Posted on 09/07/2005 1:27:26 PM PDT by Carl/NewsMax
Democrats led by Sen. Hillary Clinton are blaming the Federal Emergency Management Agency for failing to respond adequately to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
But FEMA didn't do much better under much less taxing conditions, when the floods that followed Hurricane Floyd left tens of thousands stranded up and down the Eastern seaboard, wondering what happened to federal rescuers.
New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida were hit hard when Floyd slammed the coast on Sept. 16, 1999. It was the worst storm to hit the U.S. in 25 years - yet it killed only 61 people. That death toll expected to be dwarfed by Katrina.
Clinton FEMA Director James Lee Witt won high marks for hurricane preparation, but the flood that followed swamped his agency.
A full three weeks after the storm had passed, Rev. Jesse Jackson interviewed Witt on his CNN show "Both Sides Now" - and complained that flood victims were still suffering from a "misery index."
"It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood Floyd," Jackson began. "Bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole town's under water . . . [it's] an awesome scene of tragedy. So there's a great misery index in North Carolina."
Witt explained that the storm's devastation was unparalleled, prompting Jackson to ask what was being done for the thousands of families left homeless by Floyd.
Though nearly a month had passed since the storm first hit, Witt said his agency was just beginning to address the problem.
"We're starting to move the camper trailers in," he explained. "It's been so wet it's been difficult to get things in there, but now it's going to be moving very quickly. And I think you're going to see a -- I think the people there will see a big difference over within this next weekend."
The Clinton FEMA Director came in for more criticism during another CNN interview - this time for failing to do a better job with Hurricane Floyd evacuation efforts.
"I hate to do this to you so early in the morning," host Carol Lin began apologetically.
"But I want to show you some video of Hurricane Floyd. This was the evacuation scene out of Florida last year. And you can recall, some three-million people in three different states were hitting the highways, jammed back-to-back trying to get away from the danger. And much of the local as well as the federal government was criticized for this backup. What is being done this year to prevent something like this from happening again, keeping people out of harm's way?"
Witt explained that evacuation problems were to be expected under such dire conditions. "It was very unusual when you had multiple states all evacuating at the same time," he told CNN. "It was the first time that that has happened that way and it did clog the highways."
While Witt's reputation remained largely intact after the Floyd fiasco, more than a few of the storm's thousands of flood victims complained that the agency had failed them.
"I had heard FEMA was going to be downtown, so I got up early to get down there and get in line," one North Carolina woman told the Associated Press, recounting her ordeal months after Floyd had passed. "The time came and nobody was there, just all these people waiting in line."
FEMA's sorry performance left her overwrought.
"I had been let down so many times, I just lost it," the flood victim said. "A friend of mine came walking up, and I just started toward her. She said, 'Robin, what in the world is wrong?' I was just standing there in the middle of the street crying, totally disoriented, practically hysterical."
Weeks after Floyd's floodwaters subsided, the suffering for many had yet to be addressed.
"We passed hundreds of families sitting outside their now-uninhabitable homes, with their water-soaked possessions spread out on their lawns," the Raleigh's News & Observer noted on Oct. 3, 1999.
"Desperately picking through the mess for anything to salvage, most people - particularly the elderly - seemed to be in a state of shock."
And where was FEMA?
"The larger towns had a visible FEMA and Red Cross presence," the paper said. "But in smaller towns it looked like utter confusion and despair - no one in charge, no one knowing what to do or where to go for help."
BTTT
Bump!
I live in North Carolina and wasn't to hard hit by Floyd, but I can tell you we didn't see FEMA or other people for several days. The flooding went on for days and days almost no effort to stop it. People relied on themselves and the help of local groups to get by. Same way with Hurricane Fran in 1996 which was very bad had power out for 10 days and days before we saw in FEMA help. Back to Floyd, much of the state was cut off because of flooding, Hwy 70 and I40 were shut down for several days because of flooding and damage keeping many people trapped from their home. In my home town, I went to check on my office after which is normally a 8-10 block drive, it took almost an hour because of trying to find a way around flood waters.
Plus the impact of Katrina makes Floyd look like springtime sprinkles.
In New Jersey, Floyd was nothing more than a police/fire/EMS overtime racket. The towns that were flooded out in its path needed a lot of help from neighboring towns and from state emergency officials (including the state police), and that need for help magically disappeared once FEMA stopped paying for all the overtime.
Nice find, Carl. By the way,I was listening to Imus this morning when he started in on you for pointing out his idiotic remarks of yesterday about how Bush doesn't care about black people(which caused me to turn him off, btw), and just had a good laugh. He tried to reprise the refrain today, but it doesn't seem to be catching on, at least with those not ready for white coats and heavy meds.
Bill's FEMA was pretty sorry, Hillary. Glad you brought it up.
I guess we should reserve comment on federal response until we get a full racial and economic view of those affected.
Bound Brook, NJ was under 17 feet of water. Local people hitched their boats to trailers and put them into the streets of Bound Brook, Middlesex Borough, Manville, Bridgewater, etc. Non-military helicopters were the ones doing the roof rescues in the immediate aftermath.
Note that most of the people who lived in downtown Bound Brook were illegal immigrants from Central America but nobody asked them for ID. Local emergency responders just went and got them. No looting either. In the months following, I was down at FISH donating baby clothes, toys, a crib and more and encouraged friends and family to do the same.
FEMA later reimbursed the towns and bought and knocked down some houses.
Yea, and Clinton couldn't even handle springtime sprinklers.
Sorry, you must be remembering wrong! Clinton appointee Witt was in charge -- everything went like clockwork! Hillary even said so. ;-)
Howie Carr read this on his show. If it hadn't been posted, I'd have had to.
"It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood Floyd," Jackson began. "Bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole town's under water . . . [it's] an awesome scene of tragedy. So there's a great misery index in North Carolina."
Hurricane Floyd? Someone is going to have to remind me. I'm sure it was terrible for those going through it but was it even in the top 10 of hurricanes to hit this country? Top 20?
And Clinton's FEMA didn't handle it well. Do tell.
My oh my....guess 'suuuuumbody didn't learn very well from previous experience.
While other States expecting impact from Katrina asked for Federal help BEFORE she hit, ol LA and her gang of corrupted officials refused to ask for Federal help and prayed that Katrina would turn out to be another Ivan.
"Though nearly a month had passed since the storm first hit, Witt said his agency was just beginning to address the problem."
"We're starting to move the camper trailers in," he explained. "It's been so wet it's been difficult to get things in there, but now it's going to be moving very quickly. And I think you're going to see a -- I think the people there will see a big difference over within this next weekend."
ONE MONTH LATER...
"Hurricane Floyd? Someone is going to have to remind me. I'm sure it was terrible for those going through it but was it even in the top 10 of hurricanes to hit this country? Top 20?"
It was a pretty strong storm, I don't think the winds were as strong as Hurricane Fran in 1996. But the flooding was the problem, it flooded areas not even in the 1000 year flood plain.
If that's true you'd think that FEMA would have made some positive changes in the intervening six years.
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