Witt Says La. Crisis 'Our Worst Nightmare'

AP ^ | 9/1/5

[SmithL]

Baton Rouge, La. -- James Lee Witt, the former Federal Emergency Management Agency director hired to advise Louisiana's governor, described the crisis Sunday in the hurricane-ravaged state as "our worst nightmare."

He couldn't estimate how long the recovery would take.

In New Orleans alone, the levees will have to be fixed and the water pumped out. After that, crews will have to get in to assess the damage and determine which structures are too unstable to remain. Utilities are down in several areas. There's also historic preservation to think about, he said Sunday on MSNBC.

"This was our worst nightmare," Witt said. "You could point the finger at anybody and everybody. ... I don't think they turned a blind eye. I don't think the state did. I don't think the mayor did. I think they worked as fast as they could do whatever they could."

[Dog]

I'll get you them...

[Howlin]

BTW, when the good governor introduced Witt to the public and said this:

Here is an excerpt from GOVERNOR BLANCO STATEMENT on JLWA's web site -

I want to introduce you to James Lee Witt. Mr. Witt ran the Federal Emergency Management Agency for eight years from 1993 to 2001. He has more than 25 years of disaster management experience.

I have asked Mr. Witt to advise and assist me and Gen. Landreneau on the recovery effort.

As FEMA director, Mr. Witt turned was credited with turning that agency around. His leadership is proven, his experience is extensive and he is an asset to this recovery effort.

She did NOT mention HIS PLAN!

[Prince Charles]

"This was our worst nightmare," Witt said. "You could point the finger at anybody and everybody. ... I don't think they turned a blind eye. I don't think the state did. I don't think the mayor did. I think they worked as fast as they could do whatever they could."

Money talks.

[Ruth C]

rotfl...nice to have a laugh

[river rat]

"It's going to be a rough job when his very first task is making excuses for the incompetence of his new boss."

And, explaining why his PLAN didn't get implemented.

Witt is the Gorelick of "The Katrina Inquiry", being joined by that perfumed prince of an Clinton a$$hole General Clark.....

The rats are calling out the snakes to cover their asses on this one......EXACTLY like they did with the 9/11 Ommission hearings.

Semper Fi

[Tarpon]

When he took the job, the very first thing on the tube was FEMA should have never been put under DHS. So you know what he was hired for.

The blame game is going to be fun, facts aren't on his side, and there is no 9/11 commission to rig the time line.

[Dog]

Powerline

Top right hand corner see CONTACT US...click on it.

[jennyjenny]

Well, now isn't that interesting.

[cgbg]

Is that the plan that said the Mayor "may" use buses to evacuate people and failed to identify the locations where the buses should mobilize, when they should leave, and where they should go?

I wouldn't hire Witless to rescue my garbage from a racoon.

[Howlin]

I can't find his plan!

[Bommer]

"You could point the finger at anybody and everybody. ... I don't think they turned a blind eye. I don't think the state did. I don't think the mayor did. I think they worked as fast as they could do whatever they could."

MAYOR NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here.

I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.

Louisiana disaster plan, pg 13, para 5 , dated 01/00

'The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating'...

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

they're thinking small, man!
they're thinking small, man!

small thinking man! small thinking man!

[grey_whiskers]

He has more than 25 years of disaster management experience.

Anti-Witt Sarcasm Torpedo ARMED. FIRE!!

And God knows the Democrats in LA are a disaster...

...as was the Clinton Administration.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Blanko putting this pinhead in charge of the "recovery" shows how seriously she is taking this crisis. She screwed the pooch with this guy last time and she's wanting to do it again. This is like putting Jamie GoreLick on the 9-11 Commission. CYA!!!

[StAnDeliver]

"James Lee Witt, the former Federal Emergency Management Agency director hired to advise Louisiana's governor, described the crisis Sunday in the hurricane-ravaged state as "our worst nightmare."

Hey AP & Blank0, take your shadow government kabuki and stick it where the sun don't shine.

[Libloather]

Direct hit by Hurricane Ivan could spell doom for New Orleans (10,000 body bags ready)
Residents fleeing deluge that could sink low-lying city
Houston Chronicle
September 15, 2004

NEW ORLEANS - More than 1.2 million people in metropolitan New Orleans were warned to get out Tuesday as 140-mph Hurricane Ivan churned toward the Gulf Coast, threatening to submerge the below-sea-level city during what could be the most disastrous storm to hit in nearly 40 years.

Residents streamed inland in bumper-to-bumper traffic in an agonizingly slow exodus amid dire warnings that Ivan could overwhelm New Orleans with up to 20 feet of filthy, chemical-polluted water. About three-quarters of a million more people along the coast in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama also were told to evacuate.

Walter Maestri, an emergency manager in New Orleans, America's most vulnerable metropolitan area, has 10,000 body bags ready in case a major hurricane hits. As Hurricane Ivan's expected path shifted uncomfortably close to the low-lying urban soup bowl, Maestri said Tuesday he might need a lot more.

