Blast from the past: *'s response to Texas flood in 1998 was immediate

[Mabus]

of course I don't think he had to interrupt his vacation at the time. The Del Rio flood happened Monday morning and by Monday night emergency shelters had been set-up, the National Guard (and its equipment) were sent in and the Red Cross was allowed to be on-site to help victims.

I saw this flood being mentioned in other threads because * used it as an example in a 2000 debate against Gore, so I thought I'd see how * handled it back then.

http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/9808/25/texas.flooding.01/

National Guard helping rescue Texas flood victims

More rain forecast
August 25, 1998
Web posted at: 10:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT)

DEL RIO, Texas (CNN) -- The National Guard has been called in to help rescue people trapped by deadly flooding in Del Rio, Texas, and to search for the missing.

Gov. George W. Bush has sent 150 Guardsmen, 25 trucks and nine Blackhawk helicopters to join the rescue effort. At least seven people were killed as floodwaters swept through Del Rio early Monday. As many as 30 others are missing.

--snip--

Emergency shelters were quickly set up at schools and churches in this town of 34,000. By late Monday the civic center became the main gathering spot for displaced residents as the American Red Cross provided hundreds of people with food, water, clothes, blankets and cots.

[JHB]

1. Flooding rivers are such familiar disasters...

...Texas doesn't "do" hurricanes in Bushworld. (Galva-who?)

The guy just can't imagine anything bigger than river flooding or the occasional tornado.

[mogster]

2. Amazing

I love to read CNN-articles from the 90's. It's a different world.

Imagine the NO disaster happening under Clinton, in Texas, with the same lack of federal response (Even if that is very hypothetical).

The conzervatives would have been all over him. The would have been a new impeachment. He would have had to resign. Probably gone to jail.

If the more rabid rw'ers had their way, he would have been executed.

[Mabus]

5. a different world indeed

Unfortunately the one we are currently in bears little to no resemblence to the one we had before Dec. 2000 when the ________________ (fill in your own characterization) Rehnquist court changed the course of the world and put it in the hands of mad men.

[wakeme2008]

3. And Jame Witt was in

control of FEMA.

Men vs boys.... :grr:

[Village Idiot]

4. There were boots on the ground...

Up to 10 FEMA water trucks and 90,000 Meals-Ready-To-Eat ONE DAY after Hurricane Charley hit the FLA coast last August, as well...

[WiseButAngrySara]

6. And Mississippi and Alabama didn't have complaints like LA.....n/t

[TexasLady]

7. my mother in law went through that flood in Grand Forks

back in 1997. Obviously it was a much smaller scale of disaster, but she said within days folks up there had "75 trailers behind my mother's house" set up for people who were displaced,and many more came later.

Also found this online...

'It's just mesmerizing'

Lucy Matejcek, whose home a mile north of Grand Forks was flooded eight years ago, has been glued to the television images.
"In a way now, it makes us feel lucky," she said. "We had a place to go. We were able to evacuate and didn't have to slog through four feet of water infested with snakes, sludge and chemicals. We never went hungry or lacked for water. We didn't have to hang out with corpses."

She finds it difficult to turn away from the images. "It's just mesmerizing," she said. "Once you're over the shock of acknowledging that the pictures you see are real, then you begin to wonder. It's unbelievable that the richest country in the world seems unable to help our country's most needy citizens.
"Some are calling it a national disgrace."

Matejcek said the government's response to the disaster has been "inept," most notably by FEMA. It's in sharp contrast to her surprise at how fast and efficient the government and disaster assistance agencies were in 1997.
"It's time for the nation to reset priorities," she said. "If we can't handle Mother Nature's act of terrorism, how are we able to handle a real act of terrorism?"

She said she can relate to some of the emotions of the hurricane victims, but not all because of the difference in scale.
"I know we never felt abandoned by our government," she said. "This is America, for Pete's sake."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/12561677.htm

[Kerrytravelers]

8. So, apparently he does know what happens when water rises.

Knock me over with a feather.