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.''

[MizSterious]

Deo's post is confusing to me, perhaps someone can help out here. I knew as of Saturday morning that a hurricane was headed for that part of the Gulf Coast. Is there an earlier advisory? Their search engine is difficult for me to use--keeps coming up with gobbledygook.

[Torie]

On Saturday morning, I was worried that IT was going to kill tens of thousands, maybe tens of tens of thousands, and wipe out NO totally. I was making post after post about using military and other assets to get them out, now. On Sunday morning, I was in a veritable state of panic that goetterdamerung was at hand (cat 5, headed head on into NO), with still not real substantive reaction. And then the hand of God as it were, shot a breath of dry wind into the storm, weakening the monster and diverting it, and while NO is largely destroyed, and most everything under sea level will have to be bulldozed, the worst case scenario was averted - this time. "God" has warned us. We had better take heed. So says this near atheist.

[Echo Talon]

just think that guy(Nagin) needs to go away. Seems like he's making things worse.

[MizSterious]

Thank you! I was looking in the wrong place!

[Rockingham]

Yup. When Nagin's slothful attitude eventually broke down, he let loose a manic rant, not a flurry of orders and focused public appeals for help. Years ago, in college in New Orleans no less, I used to see conduct similar to Nagin's by pot heads in a sudden panic the day before final exams.

[Peach]

That's not correct, Deo.

The Hurricane Weather service man, and others, called the Mayor, at home, and urged him to order an evacuation.

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1476538/posts?page=2

[dfwgator]

Of course any General knows that even the best of plans doesn't survive the first shot. But that's why there are contingencies.

[Peach]

I just posted a link of this thread to this thread; forgot which thread I was on. LOL

[ChadGore]

Re: When a grim Nagin issued the mandatory evacuation order Sunday

2 DAYS LATE !

[BlackjackPershing]

This guy's an idiot.

Can he be removed?

I think he already has and is only a figure-head. NORTHCOM is in charge, and now you're seeing action.

In any disaster, the local government is the first-line response team. Clearly, NO's mayor failed miserably at that duty. He attempted to place blame, but I think in the long-term he'll be held to account for his failures.

[MadIvan]

I love New Orleans. If this man's idiocy has destroyed it, he should be flogged in Jackson Square.

Regards, Ivan

[ChadGore]

That's an interesting picture.

Let's count the big yellow schoole busses.

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[Yaelle]

(SHOULD the National Hurricane Director have a good night's sleep anyway the night before a level 5 hurricane is to hit the US?)

I think people have to realize just WHAT a mayor is responsible for before they take the job just for cushy perks. Like flight attendants: they are not just coffee servers. They are trained to deal with terrorists, and they have to empty a full plane of people from every corner of the world in two minutes' flat. A mayor is literally responsible for all the people and property in his domain. The buck stops with him.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Some enterprising Freeper should make a Guiliani vs. Nagin poster. One picture (two in this case) is worth a thousand words.

[Torie]

Structures cannot be saved from nature, only humans. Granted, the levees over many years could have been built up to corps of engineer standards (as it is along the river), at the cost of many billions, which would have prevented flooding this time, but nothing will save the structures from a head on Cat 5. Nothing.

[WASH]

RE: http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/plans/plansindex.htm

Are these links now broken?

[Torie]

What good would a mandatory evac do, without transport out?

[pa_dweller]

The mayor's failure to deploy the 3-400 schoolbuses that were available to help evacuate the needy will come back to haunt him. In my opinion, this was criminal negligence. How many people died because of this negligence?

Exactly.

Had the bus evacuation begun how many might have looked at a yellow caravan led by a patrol car with lights flashing and the message being put forth on the loudspeakers and thought "Hey, maybe there's something to this. Let's go"? A visible sign that the authorities considered this a serious situation could well have swayed many to board.

[EverOnward]

bookmarked

[MadIvan]

I lived in the Netherlands for a brief time, so I don't really accept that. The Dutch take water management very seriously, and as such, have had great success in preventing this kind of disaster. I certainly believe the Army Corps of Engineers, drawing on the Dutch experience, can build structures to at least minimise the impact of a Cat 5.

Remember, the Army Corps of Engineers built the Panama Canal. It's time for them to reach into that tradition and astound the world again.

Regards, Ivan