|
the following is a diary of what happened, with links and references. And it shuts up dittoheads of all stripes: PRELUDE- THE BUDGET CUTS June 7, 2001 Bush signed his massive $1.3 trillion income tax cut into law—a tax cut that severely depleted the government of revenues it needed to address critical priorities. Bush’s first budget introduced in February 2001 proposed more than half a billion dollars worth of cuts to the Army Corps of Engineers for the 2002 fiscal year. Bush proposed providing only half of what his own administration officials said was necessary to sustain the critical Southeast Louisiana Flood Control Project (SELA)—a project started after a 1995 rainstorm flooded 25,000 homes and caused a half billion dollars in damage. Similarly, less than two weeks after Bush signed his tax cut on June 7, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that “despite warnings that it could slow emergency response to future flood and hurricane victims, House Republicans stripped $389 million in disaster relief money from the budget.” Mike Parker, 1999 Republican nominee for Mississippi governor, was rewarded for his Republican service by President Bush, who appointed him to head the Army Corps of Engineers on June 7, 2001. June 23-37, 2001 Times–Picayune publishes series on effects on hurricane hitting S. Louiisiana http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/February 2002 The president unveiled his new budget, this one with a $390 million cut to the Army Corps. The cuts came during the same year the richest 5 percent (those who make an average of $300,000 or more) were slated to receive $24 billion in new tax cuts. The cuts were devastating. The administration provided just $5 million for maintaining and upgrading critical hurricane protection levees in New Orleans—one fifth of what government experts and Republican elected officials in Louisiana told the administration was needed. Likewise, the administration had been informed that SELA needed $80 million to keep its work moving at full speed, but the White House only proposed providing a quarter of that. These cuts came even though the potential cost of not improving infrastructure was known to be astronomical. A widely-circulated 1998 report on Louisiana’s insurance risks said a serious storm could inflict $27 billion worth of damage just to homes and cars—and that didn’t include industrial or commercial property. Local insurance executives estimated in 2002 that the total damage would be closer to $100 billion to $150 billion—estimates that now look frighteningly accurate. When Mike Parker headed to Capitol Hill for annual budget hearings in February 2002, he couldn’t hide the truth. Under questioning, he admitted that “there will be a negative impact” if the President’s budget cuts were allowed to go forward. The White House fired Parker within a matter of days. February 2, 2004 White House on February 2 released a budget with another massive cut to infrastructure and public works projects—this time to the tune of $460 million. As the Denver Post later reported, “the Southeast Louisiana Flood Control project sought $100 million in U.S. aid to strengthen the levees holding back the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, but the Bush administration offered a paltry $16.5 million.” The Chicago Tribune noted that the Army Corps of Engineers had also requested $27 million to pay for hurricane protection upgrades around Lake Pontchartrain—but the White House pared that back to $3.9 million. Gaps in levees around Lake Pontchartrain, which were supposed to be filled by 2004, would not be filled because of budget shortfalls. Corps officials told the Times-Picayune in April “that the lack of money will leave gaps in the structure, weakening its effectiveness and pushing back its completion date.” Worse, because budget cuts had been compounding for three years straight, “even after all the gaps are closed, the levee must settle for several more years until it reaches its final height.” By June, the newspaper reported that “for the first time in 37 years, federal budget cuts have all but stopped major work on the New Orleans area’s east bank hurricane levees.” “We are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us,” Jefferson Parish emergency manager Walter Maestri said at the time, desperately begging the Bush administration to reevaluate its budget decisions. As he noted, the budget cuts meant that levee gaps would accumulate and “we’ll end up so far behind that we can’t catch up. … And the further behind we get, the more critical the safety of the city becomes.” But almost no one in Washington was listening. Ten days after the Times-Picayune story, the U.S. House passed a $155 billion White House-backed bill to cut corporate taxes. The Senate had passed a similar bill the month before. Republican lawmakers from the Gulf Coast—who purported to be concerned about infrastructure budget cuts—all supported the new tax cut. September 4, 2004 HURRICANE FRANCES HITS FLORIDA: FROM THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE November, 2005 “Imagine if, in advance of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of trucks had been waiting with water and ice and medicine and other supplies. Imagine if 4,000 National Guardsmen and an equal number of emergency aid workers from around the country had been moved into place, and five million meals had been ready to serve. Imagine if scores of mobile satellite-communications stations had been prepared to move in instantly, ensuring that rescuers could talk to one another. Imagine if all this had been managed by a federal-and-state task force that not only directed the government response but also helped coordinate the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and other outside groups. Actually, this requires no imagination: it is exactly what the Bush administration did a year ago when Florida braced for Hurricane Frances. Of course the circumstances then were very special: it was two months before the presidential election, and Florida's twenty-seven electoral votes were hanging in the balance. It is hardly surprising that Washington ensured the success of "the largest response to a natural disaster we've ever had in this country." The president himself passed out water bottles to Floridians driven from their homes.” July, 2005 FEMA (Michael Brown) WARNED OF SHORTAGES AND PROBLEMS IN REPORT FEMA's Brown Was Warned Early of Shortages - By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Thursday, September 29, 2005 Former FEMA director Michael Brown was warned weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit that his agency's backlogged computer systems could delay supplies and put personnel at risk during an emergency, according to an audit released Wednesday. An internal review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's information-sharing system shows it was overwhelmed during the 2004 hurricane season. The audit was released a day after Brown vehemently defended FEMA for the government's dismal response to Katrina, instead blaming state and local officials for poor planning and chaos during the Aug. 29 storm and subsequent flooding. The review by Homeland Security Department acting Inspector General Richard L. Skinner examined FEMA's response to four major hurricanes and a tropical storm that hit Florida and the Gulf Coast in August and September 2004. It noted FEMA's mission during disasters as rapid response and coordinating efforts among federal, state and local authorities. "However, FEMA's systems do not support effective or efficient coordination of deployment operations because there is no sharing of information," the audit found. "Consequently, this created operational inefficiencies and hindered the delivery of essential disaster response and recovery services," it said. