National Hurricane Director had to call Nagin at home Saturday night to plead: "Get people out..."

Knight Ridder Newspapers ^ | Sun, Aug. 28, 2005 | BY MARC CAPUTO, DAVID OVALLE AND ERIKA BOLSTAD

[joinedafterattack]

MAYOR CRITICIZED EVEN BEFORE LEVY BREAK. National Hurricane Center Director had to call Nagin at home Saturday night to plead: "Get people out of New Orleans." "The criticisms of Nagin came from above as well. Numerous officials urged him to evacuate the city, but he worried about the legality of ordering people out when New Orleans has few safe hurricane shelters. Also, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield in Miami called Nagin at home Saturday night and told him: Get people out of New Orleans.

''I could never sleep if I felt like I didn't do everything that I could to impress upon people the gravity of the situation,'' Mayfield said. ``New Orleans is never going to be the same.''

When a grim Nagin issued the mandatory evacuation order Sunday, he said: ``We are facing a storm that most of us have feared . . . God bless us.''

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

LOL!

[kempster]

The only question that Americans need to ask themselves is, where would these people be today if it wasn't for President Bush? it's that simple.

[SweetCaroline]

I wouldn't be surprised if Nagin's hurricaneGAY PARTY was in full gear when he took that phone call.....remember how he welcomed those who were to attend to the gay decadence week-end!!!!

[AliVeritas]

What they don't tell is that the director called Washington; That's why Bush came on and asked them to evacuate.

[AliVeritas]

And Blanco? Who didn't go until Bush went?

[AliVeritas]

Bush called Blanco and Nagin, he said they had it under control.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[The person responsible for recognition of hurricane related preparation needs and for the issuance of an evacuation order is the Mayor of the City of New Orleans. ]

Guess if you want to be Mayor, you should at least read the rule book.

[blake6900]

You want Homeland Security? Get rid of those clueless idiots and give that job back to the National Guard and the Coast Guard, the agencies created with the experience to handle these disasters and get rid of this ridiculously ineffective agency and it's interference with common sense.

Hey, Vinnie...tell your liberal friend the Department of Homeland Security was their idea. Obviously he's forgotten that.

[AliVeritas]

I know, I posted it earlier from her website.

[finnman69]

This goon was just going to sit tight. Whatta fool.

[hoboken109]

Whats the plan then ..Email the news organizations ? Flood them with with this article ( no pun intended) The MSM will bash Bush to high heaven over this storm ( something i said before it even hit BTW)We have to off set it .

[AliVeritas]

Thanks. We need a page to keep all our links on. I have documents from Landrieu's father (Moon, Mitch's father also, not getting the new pumps installed because he forgot to figure in installation (they were later found in a relatives business, big scandal...from fed assistance before), and loads of goodies from other sites. Any suggestions how to set it up? backhoe has all the Katrina threads and it will take a while to comb them for exact timelines...we need them though.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

the dems can load buses full of otherwise non-voters and get them to the polls, but can't evacuate them out of town

Therein lies the root cause. This isn't an election year.

[Rooivalk]

I can't prove it of course, but Nagin looks to me like someone who enjoys a bong hit now and again. I wouldn't be surprised if Nagin's hurricane party was in full gear when he took that phone call.

My sides are still aching from your post

[Torie]

Good lawyers know when to parse the facts to distinguish from existing precedent, and urge action because it is right to do so. The over arching principle, is that the law is not a suicide pact, and the robes will support you. The robes are a problem, but they are not suicide pact types. At least not yet. And the best lawyers, in an emergency, will advise, even if it is illegal, it is worth it if you want to do what is right, and are willing to bear the consequences. It is all about leadership in a crisis.

[nopardons]

bttt

[raygun]

That's why pilots fly with things called checklists that are immensely useful during situations such as mid-flight engine restarts (or even the normal and mundane like approach and landing). The FedGov has all sorts of stuff war-gamed, and whenever something happens anywhere that's a departure from normal they breakout the appropriate scenario folder, crack the seal on it, and implement the plan. Periodically, the White House go into lock down mode and they practice these things.

One of the greatest generals of all time said, "What distinguishes a hero is not an extraordinary man who acts courageous in the face of adversity, its an ordinary man who acts ordinary while everybody else is falling apart around him." Where did we see the sort of behavior demonstrated last weekend before? Yep that's right, from the Democratic Congressional leadership while the attacks of 9/11 were in progress.

The biggest excuse I heard about failure to evac the city last weekend was based on legal advice rendered to the mayor. Fat lot of good that's going to do him now. Moreover, the evac routes were gridlock. Why were they gridlock? That's because of lack of planning and foresight.

One of the lanes of the road wasn't designated as out-bound for emergency use only. Moreover, there should've been contingency plans afoot for vehicle wrecks to be bulldozed w/impugnity out of the evac routes. Furthermore, there was no contingency plans to open all inbound lanes (except one) to evac traffic. And finally, there was no clear decisive destination for all the people being evac'd (nor was there a logistics system in place to implement for support of these people until FedGov can mobilize).

Operation Overlord wasn't planned the week before, and they didn't move all assets into place the 24 hours prior to execution. Right now at this moment there are mountains as high as Everest of materiel, and millions of bases just wait to be used in Saudi Arabia. Why are they there? Because the Saudi's know a little bit about what I'm talking about. Somewhere near Diego Garcia are merchant marine vessels that are parked and filled with M1 Abrahms tanks. The mariners on these vessels do nothing all day long but start the engines, and maintance these tanks (and other equipment). Within 48 hrs some of that stuff can be on the ground ready to use and not just beginning to be pulled out of mothballs.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Also, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield in Miami called Nagin at home Saturday night and told him: Get people out of New Orleans.

I watched Max on TV. He spoke quite clearly and was quite easy to listen to.

What part of "get out of town" didn't Nagin understand?