Posted on 09/03/2005 12:17:06 PM PDT by coffee260
We are getting a LOT of email and commentary from folks who are simply desperate to assign blame for this hurricane and the lackluster response somewhere. Frankly, the whole exercise sickens me. After 9/11 (and in my opinion, this disaster is clearly worse), at least we had the decency to wait a couple of years before we appointed a finger-pointing commission (which, we are learning, failed to notice the since most important and necessary target for finger-pointing, but I digress). However, given that folks are determined to finger-point right now, before the situation is even returned to normalcy, let us by all means examine a few pieces of relevant evidence, while they are "in the raw" and before they get dismissed as "irrelevant" by the inevitable official finger-pointing commission.
Sometime after the hurricane hit, when nobody knew what the heck was going on, we decided that it might be worthwhile to discover if there were, in fact, any official plans to deal with just the eventuality that the city of New Orleans is currently facing.
It turns out, there was an official plan on the books for the officials of the city of New Orleans - and the reason it is damning is that it reads like a laundry list of things that were not done in preparation for this hurricane. Take a look at the horror below the fold:
Sep 3rd, 2005: 11:22:36
One of the things we have been hearing is that many of the people who did not evacuate did not do so because the city had no means of getting an evacuation order to them, in that they did not have televisions in their homes. Well, the official city plan recognizes the need to be ready to evacuate at any time, the urgent need for having a warning system for those who cannot be reached by traditional media, and the most urgent need for timely notice to those individuals:
Evacuation planning and actual implementation has to be based upon certain assumptions. It must be understood that the need to evacuate elements of the population can occur at any time, events resulting in evacuations occur with various amounts of lead time and every evacuation will be unique and offer unexpected challenges to those conducting the evacuation. Evacuations in response to hazardous material spills or sudden severe weather are provided with little or no warning, and often have to be accomplished after the fact, and in a disaster response environment. Throughout the Parish persons with special needs, require special consideration regarding notification, transportation, and sheltering. Resources of equipment, facilities and personnel are more difficult to locate and coordinate when an evacuation is required during late night or early morning hours. If possible, advance warning should be given so an evacuation can be coordinated. Adequate provisions should be maintained at all times in order to conduct a warning or alert of an area. Certain hazards, such as a hurricane, provide some lead time for coordinating an evacuation. However, this can not be considered a certainty. Plus, the sheer size of an evacuation in response to an approaching hurricane creates the need for the use of community-wide warning resources, which cannot be limited to our City's geographical boundaries. Evacuation of major portions of our population, either in response to localized or citywide disasters, can only be accomplished if the citizens and visitors are kept informed of approaching threats on a timely schedule, and if they are notified of the need to evacuate in a timely and organized manner. If an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials.
Whoops.
The plan also lays out, with detailed explanations, the kind of notice a mandatory evacuation order requires to implement:
Using information developed as part of the Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Task Force and other research, the City of New Orleans has established a maximum acceptable hurricane evacuation time standard for a Category 3 storm event of 72 hours. This is based on clearance time or is the time required to clear all vehicles evacuating in response to a hurricane situation from area roadways. Clearance time begins when the first evacuating vehicle enters the road network and ends when the last evacuating vehicle reaches its destination. Clearance time also includes the time required by evacuees to secure their homes and prepare to leave (mobilization time); the time spent by evacuees traveling along the road network (travel time); and the time spent by evacuees waiting along the road network due to traffic congestion (delay time). Clearance time does not refer to the time a single vehicle spends traveling on the road network. Evacuation notices or orders will be issued during three stages prior to gale force winds making landfall.
Seventy-two hours. Not, you know, twenty-four hours. This is especially damning given that machiavel has already chronicled Nagin's stunning recalcitrance to issue a mandatory evacuation order.
But wait, there's more:
It must be understood that this Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan is an all-hazard response plan, and is applicable to events of all sizes, affecting even the smallest segments of the community. Evacuation procedures for small scale and localized evacuations are conducted per the SOPs of the New Orleans Fire Department and the New Orleans Police Department. However, due to the sheer size and number of persons to be evacuated, should a major tropical weather system or other catastrophic event threaten or impact the area, specifically directed long range planning and coordination of resources and responsibilities efforts must be undertaken. The clearance times facing Orleans Parish for a severe hurricane will necessitate proper traffic control and early evacuating decision making. The evacuation must be completed before the arrival of gale force winds. Evacuation should also start when school is not in session and when there is at least eight (8) hours of daylight included in the evacuation time allowed. Provisions must be made for the removal of disabled vehicles. Flooding of roadways due to rainfall before a hurricane arrives could close off critical evacuation routes rendering evacuation impossible. Want more?
