Hurricane Center Director Tells Paper He Briefed Brown and Chertoff on Danger of Severe Flooding

Editor and Publisher ^ | September 04, 2005 | E&P Staff

[sgtyork]

Larry..Larry....Larry This has been posted on this site so many time we're getting tired of seeing it. I posted it before you reponded with this. See above there's even more detail. Here is the the point you were asking for. This denial of yours is really not attractive and up to your usual standards.

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Section III-B-V lists the tasks assigned to the various city government offices in the event of a hurricane catastrophe. The Mayor has three tasks: to initiate the evacuation, to retain overall control of the emergency operation, and then to authorize a return to the evacuated areas. The city's Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) reports to the mayor and must coordinate with the NOPD, the state OEP, and the regional transit authorities to:


* Supply transportation as needed in accordance with the current Standard Operating Procedures.


* Place special vehicles on alert to be utilized if needed.


* Position supervisors and dispatch evacuation buses.


* If warranted by scope of evacuation, implement additional service.

[sgtyork]

Here is the plan itself the proof you demand. You could have read it yourself, but being fully informed is not part of your denial structure.

In addition to the transportation being provided "FROM THE AREA"

note this:

"citywide relocations of whole populations."

and this:

The SOP provides for the evacuation of the public from danger areas

I know, I know "..... its being taken out of context ..... it depends on what the word relocation means... it depends on what the word transportation means....it depends on what danger areas means.....it depends on what the phrase 'whole populations' means..."

Isn't it psychologically demanding to maintain this level of denial.



http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26

PART 2: EVACUATION

I. GENERAL

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.

Evacuation procedures for special needs persons with either physical or mental handicaps, including registration of disabled persons, is covered in the SOP for Evacuation of Special Needs Persons.

Major population relocations resulting from an approaching hurricane or similar anticipated disaster, caused the City of New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness to develop a specific Hurricane Emergency Evacuation Standard Operating Procedures, which are appended to the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.

The SOP is developed to provide for an orderly and coordinated evacuation intended to minimize the hazardous effects of flooding, wind, and rain on the residents and visitors in New Orleans. The SOP provides for the evacuation of the public from danger areas and the designations of shelters for evacuees.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Dude, my very first post gave you the link. You find it. It's there.

[liberallarry]

Pretty much what I thought.

The plan is not specific. It says that the city should be able to handle any contingency - different plans for different levels of emergency. But they had nothing prepared for this level of emergency.

Not surprising.

[sgtyork]

Yes it was a plan that had to take into account many different scenarios but this scenario is addressed by the phrase. When you have non-specific plan, you war game it in advance. Ever heard of worst case scenario? In this case EVERYBODY KNEW WHAT THE WORST CASE WAS.

How much specificity does ""citywide relocations of whole populations." require? Do you want every shelter in northern parishes listed? You are just sooooo reasonable.

"..... its being taken out of context ..... it depends on what the word relocation means... it depends on what the word transportation means....it depends on what danger areas means.....it depends on what the phrase 'whole populations' means...its not specific...it depends on what the word emergency means...it depends on what citywide relocation means"

[God luvs America]

you are absolutely right...the rat-MSM set the table for the majority of the Bush-bashing taking place...

[liberallarry]

Dude, my very first post gave you the link. You find it. It's there.

That's just plain rude...or lazy. That plan is written in mind-numbing bureaucratese. I've skimmed it at least 3 times without success (which I suspect is 3 more times than you've done).

I did, however find this

Following a disaster of such magnitude that far exceeds the City's and State's ability to meet the needs of the community and results in the requesting and granting of a Presidential Disaster Declaration, the Office of Emergency Preparedness shall, as previously described, at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness, establish Disaster Relief Centers for individuals seeking recovery assistance. These sites shall be established at geographically strategic sites, providing all affected citizens with access to available programs, and shall provide representatives from numerous federal, state, local, and private relief agencies. Locations of the centers, as well as information on FEMA's teleregistration program, shall be made known via ESF?14, Public Information, and all other available information outlets (see ESF?14, Public Information).

