems in place, well-educated "hurricane" awareness for its local citizens, etc.).

Again, compare and contrast. The difference isn't **federal** leadership. Can you spot the difference?!

[hiredhand]

That's a broken link. ;-)

[AnAmericanMother]

I would dearly love to know what the actual evacuation handbook says. . .

Book? What book?

I would bet you a dollar to a donut that (a) there is no book; or (b) nobody has any idea where the one lone typescript copy is.

The city's "plan" bears every earmark of something done on the fly and by the seat of the pants.

You know, the Feds are supposed to provide funding and materiel in support of local government, not do the job that local government was SUPPOSED to do . . .