[rit]

Some interesting observations

8/28/05 National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said Saturday afternoon that Hurricane Katrina will be at least a Category 4, with winds of 145 mph when it approaches the New Orleans area, and that it could be a Category 5, with winds of 155 mph or higher.

8/28/05 Superdome will be opened as a refuge of last resort for special needs patients if it becomes necessary. New Orleans residents can call 504-658-2500 for shelter information. People seeking access to a special needs shelter must call in advance to gain admission.

8/28/05 The mayor said he would stick with the state’s evacuation plan and not officially call for residents to leave until 30 hours before expected landfall, allowing residents in low-lying surrounding areas to leave first. But he recommended residents in low-lying areas of the city, such as Algiers and the 9th Ward, get a heard start.

It seems that on 8/28, they were thinking the Superdome would only be used as a SNS, not a public shelter. Then when all heck breaks loose....

Aides to Ms. Blanco said she was prepared to accept the deployment of active-duty military officials in her state. But she and other state officials balked at giving up control of the Guard as Justice Department officials said would have been required by the Insurrection Act if those combat troops were to be sent in before order was restored.

Meanwhile.... American Red Cross officials who wanted to deliver food, water and supplies to New Orleans residents stranded after Hurricane Katrina were turned down last week in the first days after the storm because of security concerns.

Katrina came ashore Monday, and Col. Jay Mayeaux, deputy director of the state Office of Homeland Security, said he asked Red Cross officials not to enter the city when he received the request on Friday, requesting instead that they wait at least 24 hours until security was more stable in the area.

"It was a military operation. We were asked by the military not to go in, and we abided by that request," said Vic Howell, CEO of the Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.

The Red Cross did hand out supplies in many of New Orleans' neighboring, hurricane-ravaged parishes and on Saturday went into New Orleans, according to Howell.

[z3n]

I think Moore's letters are more indicative of reality: /s

[TommyDale]

What is the source of this letter? It seems to be quite different from reality.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Was this letter written today and dated 8/27/2005? I doubt it's authenticity. Did Dan Rather give you this letter?

[Rutles4Ever]

This pretty much sums it up:

I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments(read: unprepared), and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance ("because all the Greyhounds are out of town and the Mayor won't lower himself to get on a schoolbus"), and debris removal. (i.e., "clean up when we're done")

[carlr]

Preliminary estimates of the types and amount of emergency assistance needed under the Stafford Act, and emergency assistance from certain Federal agencies under other statutory authorities are tabulated in Enclosure A.

What exactly was requested in this Enclosure A?

[shield]

This is backdated. The crooked LA Officials are re-writting the truth here. There was a letter on this web site dated Sept. 1st which has been removed...but FR posted on a thread...have looked for it can't find it...but we've got it which proves this letter was backdated.

[hlmencken3]

This letter is a request for monetary aid. What was the original (maybe altered by now) is at

http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf

No help was requested for evacuation. Not even money was requested for 'distribution of emergency supplies'.

This is a smoking gun, not a defense!

[processing please hold]

Will this help? It's dated the 27th.

HERE

[carlr]

From the Governors website http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976

Towards the bottom is a description of "Enclosure A" that was requested.
Unless I am misreading it it is an estimate and request for financial assistance.

[marblehead17]

ping

[LA Woman3]

Check out this thread....it was the live discussions during Katrina....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1471729/posts?q=1&&page=201

Start around post 166....

[Ellesu]

http://www.gov.state.la.us/

[LOC1]

First a basic physics lesson: kinetic energy = i/2 times mass times velocity squared. That means the energy imparted to a stationary object by wind speed (and the resulting damages) go up with the square of the wind speed. That is why a category four/five hurricane is maybe ten times more damaging than a category three hurricane.

Hurricane emergency plans at the local, state, and federal level were apparently based on a category three hurricane, which statistically was much more likely than one as strong as Katrina.

It is like we took a knife to a gun fight. Forget about the obvious incompetence at many levels. We were just out gunned by a hurricane not just a little stronger, but perhaps ten times as strong, as the emergency planners had set themselves up to handle.

Preparing for a category four/five hurricane requires maybe ten times the resources, and much stronger, and more expensive, structural designs than were in place.

The real failure was allowing statistics of probable storm strength to get in the way of good sense.

[RGSpincich]

I have designated Mr. Art Jones as the State Coordinating Officer for this request. He will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in damage assessments and may provide further information or justification on my behalf.

Mister Jones?...Paging Mister Jones.

[jdhljc169]

Bump