SDS

Castro just offered 1100 doctors and 26 tons of medicine... that'll make some people squirm.

It just highlights how bad the local level decisions have been.

"FEMA Director Michael Brown told CNN's Larry King on Wednesday, "When I became the director of FEMA a couple of years ago, I decided it was time we did some really serious catastrophic disaster planning. So the president gave me money through our budget to do that. And we went around the country to figure out what's the best model we can do for a catastrophic disaster in this country? And we picked New Orleans, Louisiana."" "But one of the drill participants, Col. Michael L. Brown, then-deputy director of the Louisiana emergency preparedness department, told the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper that, in a worst-case scenario, there would be only so much government agencies could do. "Residents need to know they'll be on their own for several days in a situation like this," Brown, who is not related to the FEMA director, told the paper." http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/02/hur...rill/index.html It sounds like this was the 1st time that this type of extensive planning, drill had been done. They chose NO, who I believe still had a whole bunch of black people 2 years ago. They saw deficiencies and outlined a plan to address those weaknesses. They also knew that teh response would not be immediate, that residents would have to survive a few days, and that LA would need to stoock the initial supplies until FEMA could back fill.

http://the-rail.blogspot.com/2005/09/are-c...e-disaster.html fox vs. cnn coverage

According to Kathleen Blanco this weekend, she made the mandatory evacuation order only after the president, AP wrote, "called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation."

what about this: Rich, As a degreed Mechanical Engineer (with very limited experience in hydrology, I'd be the first to admit), I was disappointed by how slow the repair process was, specifically regarding the 17th Street Canal levee. It seems to me that the attempts to re-establish the levee at the break point were misguided at best: the gap is large, the levee underneath eroding, and unstable. It seemed to me a far more obvious solution was to use the Hammond Highway bridge (a newly constructed bridge just north of the levee break) as a logicalt area to establish a cofferdam. Then, once water flow over the broken section of the levee was stopped, re-establish the levee, and then start pumping out. The bridge provides a hard point for landing supplies, is accessible from Lake Ponchartrain (esp. via barges, which could carry large volumes of materials and equipment). This could have been done relatively easily as opposed to trying to establish a new levee section in rushing water. The only disadvantage that I could see would have been that the cofferdam would then have to be removed once the original levee was reestablished, but that's a minor problem given the level of flooding that ensued during the feeble attempts to plug the levee itself. Interestingly, from the limited photos I've seen, it seems that two cranes are now on the bridge. Wonder what's next in the minds of the engineers on site?

from the corner on NRO: Haven't read much about this in the news .... but a Navy info source that I receive sent this out this morning. Thanks to the Navy's new readiness model 28 ships were ready to get underway within 24 hours. Bataan (a helicopter carrier) and HSV (High Speed Vessel) 2 Swift, out of Naval Station Ingleside, Texas, are off the affected coastline providing support. Four MH-53s (huge helos capable of moving 40-50 troops) and two HH-60s (capable of moving about 20 troops) off the Bataan are flying medevac and search and rescue (SAR) missions in Louisiana, and supporting the Coast Guard's 8th District. Bataan's hospital and staff has been augmented by an additional contingent from the Navy's Bureau of Medicine (BUMED), consisting of 85 personnel, including 12 physicians and 4 surgeons. The Iwo Jima (large helo carrier) Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) is sailing from Norfolk, Va. loaded with disaster-response equipment. The USNS Arctic (T-AOE 8 - an oiler, ammunition and stores (as in refrigerated stores)) is currently off the Gulf Coast. USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) (large helo carrier), USS Shreveport (LPD 12) (large helo capable troop transport ship), and USS Tortuga (LSD 46) (large, helo capable troop transport ship) are expected soon. A medical staff augmentation for Iwo Jima is expected to be en route tomorrow. The hospital ship, USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), is departing Baltimore by September 3 to bring some 270 medical staff, capable of supporting 250 hospital beds, to the Gulf region. Project Hope has offered to embark additional medical personnel, and the Air Force's Surgeon General has offered to provide still further staff if needed. USS Harry S. Truman (aircraft carrier) (CVN 75) and USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) (same as Tortuga above) are sailing today for areas off the Gulf Coast in support to FEMA relief operations. Truman will serve as a command center and an afloat staging base, and will carry additional helicopters from Naval Air Station Jacksonville to support search and rescue efforts. Whidbey Island will bring to the region the ability to employ a movable causeway. USS Grapple (ARS 53) (salvage ship) is currently en route in order to assist with maritime and underwater survey and salvage operations. Military Sealift Command has transferred control of five of its ships to the Navy's Second Fleet to provide further support to relief efforts. USNS Bellatrix, Altair, Pillilau, Bob Hope, and Argol are in the Gulf of Mexico already (all capable of carrying lots of food stuffs, and supplies). USNS Arctic is also at sea in the Gulf and acting as a FEMA support ship and providing logistics services support for the other ships at sea. Navy helicopters from Jacksonville and Mayport, Fla., are supporting relief efforts, and Navy Seabees from Port Hueneme, Jacksonville, and Norfolk are on scene or making preparations to deploy to assist in relief operations. USNS Pollux is operating onboard dialysis equipment for the patients of a local hospital, providing diesel fuel for area hospitals' generators, and providing meals and berthing to relief workers.