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/09/28/national/w145107D24.DTL&type=printable.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A COMPARISON OF PREVIOUS HURRICANE RESPONSES: President Nixon -- August of 1969 -- when Cat-5 Hurricane Camille hit roughly the same area as Katrina, President Nixon had already readied the National Guard and ordered all Gulf rescue vessels and equipment from Tampa and Houston to follow the Hurricane in. There were over 1,000 regular military with two dozen helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard within hours after the skies cleared. President Clinton -- September 1999, Hurricane Floyd -- a category 3 -- was bearing down on the Carolinas and Virginia. President Clinton was in Christchurch, New Zealand - meeting with President Jiang of China. He made the proclamation that only Presidents can make and declared the areas affected by Floyd "Federal Disaster Areas" so the National Guard and Military can begin to mobilize. Then he cut short his meetings overseas and flew home to coordinate the rescue efforts. This all one day BEFORE a Cat-3 hit the coast. President Bush (41) -- August, 1992 --was in the midst of a brutal campaign for re-election. Yet, he cut off his campaigning the day before and went to Washington where he martialed the largest military operation on US soil in history. He sent in 7,000 National Guard and 22,000 regular military personnel, and all the gear to begin the clean up within hours after Andrew passed through Florida. George Bush (43) -- August 2005 -- Cat-5 Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf. Both states are down nearly 8,000 National Guard troops because they are in Iraq -- with most of the rescue gear needed. Bush is on vacation. The day before Katrina makes landfall, Bush rides his bike for two hours. The day Katrina hits, he goes to John McCain's birthday party, and lies to old people about the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company welfare boondoggle. People are dying, the largest port of entry in the United States (and fifth largest in the World) is under attack. Troops and supplies are desperately needed. The levees are cracking and the emergency 1-1/2 ton sandbags are ready, but there aren't enough helicopters or pilots to set them before the levees fail. The mayor of New Orleans begs for Federal coordination, but there is none, and the sandbagging never gets done. Bush goes to San Diego, to play guitar with a country singer and lie to the military about how Iraq is just exactly like WWII. The levees give way, filling New Orleans with water, sewage, oil and chemicals. Ten percent of all US exports, and 50% of all agricultural exports ordinarily go through this port. It is totally destroyed. Bush decides he'll end his vacation a couple of days early -- TOMORROW--BECAUSE HE HAS TICKETS TO A PADRES GAME! He goes back to the farm in Crawford, with every intention of doing something on WEDNESDAY about this disaster that happened starting last SUNDAY night. He had time for a couple of rounds of golf, too. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ KATRINA Friday, August 26 PRESIDENT DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY President declares a State of Emergency in Louisiana on August 26, 2005 that technically made the Governor’s request unnecessary. This can be seen from the official White House press release at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.htmlOnce the President declared the State of Emergency on August 26, 2005, it triggered something called “An Incident of National Significance.” According to the United States National Response Plan, this has quite a few consequences, all of which are designed to put the Federal Government in charge, eliminate delays based on paperwork, and eliminate any need for local officials to ask for help. Here are some quotes: “The President leads the Nation in responding efficiently and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and effectively to all Incidents of National Significance.” "Standard procedures regarding requests for assistance may be expedited, or under extreme circumstances, suspended in the immediate aftermath of an event of catastrophic magnitude." The US National Response Plan can be found at http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interweb/assetlibrary/NRP_FullText.pdfThe FEMA documents cited are Official Notices in the "FEMA Federal Register" here. FEMA emergency management specialist based in Washington, DC, Leo Bosner, detailed how he and other FEMA professionals tried to alert then-FEMA Director Michael Brown and his boss, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, of the threat posed by Hurricane Katrina. Bosner is in charge of the FEMA unit responsible for alerting officials of impending crises. As early as Friday, Aug. 26, Bosner knew that Katrina could turn into a major emergency. In daily e-mails -- known as National Situation Updates -- sent to Chertoff, Brown and others in the days before Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast, Bosner warned of its growing strength -- and of the particular danger the hurricane posed to New Orleans, much of which lies below sea level. But Bosner says FEMA failed to organize the massive mobilization of National Guard troops and evacuation buses needed for a quick and effective relief response when Katrina struck. He says he and his colleagues at FEMA's D.C. headquarters were shocked by the lack of response. "We could see all this going downhill," Bosner said, "but there was nothing we could do." The first such National Situation Update went out on August 26, 2005, days before Katrina reached New Orleans: http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/2005/nat082605.shtmGOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA:
GULF COAST STATES REQUEST TROOP ASSISTANCE FROM PENTAGON: At a 9/1 press conference, Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, commander, Joint Task Force Katrina, said that the Gulf States began the process of requesting additional forces on Friday, 8/26.
