The thing about the Super Dome that bothers the hell out of me is the electricity. It's designated the final refuge and it has no alternative power? No drive-up diesel generator at least to keep the lights on? At least SOME of the lights, like say, 10% of normal light intensity?
They had 250 guardsmen, 500 buses and 25,000 people. Why not bus them out? Two or three trips and those people are out of "the bowl."
Where to take them? I don't know, Baton Rouge? Houston? But at least get them out of the bowl.
It had a diesel generator, which did keep the lights on. Unfortunately, it's in the basement, and when the water started rising, it died.
That's the thing bothering ME. How did the Guardsmen lose control so badly and how did the gangs take over?
I have seen photos of the interior after the rip in the roof, showing a ray of sunlight streaming in. There are other lights on in the dome ceiling. What disturbed me was the constant reporting of nobody knows what is going on. Every arena has a public address system. So either this arena had no back up power or no one who could give out organizing, or comforting messages. Why no battery operated two-way radios - like every boat has - to communicate with the EOC. I really cannot (do not want to) believe that NOLA lacked these things in their major shelter.
There was an article posted here a couple places in the last week dated just after Hurricane Ivan -- the owner(s) of the Super Dome were upset at the idea of it being a "refuge of last resort" because it was completely unequipped to be an emergency shelter.
I don't understand why the city hasn't worked with the ownership to have emergency power...they seemed to give absolutely no thought to equipping it or what the outcome of a castrophe would be...yet FReepers here predicted what conditions in the Dome would be like *before* Katrina hit. They should have had half a clue themselves in the government...
The Dome was designated a "Last Resort Refuge." The term was defined in the official LA emergency plan differently than what you, the media, the people who went there and common sense would think it meant. On this, alas, they followed the plan. Details at my post upthread here.
The SuperDome had generator lights, but no air conditioning during the storm.
This was poorly planned from the get-go. It's not like So Cal was hit by a Cat 4 hurricane, or NO was hit by 7.0 earthquake. Everyone knows that Louisiana, and the Gulf States, are likely to get nailed by a hurricane with Katrina's intensity.
So, why weren't generators in place? They knew the electricity would fail. They needed plenty of light to keep people safe from the thugs. They needed electricity to keep 25,000 people cool. Not to mention a system for sanitary facilities.
All those buses could have been utilized to get out the most vulnerable to PREPLANNED destinations.
The local and state officials won't wiggle out of this one. Are you reading Ellesu's posts about the millions of dollars FEMA sent LA, that can't quite be accounted for. This is why the Clintons and their operatives are out there. They're trying to cover up what amounts to grand theft and criminal neglect, if not outright manslaughter. I call it murder, but I'm just looking at what these bums can be charged with.