Emerging National Emergency

[jonnythan]

For what I can see, Al Qaeda could have driven a large ski boat up to any of the levee's with enough explosives to have submerged the city with a single explosion.
If they had done it with several teams like they did on Sept 11th, then it would
have caused more damange than the WTC attack with a much more low-tech attack.

Dunno about that... with the pumping stations running at full capacity, as they would be if it weren't for something like a cat 5 'cane, it would be little more than an inconvenience. An attack coordinated enough to take out enough levees as well as enough of the pumping infrastructure to actually flood the city could probably do something much more significant in another place like NYC or LA..

 

[mike_s]

Have you guys read the WWL interview with Mayor Nagin?

It's CLASSIC. He spent 10 minutes tearing into the feds. And I don't blame him.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/nagin.transcript/index.html

You can listen to it here
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/4929731/detail.html

 

[Randy43068]

I can't believe today that the President congratulated the FEMA director for the "good job" he'd been doing. Especially when in an earlier press conference he stated that the response by the government was not adequate.

Since people at the conevention center have been there since monday and they just today got anything, I don't see how he can congratulate somebody for that. Especially when the news media can drive a SUV up to the center and they can't get rescue vehicles there.

Obvisously, the folks running the show there are clueless.

Hi Mike,

FEMA and the Red Cross did have supplies pre-positioned in the area. The problem is the shere size if this thing. No one.. and I mean NO ONE could have known how much damage was going to occure. Folks are helping as much as they can. Lets not start blaming the rescue crews because the can't get to everyone asap. This thing is just too big! But FEMA and the Red Cross are doing what they can with the resouces they have. It's not comforting for the people who are hungry and thirsty but help is on the way. They're trying as hard to rescue everyone as they can. Rescources are limited for a first response. Please don't forget that.

 

[mike_s]

Dunno about that... with the pumping stations running at full capacity, as they would be if it weren't for something like a cat 5 'cane, it would be little more than an inconvenience. An attack coordinated enough to take out enough levees as well as enough of the pumping infrastructure to actually flood the city could probably do something much more significant in another place like NYC or LA..

A good blow to the Levee's and the pumping stations wouldn't be able
to keep up.

Wouldn't been that hard to blow up at least the larger of the pumping stations.

I'm betting they didn't even have a "Barney Fife" security guard at them.



NYC or LA you said? they aren't under sea level like New Orleans is.
knocking out pumping stations there wouldn't really do much except
disrupt sewage, etc... While that creates a problem, it's not on the
same scale as leaving 1 million people homeless with the home and
businesses under up to 20 feet of water and sewage.

 

[jonnythan]

well... it sounds like the City of New Orlean's plan for dealing with a hurricane
was to say "Help" and wait

the State of Lousiana didn't pick up the slack... they said "Help" and waited

and then, four days later, the Feds show up

why weren't local and state plans in effect long before the Feds came on the scene?

at any rate, i guess my point is that finger pointing won't help a single New Orleans
resident get food and water and somewhere to live while the clean up takes place

The City used all of its available (and meager) resources. It packed people into a safe shelter and did its best to provide for them while real help came. I'm not sure what you think a very poor and fairly small city like New Orleans could have done any better. It certainly doesn't have the money, military and engineering resources, and manpower/infrastructure to deal with total city-wide destruction of everything.

It's not like New Orleans is, say, New York City, and it's not like catastrophic flooding of 4000 square miles in a city of 1 million is the same type of disaster as a pair of buildings downtown covering 1/2 a square mile in a city of 17 million being demolished.

 

[jonnythan]

A good blow to the Levee's and the pumping stations wouldn't be able to keep up.

The levees don't keep back the lake except in cases of storm surge. They keep back the river in some parts but the river probably doesn't have the volume and flow to overpower the pumps and canals even when not at full capacity/

 

[mike_s]

Hi Mike,

FEMA and the Red Cross did have supplies pre-positioned in the area. The problem is the shere size if this thing. No one.. and I mean NO ONE could have known how much damage was going to occure. Folks are helping as much as they can. Lets not start blaming the rescue crews because the can't get to everyone asap. This thing is just too big! But FEMA and the Red Cross are doing what they can with the resouces they have. It's not comforting for the people who are hungry and thirsty but help is on the way. They're trying as hard to rescue everyone as they can. Rescources are limited for a first response. Please don't forget that.

I'm not blaming the rescue crews... they are busting their butts.

The problem is their highest level of leaderships....

Even Bush said there was a serious problem with the "response" .

Ironically, as we speak, help on this effort has even occupied my house.
my wife who is on vacation today. She's working at 11:15pm to
help one of her customers who needs flat-bed semi trucks to take large
generators to the hurricane zone.

 

[Wildcard]

I can't believe today that the President congratulated the FEMA director for the "good job" he'd been doing. Especially when in an earlier press conference he stated that the response by the government was not adequate.

Since people at the conevention center have been there since monday and they just today got anything, I don't see how he can congratulate somebody for that. Especially when the news media can drive a SUV up to the center and they can't get rescue vehicles there.

Obvisously, the folks running the show there are clueless.

And obvisously your an expert on running disasters bigger than any before. Nothing like watching TV and thinking you know it all. Let me ask you this, what have you done?

 

[Randy43068]

Hey WC, he'd rather be here *****in' than doing something positive. He obviously knows nothing about disaster planning or disaster mitigation.

 

[Wildcard]

Did you have some sort of point? Who is "he"? Are you talking about our president? FEMA fell short, this was noted. FEMA redoubled there efforts and delt with the biggest relief effort ever. Job well done. Nothing like monday morning commentators that know nothing about which they comment.