you could always turn to Ray and just do the opposite.

he didn't say. Seemed like an obvious followup. I have no idea why guys like this aren't on the top of the hour.

probably Miss. The guy that was interviewed was in uniform. Looked like police or a state trooper. They showed the trucks they had, the MRE's... they were 3 hrs out on Tues and were told to go home.

did anyone see the Virginia unit that was SENT HOME last night on CNN? They had men, food, water, and were 3 hours from NO and they were told to go home.

did you try: neworleansemergencyplan.gov ????

It was a sarcastic way to point out that there isn't a means to train for the submersion of an entire city.

No, it is the second time today - you must have skipped my post. Did the "people" that were informed to gather at the CC include anybody at FEMA? No. Days, means after the storm. They were telling people who were stranded to get to the CC because access to the SD was blocked off. Nobody bothered to tell FEMA. They aren't clairvoyant.

I propose we siink an American city once every other year to training purposes.

I'll correct you again. FEMA was aware of people at the SuperDome. They were unaware of the people being told to go to the convention center after the storm came through.

see, you are incredulous at something that didn't happen. It is the convention center that FEMA was unaware of. Also, and someone correct me if I am wrong, they only started diverting people there AFTER Katrina blew through. The breakdown was in the communication between what was happening on the ground and the controlling authorities at FEMA.

what do you do about making a plan that *appears* to be so good - that you encourage people not to leave? Should you announce that you have food/water for 1 week for 50k people? Or do you say - you will live if you come here, but we have limited supplies and only 10k show up?

or maybe we just lost a US city and our minds are elsewhere...

Let me guess, are you one of the people who, when you disagree w/ the pres., say he is a liar and he is just "spinning" a situation, but when you agree - he is telling the truth? Perception is reality. There is nothing else he can say, even if they are doing the best they can.

So you are saying there were ZERO supplies ANYWHERE. None at the SD, no food carried in by the citizens... none? Something tells me that is not the case considering we have people complaining about the food they were given...

Everyone at the SD was checked for weapons. Even if there was more than 1 - there aren't as many rapists as there are refugees in there. Again, I think it was an embellishment. No one talks about bad food and rape in the same sentence.

No kidding - a 40 year old trash collector stands by and watches a child get raped? Actually, I doubt this happened, but he should be slapped for saying it just the same.

on top of that, I don't think that there is an appreciation that many of the people who would normally be helping in this situation lost their own homes, have their own families, and are perhaps fearful for their own lives. How many here would drive a bus into NO with CNN reporting that they are shooting at Medivac helicopters?

well, maybe they weren't? Or maybe they are so inundated with everything else that they can't get to it all? Are you suggesting that there are scores of FEMA employees kicking back watching the news, seeing the CC and saying - "huh, someone should do something about that," and then flip the channel?