Posted on 08/28/2005 6:42:16 PM PDT by bamaroots04
POLITICALLY MOTIVATED MAYOR WAITS TOO LATE TO DECLARE MANDATORY EVACUATIONS. THE FEDERAL GOVT NEEDS THE POWER TO OVERRIDE LOCAL POLITICS AND ORDER EVACUATIONS.
The Mayor of New Orleans has blood on his hands. It took President Bush's pleas to finally influence the mayor to call for a mandatory evacuation. Meteorologists have been fairly certain since Thursday that New Orleans was going to be the target of Katrina, and furthermore that in all likelihood Katrina would grow into a Category 4 storm. Experts have warned that a Category 3 storm would ravage New Orleans with 20 foot floods which would require months to drain from the city. A category 3 would induce catastrophic damage in New Orleans. And yet Katrina was predicted to be not just a category 3, but a category 4, so the damage would foreseeably be many times more devastating than the mere 20 foot flood catastrophe a category 3 would induce. Yet the mayor of New Orleans did nothing, wasted precious time, hoping foolishly that the storm track would change.
Now in America for some reason we have delegated the authority to declare mandatory evacuations to the mayors of affected areas. There is a tremendous flaw in this system. People become increasingly complacent and aggravated when they are forced to evacuate for a storm and it misses them entirely. The many "false alarm" evacuations prompted by the barrage of hurricanes that hit the US last year but missed New Orleans created a cynical citizenry, upset at the inconvenience of being moved for a false alarm hurricane evacuation.
Fast forward to August 2005, despite Katrina barreling towards New Orleans, the mayor hesitated and hesitated to declare mandatory evacuations because he feared repercussions @ the ballot box if the evac turned out to be another false alarm.
It took the President's persistence to sway the Mayor to finally declare mandatory evacuations Saturday morning. That left authorities in New Orleans two days to organize and assemble mass evacuations. As it stands, there are likely thousands of impoverished, backwoods people who in their reluctance to accept New Orleans impending doom refuse to leave behind the homes that they and their ancestors have proudly inhabited for decades. Naturally, they are induced by a mix of cynicism, denial, and pride to attempt to preserve the fruits of their lives' labor, namely their homes.
There is a good chance that many of the thousands of remaining people will not last through the 200+ wind gusts, +28 foot storm surge, and 20+ foot flood streams. All because of the political concerns of a mayor and an US policy that allows those political concerns to determine whether or not to order evacuations.
I guess you have problems with state sovereignty as well...
Perhaps we should just let the UN issue evacuation orders...
Point taken. :-)
I hoope your brother is OK, but everyone has access to the weather forcasts, and anyone could anticipate that waiting for an order to evacuate would lead to gas lines, sold out motels, and traffic jams.
I lived on the west bank of N.O. in 1969 and we left for Camille. That was a good decision. I volunteered to help clean up after camille and saw the destruction first hand. What struck me is the amount of mud in the homes after the waters subsided. As of 8pm my brother had not made it to my mothers house. I'm assuming he made it out and was struck in traffic but not sure yet.
Agreed. But this thread was about the mayor and his responsibilities. The mayor waited too late. I've heard the 1.5 hr trip to B.R. was taking 7 hours yesterday. They should have started evacuations Friday. I just hope there were not people who decided to stay because they feared they would be stuck on the interstate as the hurricane approached.
There's such a thing as advising people to evacuate before making it manditory.
I live in florida on fairly high ground. I've been through several hurricanes and a dozen major scares. I've never evacuated.
The difference, I think, is that I am not living below sea level. I could be killed by a falling tree, or flying debris, but not by a flood.
Camille was in 1969 and went east of N.O....not much damage.
Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965 but was weaker in intensity...a lot of rain though!
Why stop at Washington? Why not put the UN in charge?
Yes, he does. Hopefully, he got it before it was too late. There was a woman with him, but they didn't interview her. Probably, she would do what the man did. So sad.
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