Response to use re: buses not used to evac people before the storm hit.

[Roland99]

100,000 people or more needed to be evacuated.

The post-flood Superdome evacuation started about midnight Wed. night (60 hours ago) and only 15,000-20,000 have been evac'd from there (5,000 remain)

Now, extrapolate that out to 100,000 people and they would have had to have started the evacuation sometime back around the middle of August.

Also, I've read posts in other threads up here from people in that area discussing this topic and, in some districts, the keys are locked in a safe and that most of the city employees were already ordered out.

The NOLA emergency plan doesn't include public transportation out of the city, only public transportation to temporary shelters which is exactly what they offered.

Also, remember, Mayor Nagin was requesting outside assistance to provide security for the process and received little or none. The city, itself, cannot provide security to escort and control 100,000, esp. when they just evacuated 80% of the city.

[nyhuskyfan]

1. IMO, the only way you could blame the mayor...

Would be if FEMA came in and requested buses to transport people and he didn't provide them.

[mom cat]

2. Fortunately, Nagin is no Bush...

[JohnnyRingo]

3. When the initial evacuation began last Friday or Saturday....

I'm not sure the Mayor could demand that bus drivers remain to face the storm.

Technically, the city infrastructure ceased to exist before the storm hit. People forget that safety service personel lived in the city too, and were among those ravaged by the hurricane.

[nyhuskyfan]

4. Again, where are the busses going to take people?

Everyone acts like the only problem was a flood coming. There was a Category 5 Hurricane about to wipe through and destroy everything in its path. A bus driving people around city limits isn't going to take anyone out of danger, unless it was to get people to the Superdome. All the problems, though, came when it was time to get people out of the Superdome and the diaster relief efforts from FEMA were AWOL.

[Lindacooks]

5. Sorry, you're wrong.

China just evacuated 900,000 people from an area about to be struck by a typhoon.

And there were three deaths.

China has better human relations and disaster plans than we do.

[Roland99]

6. Well, we don't know how many were left and that storm wasn't as strong

[applegrove]

7. They couldn't get all the people out. There was a traffic jam. It would

have taken 5000 buses. They put people in the stadium and said they would be rescued from there in three days at the most.

[Roland99]

8. But we exhibit the ability to THINK.

The Freepers don't think...they're not capable of it.

[FogerRox]

13. from the dome -- you walk across the bridge and you end up in a town with

water
electricity
telephone

except for the military check point that sat there for days keepeing the dome people in the dome---

[clark4me]

9. This was a disaster that the FEDERAL Government should have

been on top of. This was way too much for ANY local Government.

I've had the same conversation with people at work who were quick to blame the mayor and the people themselves.

Local Governments simply are not equipped to handle things like this and are not meant to.

Like I mentioned to some people from work, on 9/11, EVERYBODY within hours were reacting. FAA grounded airplanes... This is firmly in the FEDS lap.

[dogman]

10. The point was raised here on Sunday.

Just like any evacuation it would have been a matter of loading the buses as they arrived. Did it make more sense to let the buses flood?

[Roland99]

11. This part doesn't come into play?

The post-flood Superdome evacuation started about midnight Wed. night (60 hours ago) and only 15,000-20,000 have been evac'd from there (5,000 remain)

Now, extrapolate that out to 100,000 people and they would have had to have started the evacuation sometime back around the middle of August.

Also, who was going to drive them? Where were the keys (remember, some people even keep the buses at their homes)

After, say, 200 buses evac'd 8,000 people, what about the other 92,000?

[dogman]

12. I don't know the total number of school buses and transit buses

available in the city. But I know they are useless now. This flood was being predicted Sunday night. Since when is the criteria -save all or none? If 8,000 could have been spared the last week, I think that would have been a good thing. The first night there were only around 20,000 seeking entry to the Superdome. I'll bet the transit buses are not kept at home.

[Roland99]

14. See this and you'll see the NOLA evac plan was followed as specified

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2059983&mesg_id=2059983

[dogman]

15. I'm not concerned with Drudge or the plan.

I'm talking about common sense. There was a post here Sunday asking why public transportation was not being used. My daughter was on the phone with me and asked why they weren't using buses and any means available to move the people out. I was stationed in Fort Polk and they transported troops in what were called "cattle trucks". I would have evacuated every vehicle from that city that would roll. I would have emptied every drop of gas from the city into those vehicles. What was the point of leaving all those items and people to be flooded. This is just a confirmation to every one in this country that if there is a catastrophe, you are on your own.

[Roland99]

16. Just read thru the thread (and the top article at my blog)

It wasn't feasible.

[windbreeze]

17. I agree with you...

You know, in a situation such as this..knowing that hurricane was coming...the Mayor certainly should have had the right to commandeer any vehicle that would remove humans out of the path of danger..
I have been asking why, those school buses, planes, trains, hell, all the boats in the marina could not have been used to transport people out...If a policeman can commandeer your car, when he needs it...then why couldn't this Mayor do the same, in the face of death and total destruction of the city?
I would have had every vehicle that could move...moving...and worried about my ass later..and what was and wasn't correct, or what I had or did not have the right to do..who cares where the hell they went? getting them out of the path of danger was the most important thing...
and if he didn't have the right...then by god, someone better correct that kind of situation...and give him or any Mayor in that situation the right to take possession of any and every vehicle, in the face of death...period!!
windbreeze

[Roland99]

19. And who's going to drive all of those vehicles?

Who is the mayor going to mandate stays behind in order to evacuate the 100,000+ left behind?

The city has suffered from corrupt government, corrupt cops, corrupt businesses for decades. It is not Mayor Nagin's fault in any way, shape or form. He did the best he could with what he had. Is it his fault the Army and other military with NorthernCom were staged and ready by Tue. but didn't get authorization from the WH to move until Thur.?

[Mairead]

18. Why is it better to do nothing rather than do a little?

Is it because the critcism is coming from the neo-cons and loonies?