Saturday August 27
The next National Situation Update, issued on Saturday, August 27, detailed the gathering threat as Katrina headed towards the Gulf Coast:
Katrina Becomes a Category Three Hurricane, Aims Towards Northern Gulf Coast
Katrina is now a Category Three hurricane and some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours. Reconnaissance aircraft data indicates that the Katrina has also become a larger hurricane.
http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/2005/nat082705.shtm
Sunday, August 28
The National Situation Update for Sunday, August 28, continues to warn of the oncoming disaster:
Homeland Security Threat Level: YELLOW (ELEVATED).
Dangerous Category Four Hurricane Katrina Continues West-Northwestward But Expected To Turn Northward
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the North Central Gulf Coast from Morgan City Louisiana eastward to the Alabama/Florida border including the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.
http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/2005/nat082805.shtm
5AM — KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE
GOV. BLANCO ASKS BUSH TO DECLARE FEDERAL STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA: “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, 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.”
The Governor’s request for help on August 28, 2005 as can be seen by viewing her official request at:
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster Relief Request.pdf
and on the web:
http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976
THE FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF THE REQUEST:
_______________________________________
August 27, 2005
The President
The White House
Washington, D. C.
Through:
Regional Director
FEMA Region VI
800 North Loop 288
Denton, Texas 76209
Dear Mr. President:
Under the provisions of Section 501 (a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206.35, I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing. The affected areas are all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area and the mid state Interstate I-49 corridor and northern parishes along the I-20 corridor that are accepting the thousands of citizens evacuating from the areas expecting to be flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
In response to the situation I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005 in accordance with Section 501 (a) of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas in accordance with our State Evacuation Plan and the remainder of the state to support the State Special Needs and Sheltering Plan.
Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, 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, 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, and debris removal....
...Sincerely,
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Governor
____________________________
The official White House response to this request is in the press release at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050829-2.html
WHAT BLANCO ASKED FOR: SHE INCLUDED ALL PARISHES
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster Relief Request.pdf
WHAT BUSH ISSUED…HE LEFT OUT NOLA AND ADJACENTS
Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana
The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.
The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.
FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARED, DHS AND FEMA GIVEN FULL AUTHORITY TO RESPOND TO KATRINA: “Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.”
Stafford Act (42 USC 68), which was amended after the terror attacks of four years ago to state that any presidentially declared disaster or national emergency automatically became an Incident of National Significance and as such was the responsibility of the federal government to handle it. Reference is Section 5143, which states:
Immediately upon his declaration of a major disaster or emergency, the President shall appoint a Federal coordinating officer to operate in the affected area.
(b) Functions of Federal coordinating officer
In order to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, the Federal coordinating officer, within the affected area, shall -
(1) make an initial appraisal of the types of relief most urgently needed;
(2) establish such field offices as he deems necessary and as are authorized by the President;
(3) coordinate the administration of relief, including activities of the State and local governments, the American National Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Mennonite Disaster Service, and other relief or disaster assistance organizations, which agree to operate under his advice or direction, except that nothing contained in this chapter shall limit or in any way affect the responsibilities of the American National Red Cross under chapter 3001 of title 36; and
(4) take such other action, consistent with authority delegated to him by the President, and consistent with the provisions of this chapter, as he may deem necessary to assist local citizens and public officials in promptly obtaining assistance to which they are entitled.
Sunday, August 28
2AM – KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE
7AM – KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE
MORNING — LOUISIANA NEWSPAPER SIGNALS LEVEES MAY GIVE: “Forecasters Fear Levees Won’t Hold Katrina”: “Forecasters feared Sunday afternoon that storm driven waters will lap over the New Orleans levees when monster Hurricane Katrina pushes past the Crescent City tomorrow.”
9:30 AM — MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES FIRST EVER MANDATORY EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS: “We’re facing the storm most of us have feared,” said Nagin. “This is going to be an unprecedented event.”
“Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to evacuate themselves.”
This is referring to evacuating people to an emergency shelter within the city, not evacuating people to points outside the city. The Mayor did implement an emergency bussing system that evacuated the city's poor and disabled to the Superdome.
This can be verified by reading the plan at http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26
4PM – NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ISSUES SPECIAL HURRICANE WARNING: In the event of a category 4 or 5 hit, “Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer. … At least one-half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. All gabled roofs will fail, leaving those homes severely damaged or destroyed. … Power outages will last for weeks. … Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.”