If a strong Category 4 storm such as Ivan made a direct hit, he warned, 50,000 people could drown, and the city could cease to exist.

"This could be The One," Maestri said. "You're talking about the potential loss of a major metropolitan area."

Forecasters said Ivan, blamed for at least 68 deaths in the Caribbean, could reach 160 mph and strengthen to Category 5, the highest level, by the time it blows ashore as early as Thursday somewhere along the Gulf Coast.

"Hopefully the house will still be here when we get back," said Tara Chandra, a doctor at Tulane University in New Orleans who packed up his car, moved plants indoors and tried to book a Houston hotel room. Chandra said he wanted to ride out the storm, but his wife wanted to evacuate: "All the news reports are kind of freaking her out."

Houston-area emergency officials were keeping an eye on Ivan's path and have made preliminary plans should the hurricane continue to turn west.

Galveston County emergency management officials Tuesday discussed the potential for landfall there.

High tides are always a concern for Galveston County residents, and more so for those living in low-lying areas such as on the Bolivar Peninsula and West Galveston Island, the emergency management office said Tuesday. The county will continue to watch the storm and the potential for higher than normal tides to decide whether to evacuate those areas.

With hurricane-force winds extending 105 miles from its center, Ivan could cause significant damage no matter where it strikes. Officials ordered or strongly urged an estimated 1.9 million people in four states to flee to higher ground.

"I beg people on the coast: Do not ride this storm out," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said, urging people in other parts of the state to open their homes to relatives, friends and co-workers.

Late Tuesday, Ivan was centered about 325 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving north-northwest at 10 mph.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami posted a hurricane warning for a 300-mile swath from Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle to New Orleans and Grand Isle in Louisiana. Forecasters said Ivan could bring a coastal storm surge of 10 to 16 feet.

About an hour away from New Orleans in Baton Rouge, I-10 West was filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Highway rest stops, convenience stores and gas stations were filled with people fleeing the storm. Some evacuees were worried about their homes being flooded and what they would find when they returned.

New Orleans, the nation's largest city below sea level, is particularly vulnerable to flooding, and Mayor Ray Nagin was among the first to urge residents to get out while they can. The city's Louis Armstrong Airport was closed Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, off western Mexico, forecasters were watching Hurricane Javier, a Category 4 storm on a northwest course out to sea. Forecasters said it was possible the storm could make a sharp turn toward the southern Baja California peninsula.

[Texas Songwriter]

As the nightmare unfolds, I would like to take one moment to clear up something Nagan said about 1 hour ago on "60 minutes". I paraphrase, but he said the mosquito larvae are hatching, maturing, and becoming mosquitoes and when they do our biggest problem will be the mosquitoes biting the floating dead bodies and transmitting diseases from the bodies to people.

First, mosquitoes feed on living. They must have a blood meal for reproduction, so a dead body in which the blood has coagulated is not what they feed on.

There will be mosquito-born infectuous agents, West Nile being the most likely, but others also.

I don't bring these things up to address anything other that my concern that Nagan is either not getting good information from infectuous diseases experts, or he is getting the information confused. Nagan is not an entomologist nor a physician, but he should be more careful promulgating these types of ideas to the general public. It will exaccerbate the anxiety in the populus.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

NEW ORLEANS HURRICANE DISASTER PLAN:

1)Delay evacuation until last minute.

2)Park all school buses in one place at lowest ground in the city.

3)Mayor and other top officials evacuate city government to Baton Rouge before anyone else in the city.

4)Order National Guard to mill around and await further orders at a safe distance.

5)Issue orders for all citizens to loot Wal-Mart and take guns and ammo.

6)Order police to the front of the looting line.

7)Order the poor, sick and elderly to go to the Superdome and wait for something to happen.

8)Put armed warlords in charge at Superdome to supervise rapes, thefts and murders.

9)Withdraw police to a safe distance from the anarchy.

10)Mayor and Governor to be booked on network TV news shows to cry, cuss and blame Bush and his administration.

11)Play race card.

[Cboldt]

And, explaining why his PLAN didn't get implemented.

Yeah - "get a ride with your friends" was his plan. Heck, I'll make a plan like that for half a million bucks.

Another bit of chutzpah on Witt's part is the assertion today that he and the state didn't anticipate this degree of damage in the event of a levee breach, yet his outfit modeled the damage in order to prepare a response plan. Bald-faced liar.

[niteowl77]

I don't bring these things up to address anything other that my concern that Nagan is either not getting good information from infectuous diseases experts, or he is getting the information confused.

He's babbling, like he has done since he realized that only a complete coverup/diversion will save his ass. He can't lead, he won't follow, and he doesn't know when to shut up.

[danzaroni]

Can anyone point me to an article - or give some evidence - that the Governor of LA mishandled the rescue operation. I've searched through the archives but haven't found one that indicates exactly what she did wrong.

(By the way, I blame Bush for my inability to find the right article.)