The safe evacuation of threatened populations when endangered by a major catastrophic event is one of the principle reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The thorough identification of at-risk populations, transportation and sheltering resources, evacuation routes and potential bottlenecks and choke points, and the establishment of the management team that will coordinate not only the evacuation but which will monitor and direct the sheltering and return of affected populations, are the primary tasks of evacuation planning. Due to the geography of New Orleans and the varying scales of potential disasters and their resulting emergency evacuations, different plans are in place for small-scale evacuations and for citywide relocations of whole populations. Authority to issue evacuations of elements of the population is vested in the Mayor. By Executive Order, the chief elected official, the Mayor of the City of New Orleans, has the authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane.
I could go on, but at this point, it feels like I am beating a dead and decomposing horse. Sorry, Mayor Nagin, you screwed the pooch on this one. These people should never have been left in your city - they still ARE in your city because of your recalcitrance and lack of planning (you didn't follow your own stupid plan!) and now you are coming unglued at the seams over the people that are still in our city because no one knows they're there? And you have the audacity to suggest that the reason this is happening is everyone's fault but your own?
I can only hope that this is Mayor Nagin's way of manifesting his shame - since that is the only emotion he is justified in feeling right now.
anyone out there know how many police & fire personnel in NO? They seemed very thin for a major city...they have to have at least 10,000 - 15,000 personnel where were they?
I read somewhere (and sure wish I could remember where, for you) that the police force just abandoned ship...were operating at 20% capacity. I saw it today.
I can vouch that I saw it too, but I don't remember where either.
Yeah, I agree! They were on a real roll with low poll ratings (never bothered me-I love GW no matter what!), Cindy Sheehan "starting" the anti-war movement (what an ego!), and things not going swimmingly in Iraq (when has a war ever gone perfectly - ain't no such animal!)
Another plan to bash Bush - bites the dust!
!
ok, so it made me verklempt .. but one update ... on another thread there's a story about Qatar giving $100M to Katrina relief ! Other offers are out there. Bout time.
It was NOT racism.
It was incompetence.
The Mayor and especially the Governor were criminally stupid.
I find it amazing that the Dems can get 100% of a precinct out to vote (in alphabetical order, no less) for Little Mary but can't get those same voters out of NO.
And by drilling, by mock exercises, the whole learns what the written plans miss, they learn what resources and stagings are needed. By that mechanism a REAL plan is developed, with much of it in people's heads as it must be in order to work.
This New Orleans plan sounds like the worst kind of planning -- written by consultants and low-level functionaries, printed up and forgotten.
Liberals would beg to differ. It's this liberal platform that has created a generation of government dependent people.
I am not going to depend on the government, my boss, or any authorities to tell me when to leave a city or evacuate a building.
I may not always make the right decision, but I will make my own.
However, let's face it. Not many people could have ever imagined the massive destruction and devastation that was wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Yes, the government officials plan and prepare and practice for such disasters, but it's all on paper. Not real life. Not real tragedy.
In the final analysis it's up to us, We the People, to take action to protect ourselves and families to the best of our ability. We also must demand from officials a more efficient, streamlined, and aggressive response to future disasters.
There's just too many darn layers of government red tape and inefficient bureaucracies, rules and regs to get her wheels moving. I know that the Bush Administration has recognized this after 9-11 and is very cognizant of the fact that still more needs to be done to bring it about.
In the meantime, God Bless our beleaguered citizens impacted by this great disaster, my thoughts and prayers are with you and to our awesome heroes working night and day under extreme hazardous circumstances my hat's off to you in a big proud salute.
God Bless America. May a new, bold, bright and shining future soon arrive soon for all.
A long, boring read.
So long and boring the Mayor never quite found the time to read it!
" N O at best is a horrible crime ridden debauched hellhole with incompetents running it and awash is cronism and corruption. You go just for a visit and you are taking a chance to become a crime victim,"
This can be said of any major city on earth.
With good light and a sharp eye you will see the same in any city or berg. It is just a matter of scale.
"That is just enough! You are a f'n moron. Earthquakes don't stop America from rebuilding San Francisco or Los Angles."
I'm not for rebuilding those places either unless the rebuilding can be done in such a way as to prevent future distruction. It is folly to keep rebuilding something that will just get knocked down again. You speak of the wonderful culture of New Orleans. Fine, let those that want to rebuild it for "culture" do it using their money, not mine.
"Your suggestion is simply not credible. Only a f'n moron would agree with you."
It is indeed possible that my ideas are not credible or even practical. However, your vulgar expressions tend to hurt your credibility. Plus, you are not supposed to attack a person on this forum personally or use profanity - even disguised. A little less emotion please.
It is absurd to keep rebuilding in areas where natural forces are working against you. Unless you can effectively overcome those forces. The gulf oil industry is extremely important to the country, as is the navigation of the Missisippi river. However, I don't see that an entertainment city is necessary to maintain these. BTW - to equate a terrorist attack on NYC with a hurricane in NO is not a fair analogy. However, places like SFC and LA are also dissasters waiting to happen again. It seems folly to keep rebuilding them, at least for human residence. Some places are just not suited for large scale human occupation.
bump
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