AFTERNOON — BUSH, BROWN, CHERTOFF WARNED OF LEVEE FAILURE BY NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR: Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center: “‘We were briefing them way before landfall. … It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped.’”
LATE PM – REPORTS OF WATER TOPPLING OVER LEVEE: “Waves crashed atop the exercise path on the Lake Pontchartrain levee in Kenner early Monday as Katrina churned closer.”
APPROXIMATELY 30,000 EVACUEES GATHER AT SUPERDOME WITH ROUGHLY 36 HOURS WORTH OF FOOD
DHS BEGINS BUNGLING:
In one instance, federal environmental health specialists, who were charged with protecting both rescue workers and evacuees, weren't called in by the Department of Homeland Security until Sunday -- 12 days after the Occupational Safety & Health Administration announced it had teams from various agencies standing by ready to assist. Even now, with mounting evidence of environmental problems, the deployment is being held up by continuing interagency wrangling, according to officials at the National Institutes of Health, which also is involved in the effort.
In addition, FEMA's official requests, known as tasking assignments and used by the agency to demand help from other government agencies, show that it first asked the Department of Transportation to look for buses to help evacuate the more than 20,000 people who had taken refuge at the Superdome in New Orleans at 1:45 a.m. on Aug. 31. At the time, it only asked for 455 buses and 300 ambulances for the enormous task. Almost 18 hours later, it canceled the request for the ambulances because it turned out, as one FEMA employee put it, "the DOT doesn't do ambulances."
FEMA ended up modifying the number of buses it thought it needed to get the job done, until it settled on a final request of 1,355 buses at 8:05 p.m. on Sept. 3. The buses, though, trickled into New Orleans, with only a dozen or so arriving on the first day.
ALL CONDITIONS FOR FEDERAL RELIEF ACT ARE MET:
All necessary conditions for federal relief were met on August 28. Pursuant to Section 502 of the Stafford Act, "he declaration of an emergency by the President makes Federal emergency assistance available," and the President made such a declaration on August 28. The public record indicates that several additional days passed before such assistance was actually made available to the State;
The Governor must make a timely request for such assistance, which meets the requirements of federal law. The report states that "xcept to the extent that an emergency involves primarily Federal interests, both declarations of major disaster and declarations of emergency must be triggered by a request to the President from the Governor of the affected state";
Governor Blanco did indeed make such a request, which was both timely and in compliance with federal law. The report finds that "Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco requested by letter dated August 27, 2005...that the President declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period from August 26, 2005 and continuing pursuant to " and "Governor Blanco's August 27,2005 request for an emergency declaration also included her determination...that 'the incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of disaster."
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster Relief Request.pdf
FEMA's Declaration of Emergency and the President's official declaration excludes all of the SE and SW Parishes.
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/crskatrinarept91205.pdf
The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief Brown, who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents show.
Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to do so until about 36 hours after the storm hit, when Chertoff designated him as the "principal federal official" in charge of the storm....
But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents. An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director."
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/politic...
National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield also gave daily pre-storm videoconference briefings to federal officials in Washington, warning them of a nightmare scenario of New Orleans' levees not holding, winds smashing windows in high-rise buildings and flooding wiping out large swaths of the Gulf Coast.
A photo on the White House Web site shows Bush in Crawford, Texas, watching Mayfield give a briefing on Aug. 28, a day before Katrina smashed ashore with 145-mph winds.
Monday, August 29
National Situation Update for Monday, August 29:
NExtremely Dangerous Category Four Hurricane Katrina Moving Northward Toward Southeastern Louisiana And The Northern Gulf Coast
A hurricane warning is in effect for the north central gulf coast from Morgan City Louisiana eastward to the Alabama/Florida border including the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Preparations to protect life and property should be completed this evening.
Coastal storm surge flooding of 18 to 22 feet above normal tide levels, locally as high as 28 feet, along with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected near and to the east of where the center makes landfall. Some levees in the greater New Orleans area could be overtopped. Significant storm surge flooding will occur elsewhere along the central and northeastern Gulf of Mexico coast. NOAA buoy 42040, located about 50 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi river recently reported waves heights of at least 46 feet.
Preparedness Activities
State Actions:
Alabama EOC is at full activation.
Florida EOC is at Level 1 (full activation).
Georgia EOC is at Level 1 operations.
Mississippi EOC activated, State of Emergency has been declared.
Louisiana EOC is fully activated, with mandatory evacuation orders issued.
Federal Actions:
FEMA Headquarters: The FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) Red Team is activated at Level I (Full Activation).
FEMA headquarters is conducting daily video-teleconferences at noon EDT with FEMA Region IV, the National Hurricane Center and the potentially affected States.
The Logistics Readiness Center is operational 24/7.
MERS Teams have been deployed to Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and Texas to support Hurricane Katrina response operations.
32 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams have been sent to staging areas in Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee in preparation for responding to Hurricane Katrina.
Seven Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces have been deployed to Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi in preparation for responding to Hurricane Katrina.
The ERT-N Blue is deployed to the Louisiana State Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rogue.
FEMA Region IV RRCC in Atlanta activated at Level I (full activation).
Four ERT-As are operational in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.