[liberallarry]

You're being unreasonable for partisan reasons. Currently evacuated populations are being housed in something like 650 shelters outside the city and as far away as Texas. Clearly a disaster of this magnitutude far exceeds the resources of the city and the state.

In theory, everyone should have developed a plan and placed resources to handle it. In practice that was impossible.

[liberallarry]

By the way, as has been noted several times on this thread New Orleans came within a hair of dodging the bullet. On Tuesday TV and newspapers were announcing it had...before the magnitude of the levee breach was discovered (arguing about this has strained the relationship of Torie and Howlin).

Had the levees not been breached all the emergency preparations would have been adequate and everyone would be congratulating themselves for a job well done. Had Nagin ordered 100,000 of the city's most vulnerable placed on buses and sent to nowhere (resulting in many deaths) he certainly would have been prosecuted and this forum would have been lambasting him just as severely as it's now doing for not doing that.

[sgtyork]

No you were right Larry. I learned today that there was no New Orleans plan for evacuation.

Apparently the mayor was preparing a DVD to circulate to his constituents that said in effect "You are on your own".

So it wasn't a plan badly executed it was, as you said a bad plan. Cest' la vie heh?

I don't know if this plan complied with the applicable laws and its too bad he didn't get this DVD out before the hurricane season. I won't ask if he shared this non-plan with the state. I am now as confused as his poor constituents must have been before they drowned.

Your little fantasy about people being upset about being evacuated in a false alarm however just seems a little too disengaged with the reality that we face. Call me unimaginative, but all I can see in my fantasy are those 250 buses moving a hundred thousand people 30 or 40 miles toward Baton Rouge and thus allowing them to live.

[liberallarry]

I see this as a disaster noone could have adequately prepared for. I am uncomfortable trying to assess blame. Better to focus on what went wrong and try to improve on it. I see no evidence that either Mayor Nagin or President Bush behaved badly. I'm not sure of the intermediaries - Governor Blanco, FEMA director Brown and his boss Chertoff. I can't seem to get a handle on their responsibilities and behavior. But my guess is that they too did their best in an impossible situation. The media makes it look like Brown may take the fall for it though.

Your little fantasy about people being upset about being evacuated in a false alarm however just seems a little too disengaged with the reality that we face

I base this fantasy on what I read in Metafilter. Some people privately chartered 5 buses to evacuate old folks - probably their relatives. Several died as a result (people in nursing homes are very fragile). Had Nagin attempted a much larger, much more impersonal evacuation, with no definite receiving shelters, he might have lost several hundred or even a couple of thousand. If it turned out that evacuation was unnecessary I think relatives, friends, and ambulance chasers would have had a field day. Do you really find such a scenario unrealistic? If so, then you have a far, far better opinion of humanity than I.

[sgtyork]

Several died as a result (people in nursing homes are very fragile).

And many more lived.. and that's the point.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The point is:
Blame Bush if one is President, and a Dem Governor waited nine days to notify the Feds (see Bush I vs. Chiles re: Hurricane Andrew)

Blame Bush if one is Governor.

Blame Governor if said Governor is Republican (re: Hayley Barbour, see also 9/11 Pataki/Guiliani)

Blame Bush if one is President and said Governor is Democrast and female (re: Hurricane Katrina).

How boring.

Or more simply, Republicans think that there are other considerations besides PR, and Democrats don't. Because Republicans fall into the trap of actually doing things, they inevitably make mistakes and are subject to criticism.

Journalism is what defines PR, and journalists are not leaders but second-guessers. And Democrat politicians don't lead either, if there is a Republican in the vicinity upon whom to cast the blame. "Objective" journalism is an illegitimate establishment which arrogates to itself the definition of objectivity. Democratic politicians identify themselves with the journalist's arrogant, cynical definitions of "reality."

Journalists and Democratic pols make a distinction between each other, but there actually is no difference between them. This is illustrated by the fact that although no Republican politician ever becomes an "objective" journalist, there is a veritable revolving door between journalism and Democratic politics. George Stephanopolous, poster boy.

I'm taken by your reference to Governor Chiles and Hurricane Andrew; I think it would be worthwhile if you dug up a link or two, and created a vanity thread to make your point.