FEMA Region VI RRCC in Denton, TX activated at Level I (full activation).
http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/2005/nat082905.shtm
3AM- 9TH ST. CANAL LEVEE BREAKS
Statement given to the New Orleans Times Picayune by Master Sgt. Stephen Cockerham who was at the National Guard Headquarters during the storm:
"I'd say within 15 minutes, it was six feet deep inside the building."
The winds were too strong to flee, he said, and he did not know at the time that the levee gave way. "All I know is it came up damned fast," he said. "I'd say we were right in the midst of the strongest winds when the levee broke."
The flooding from the levee breach shut down the cities National Guard Headquarters, destroyed much of the communication equipment, and sent the Guardsmen to the Superdome for refuge.
Other communications gear, which was stored in the back of a military truck, floated away...
400 Guardsmen rode out the hurricane at the barracks...
By 9:30 p.m.(Monday), Guard leaders decided to relocate the command staff to the Superdome..."Once we lost power, that's really when we ceased to function,"...helicopter crews picked them up and flew them to the Superdome.
5AM- CIVILIAN CALLS CORPS OF ENGINEERS TO TELL THEM OF BREAK @ 17TH ST. CANAL. FEMA FAILS TO ACTIVATE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM
7AM – KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE
8AM – MAYOR NAGIN REPORTS THAT WATER IS FLOWING OVER LEVEE: “I’ve gotten reports this morning that there is already water coming over some of the levee systems. In the lower ninth ward, we’ve had one of our pumping stations to stop operating, so we will have significant flooding, it is just a matter of how much.”
8:15AM NWS ISSUES ALERT:
WGUS54 KLIX 291316
FFWLIX
LAC071-087-291915-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
814 AM CDT MON AUG 29 2005
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR ORLEANS PARISH IN SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...NEW ORLEANS ST. BERNARD PARISH IN SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF CHALMETTE
Aug. 29, the agency warned in capital letters: "SOME LEVEES IN THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA COULD BE OVERTOPPED."
MORNING — BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION: “I spoke to Mike Chertoff today — he’s the head of the Department of Homeland Security. I knew people would want me to discuss this issue , so we got us an airplane on — a telephone on Air Force One, so I called him. I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are.”
MORNING- Blanco calls Bush: "I need everything you've got," the governor said she told the president on Monday. "I am going to need all the help you can send me."
MORNING – BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN
11AM — BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “This new bill I signed says, if you’re a senior and you like the way things are today, you’re in good shape, don’t change. But, by the way, there’s a lot of different options for you. And we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.”
LATE MORNING - LEVEE BREACHED: “A large section of the vital 17th Street Canal levee, where it connects to the brand new ‘hurricane proof’ Old Hammond Highway bridge, gave way late Monday morning in Bucktown after Katrina’s fiercest winds were well north.”
11:30AM — MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY REQUESTS THAT DHS DISPATCH 1,000 EMPLOYEES TO REGION, GIVES THEM TWO DAYS TO ARRIVE: “Brown’s memo to Chertoff described Katrina as ‘this near catastrophic event’ but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, ‘Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities.’”
2PM — BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “We’ve got some folks up here who are concerned about their Social Security or Medicare. Joan Geist is with us. … I could tell — she was looking at me when I first walked in the room to meet her, she was wondering whether or not old George W. is going to take away her Social Security check.”
6PM- FEDERAL OFFICIALS LEARN OF LEVEE BREAK:
Federal officials in New Orleans and Vicksburg knew at 6PM on the night of Monday, August 29th, that at least one levee had failed in New Orleans and that the city was in the process of flooding. Yet, armed with this critical life-saving knowledge, officials did nothing to warn the public of the impending deluge. The commander of the New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers, Col. Richard P. Wagenaar, finally confirmed the breach between and 3 and 6 p.m. Aug. 29 and reported it to headquarters in Vicksburg, Miss.
9PM — RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME: Rumsfeld “joined Padres President John Moores in the owner’s box…at Petco Park.”
"Hours after the hurricane hit Aug. 29, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a plan to send 500 commercial buses into New Orleans to rescue thousands of people left stranded on highways, overpasses and in shelters, hospitals and homes.
On the day of the storm, or perhaps the day after, FEMA turned down the state's suggestion to use school buses because they are not air conditioned, Blanco said Friday in an interview.
Even after levees broke and residents were crowding the Louisiana Superdome, then-FEMA Director Mike Brown was bent on using his own buses to evacuate New Orleans, Blanco said.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/091805/new_blanco001.shtml
Tuesday, August 30
9AM – BUSH SPEAKS ON IRAQ AT NAVAL BASE CORONADO
MIDDAY – CHERTOFF FINALLY BECOMES AWARE THAT LEVEE HAS FAILED: “It was on Tuesday that the levee–may have been overnight Monday to Tuesday–that the levee started to break. And it was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap and that essentially the lake was going to start to drain into the city.”
PENTAGON CLAIMS THERE ARE ENOUGH NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS IN REGION: “Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the states have adequate National Guard units to handle the hurricane needs.”
MASS LOOTING REPORTED, SECURITY SHORTAGE CITED: “The looting is out of control. The French Quarter has been attacked,” Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson said. “We’re using exhausted, scarce police to control looting when they should be used for search and rescue while we still have people on rooftops.”
U.S.S. BATAAN SITS OFF SHORE, VIRTUALLY UNUSED: “The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore. The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents. But now the Bataan’s hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty.”
3PM – PRESIDENT BUSH PLAYS GUITAR WITH COUNTRY SINGER MARK WILLIS
BUSH RETURNS TO CRAWFORD FOR FINAL NIGHT OF VACATION
Wednesday, August 31
TENS OF THOUSANDS TRAPPED IN SUPERDOME; CONDITIONS DETERIORATE: “A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered a restroom. Blood stained the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers. ‘We pee on the floor. We are like animals,’ said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. … By Wednesday, it had degenerated into horror. … At least two people, including a child, have been raped. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for. There is no sanitation. The stench is overwhelming.”"
PRESIDENT BUSH FINALLY ORGANIZES TASK FORCE TO COORDINATE FEDERAL RESPONSE: Bush says on Tuesday he will “fly to Washington to begin work…with a task force that will coordinate the work of 14 federal agencies involved in the relief effort.”
JEFFERSON PARISH EMERGENCY DIRECTOR SAYS FOOD AND WATER SUPPLY GONE: “Director Walter Maestri: FEMA and national agencies not delivering the help nearly as fast as it is needed.”
80,000 BELIEVED STRANDED IN NEW ORLEANS: Former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy “estimated 80,000 were trapped in the flooded city and urged President Bush to send more troops.”
3,000 STRANDED AT CONVENTION CENTER WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER: “With 3,000 or more evacuees stranded at the convention center — and with no apparent contingency plan or authority to deal with them — collecting a body was no one’s priority. … Some had been at the convention center since Tuesday morning but had received no food, water or instructions.”
5PM — BUSH GIVES FIRST MAJOR ADDRESS ON KATRINA: “Nothing about the president’s demeanor… — which seemed casual to the point of carelessness — suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.”
8:00PM – CONDOLEEZZA RICE TAKES IN A BROADWAY SHOW: “On Wednesday night, Secretary Rice was booed by some audience members at ‘Spamalot!, the Monty Python musical at the Shubert, when the lights went up after the performance.”
9PM — FEMA DIRECTOR BROWN CLAIMS SURPRISE OVER SIZE OF STORM: “I must say, this storm is much much bigger than anyone expected.”
Michael Brown needed his dinner before helping NOLA
NBC Nightly News and Countdown ran this story 10/19, involving FEMA's Marty Bahamonde pleading for help with Michael Brown, and getting an email reply straight out of the "Twilight Zone:
Brown's press secretary: "It is very important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner...
Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA regional director, told a Senate panel
investigating the government's response to the disaster that he gave
regular updates to people in contact with then-FEMA Director Michael
Brown as early as Aug. 28, one day before Katrina made landfall.
In most cases, he was met with silence or a polite thank you from
Brown, who said he would check with the White House. "I think there
was a systematic failure at all levels of government to understand
the magnitude of the situation," Bahamonde said.
The testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee
contradicted Brown, who has said he wasn't fully aware of the dire
conditions until days later and that local officials were most
responsible for the sluggish response.
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-FemaBrown-email-dinner.mov
POWER CREWS DIVERTED TO RESTORING POWER TO OIL PIPELINE FIRST
"Cheney orders rural electric crews to work on oil pipeline from Texas"
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (Hattiesburg American) -- Shortly after Hurricane Katrina roared through South Mississippi knocking out electricity and communication systems, the White House ordered power restored to a pipeline that sends fuel to the Northeast.
That order -- to restart two power substations in Collins that serve Colonial Pipeline Co. -- delayed efforts by at least 24 hours to restore power to two rural hospitals and a number of water systems in the Pine Belt.
"I considered it a presidential directive to get those pipelines operating," said Jim Compton, general manager of the South Mississippi Electric Power Association...
"We were led to believe a national emergency was created when the pipelines were shut down," Compton said.
White House call
Dan Jordan, manager of Southern Pines Electric Power Association, said Vice President Dick Cheney's office called and left voice mails twice shortly after the storm struck, saying the Collins substations needed power restored immediately.
Jordan dated the first call the night of Aug. 30 and the second call the morning of Aug. 31. Southern Pines supplies electricity to the substation that powers the Colonial pipeline.
Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Mike Callahan said the U.S. Department of Energy called him on Aug. 31. Callahan said department officials said opening the fuel line was a national priority.
BUSES:
Peter Pantuso of the American Bus Association said he spent much of the day on Wednesday, Aug. 31, trying to find someone at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who could tell him how many buses were needed for an evacuation, where they should be sent and who was overseeing the effort. This is an association of bus lines (including Greyhound), charter bus companies, and the like. In other words, a group of companies that could, if asked, rapidly provide large amounts of transportation.
Instead the agency had farmed the work out to a trucking logistics firm, Landstar Express America, which in turn hired a limousine company, which in turn engaged a travel management company. Landstar Express is a subsidiary of Landstar System, a $2 billion company whose board chairman, Jeff Crowe, also was chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the nation's premier business lobbies, from June 2003 until May 2004.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi0509230350sep23,1,1064399.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Thursday, September 1
8AM — BUSH CLAIMS NO ONE EXPECTED LEVEES TO BREAK: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”
Bush told ABC on Sep. 1 that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." In its storm warnings, the hurricane center never used the word "breached." But a day before Katrina came ashore Aug. 29, the agency warned in capital letters: "SOME LEVEES IN THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA COULD BE OVERTOPPED."
CONDOLEEZZA RICE VISITS U.S. OPEN: “Rice, on three days’ vacation to shop and see the U.S. Open, hitting some balls with retired champ Monica Seles at the Indoor Tennis Club at Grand Central.”
STILL NO COMMAND AND CONTROL ESTABLISHED: Terry Ebbert, New Orleans Homeland Security Director: “This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans.”
2PM — MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES “DESPERATE SOS” TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: “This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources at the convention centre and don’t anticipate enough buses. We need buses. Currently the convention centre is unsanitary and unsafe and we’re running out of supplies.”
2PM — MICHAEL BROWN CLAIMS NOT TO HAVE HEARD OF REPORTS OF VIOLENCE: “I’ve had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they’re banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I’ve had no reports of that.”
NEW ORLEANS “DESCEND INTO ANARCHY”: “Storm victims were raped and beaten, fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. ‘This is a desperate SOS,’ the mayor said.”
CONDOLEEZZA RICE GOES SHOE SHOPPING: “Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, ‘How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!’”
MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY LEARNS OF EVACUEES IN CONVENTION CENTER: “We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need.”
Friday, September 2
ROVE-LED CAMPAIGN TO BLAME LOCAL OFFICIALS BEGINS: “Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan…to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” President Bush’s comments from the Rose Garden Friday morning formed “the start of this campaign.”
9:35AM — BUSH PRAISES MICHAEL BROWN: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”
10 AM — PRESIDENT BUSH STAGES PHOTO-OP “BRIEFING”: Coast Guard helicopters and crew diverted to act as backdrop for President Bush’s photo-op.
BUSH VISIT GROUNDS FOOD AID: “Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New Orleans, officials said.”
Investigation finds Red Cross agreed to withhold Orleans aid, operates in tandem with Homeland Security
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Investigation_finds_Red_Cross_agreed_to_withhold_New_Orleans_aid_operates_in_tandem_with_Home_0913.html
LEVEE REPAIR WORK ORCHESTRATED FOR PRESIDENT’S VISIT: Sen. Mary Landrieu, 9/3: “Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.”
BUSH USES 50 FIREFIGHTERS AS PROPS IN DISASTER AREA PHOTO-OP: A group of 1,000 firefighters convened in Atlanta to volunteer with the Katrina relief efforts. Of those, “a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew’s first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.”
3PM — BUSH “SATISFIED WITH THE RESPONSE”: “I am satisfied with the response. I am not satisfied with all the results.”
FEMA ORDERS DOCTOR TO STOP CPR ON PATIENT
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/091605/new_doctorordered001.shtml
Saturday, September 3
SENIOR BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL LIES TO WASHINGTON POST, CLAIMS GOV. BLANCO NEVER DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY: The Post reported in their Sunday edition “As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.” They were forced to issue a correction hours later.
9AM — BUSH BLAMES STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS: “he magnitude of responding to a crisis over a disaster area that is larger than the size of Great Britain has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities. The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need.”
Wednesday, September 8
The Sept. 8 issue of National Review Online that chastised the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for suing to halt the corps' 1996 plan to raise and fortify 303 miles of Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National Review article concluded: "Whether this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain."
The problem with that conclusion?
The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake Pontchartrain levees on the other side of the city.
When Katrina struck, the hurricane pushed tons of water from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city to the north. Corps officials say the water from the lake cleared the levees by 3 feet. It was those floodwaters, they say, that caused the levees to degrade until they ruptured, causing 80 percent of New Orleans to flood.
Bookbinder said the purpose of the litigation by the Sierra Club and others in 1996 was where the corps got the dirt for the project. "We had no objections to levees," he said. "We said, 'Just don't dig fill materials out of the wetlands. Get the dirt from somewhere else.' "
FEMA BLOCKS RELIEF
(1)FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations http://news.ft.com/cms/s/84aa35cc-1da8-11da-b40b-00000e..
(2)FEMA turns away experienced firefighters http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/5/105538/7048
(3)FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec ..
(4)FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec ..
(5)FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565143.stm
(6)FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15147862&BRD=...
(7)FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/171718/0826
(8)FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509..
(9)FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050902dale..
(10)FEMA turns away generators http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html
(11)FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond" http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18470
Tuesday, September 13th
On last night's Nightline, FEMA staffer Leo Bosner appeared, careful to say he was giving his personal views, not the agency's official ones. He spoke quietly but did not mince words:
"Right now as we talk, unfortunately, Homeland Security is actually impeding - in my view - impeding the rescue effort. As I mentioned, we're running a 24/7 operation down there and we're trying to do the best we can at FEMA. And we're getting held back because we're bombarded with telephone calls, day and night, from Homeland Security, saying, `Oh, Secretary Chertoff has a press conference coming up, uh, stop everything and get us this information: Can you tell us exactly how many pounds of ice have been delivered to such and such county,' or, `Why are the number of rescues different from what they were six hours ago?' They're impeding the effort right now."
FEDERAL OFFICIALS SEEKING TO BLAME ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS FOR LEVEE BREAK- TROUBLE IS- IT’S THE WRONG LEVEE
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS0110/509160369/1260
Tuesday, September 20th
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 20 -- Louisiana's top hurricane experts have rejected the official explanations for the floodwall collapses that inundated much of New Orleans, concluding that Hurricane Katrina's storm surges were much smaller than authorities have suggested and that the city's flood- protection system should have kept most of the city dry.
The Army Corps of Engineers has said that Katrina was just too massive for a system that was not intended to protect the city from a storm greater than a Category 3 hurricane, and that the floodwall failures near Lake Pontchartrain were caused by extraordinary surges that overtopped the walls.
But with the help of complex computer models and stark visual evidence, scientists and engineers at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center have concluded that Katrina's surges did not come close to overtopping those barriers. That would make faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two the likely cause of the breaching of the floodwalls along the 17th Street and London Avenue canals -- and the flooding of most of New Orleans.
In the weeks since Katrina drowned this low-lying city, there has been an intense focus on the chaotic government response to the flood. But Ivor van Heerden, the Hurricane Center's deputy director, said the real scandal of Katrina is the "catastrophic structural failure" of barriers that should have handled the hurricane with relative ease. "We are absolutely convinced that those floodwalls were never overtopped," said van Heerden, who also runs LSU's Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/20/AR2005092001894_pf.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rapes, Shooting at Helicopters in N.O. Exaggerated or Untrue
NY Times today (Sept. 29) has a substantial story, reporting on its investigations into the rumors of violence (rape, shooting at helicopters, murderous hordes) in the days after Katrina, rumors which, as you well remember, caused rescue operations to be halted, in some instances. Most of those stories were wildly exaggerated, or simply untrue.
“The mass misery in the city's two unlit and uncooled primary shelters, the convention center and the Superdome, was compounded, officials said, by gangs that were raping women and children.
A month later, a review of the available evidence now shows that some, though not all, of the most alarming stories that coursed through the city appear to be little more than figments of frightened imaginations, the product of chaotic circumstances that included no reliable communications, and perhaps the residue of the longstanding raw relations between some police officers and members of the public."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/national/nationalspecial/29crime.html
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE FLOW CHART FROM THE DOD:
This Explains Why The Katrina Response Was Such A Disaster. Just before Hurricane Katrina hit the Texas and Louisiana coasts, this chart was made available to local and state officials as a guide for how to request assistance from the Department of Defense. This is a real DoD chart designed to "assist" local officials.
Monday, October 3
(CNN) -- The president of St. Tammany Parish Monday demanded an apology from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its claim that he had recommended it hire his construction company to develop a property to house people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
"I am waiting for a full and immediate apology from FEMA for untrue remarks," Kevin Davis said in a written statement. "The FEMA spokesperson is a liar."
FEMA had told CNN Sunday that the agency expected to have more than 1,000 housing units up and running in the area shortly, but that Davis himself had contributed to delays because he recommended to the agency that his construction company be hired to develop a property to which he has personal ties. (Full story)
Davis said in his statement that he does not own a construction company, and that he owns no land other than the site of his flooded home.
FEMA, in an e-mail, also said Sunday that Davis had asked that the agency pay $7,000 per acre per month for the property -- more than four times its value.
Since then, the e-mail said, Davis dropped his lease rate "to a reasonable monthly amount," and federal officials had nearly finalized a deal to put housing on the site, which can accommodate as many as 1,000 units.
"I do not own a construction company. I did not attempt to lease land to FEMA," Davis said Monday. "The only land I own is the lot my flooded home sits on. This is absurd.”
Sunday, October 9
The Miami Herald has a story talking about all sorts of hurricane-related issues... from lack of funding to inept management. It talks about how NOAA diverts funding from crucial areas and how hurricane research funding has been cutoff... leaving the nation more exposed to these disasters.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12853399.htm
ANOTHER KATRINA TIMELINE:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/katrina-timeline.php
FROM BUSH”S ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON KATRINA (DIRECT VERBATIM QUOTES):
“Ya know something we ahh. I've been thinking a lot about how America has responded and it's clear to me that Americans value human life and value every person as important. And that stand in stark contrast, by the way, to the terrorists we have to deal with. You see, we look at the destruction caused by Katrina and our hearts break. They're the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish that they had caused it . We're at war against these people. It's a war.... on terror. These are evil men who target the suffering . They killed 3,000 of our people on September 11, 2001 . And they've continued to kill.”
This guy’s in charge and he can’t even make a coherent sentence…
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
