Where are the Feds?

[Doug_Kiesling]

What the f? Where is the federal government? They need more than the National Guard...they need everything.

Where is the damn president? He needs to be addressing the nation at this point. It might not have looked as scary as 9/11, but this is devastating. This is the nation's worst disaster ever.

Where are the feds? They are there but you have to understand, this is not a tornado, this is not a RFD took soom roofs off, this is an area that got pretty much NUKED!

The storm was not even finished by 3pm Monday and there is so much damage that unless your a seasoned hurricane chaser and have seen this before, you can't even begin to understand the size of the damage.

NEW ORLEANS IS GONE!!! It is under water. Now the feds are on the scene as of today and I even saw EMS responders as far north as Iowa and a ton of them from Texas. The feds are there but its going to take years to clean up.


From sources that did not want to be named but you can pretty much consider it a leak to get the word out from some people in the government, 50000 body bags are being brought into New Orleans.

They are going to have to conduct a house to house search because those who stayed went to higher ground, as in their 2nd level then when the water got up there, they went into attics and if they did not have an axe or chain saw, they were trapped and died in the attic from flood waters.

But FEMA and a ton of first responders from all over the nation are heading to the coast to help but this stuff takes time because its massive.

 

[Justin Turcotte]

There are a number of National Guard troops in Iraq. This was a fear of the states should a disaster strike. There is no shortage of manpower as Guard from other areas are quickly mobilizing to fill the void. Time is of the essence however.

 

[John Farley]

As Justin noted, a substantial part of the National Guard is in Iraq. Per CNN tonight, that ranges from 25 to 40% of the National Guard in the affected states. The use of the National Guard to fight foreign wars runs the risk of impairing the traditional domestic functions of the Guard, including disaster response. We may be seeing some of that consequence now. A capacity reduction of this scale certainly can't help. Regardless of what you think of the Iraq war, this type of deployment of the National Guard carries serious risks should something go wrong here at home.

Additionally, it seems that the scale of this disaster is so large that a national military response is needed, and on a larger scale than is occurring. According to CNN, four Navy ships and a hospital ship are on the way from the East Coast, but it takes time to move ships that far. What is most needed now is to move people out of the NO area as quickly as possible, and no institution has as great a capability to move large numbers of people in a short time under difficult circumstances as the U.S. military. I am disturbed that Army and air capabilities are not being used to a greater extent than they are. As several other posters have noted, the scale of this disaster is beyond even FEMA's capacity - U.S. military help is much needed. Maybe something will happen in a couple days, when Bush cuts short his 5-week vacation by 2 days.

 

[Rob_Davis]

A few observations:

First of all, the NWS warning became severe less than 24 hours before landfall. Not exactly a lot of preparation time for nationwide deployment of assets.

Second, asking now where all the resources are is like asking where the ambulances are in the middle of a tornado. It's still ongoing.

Third, how do you reasonably judge from Connecticut how adequate the resources in Louisiana are to even begin to conclude they are inadequate?

Fourth, inadequate for what? What do you expect to happen? Expecting the flooding to be stopped is about as realistic as expecting them to stop the Twin Towers from falling.

Fifth, any allusion to Iraq is either uninformed and/or dishonest. EM plans contingencies constantly. Assignments are constantly reevaluated. If one piece of the plan is deployed, another piece is moved into its place. LNG deployments to Iraq have zero affects on the plan.

Sixth, God helps those who help themselves. Although there are certainly many special cases, the vast majority of the people now needing help irresponsibly put themselves in that position. Many for the sole purpose of engaging in looting. Now they can wait.

 

[B Ozanne]

Super to know that the entire state OEP of Louisiana has been having a prayer service for the past 15 minutes...and its still going. Prayers might edge fly balls over the outfield fence but they don't fix levees.

 

[B Ozanne]

......Still praying. Ironically all the people they are praying for can't watch or hear any of this.

 

[rdale]

"Super to know that the entire state OEP of Louisiana has been having a prayer service for the past 15 minutes"

Sure is -- in times like this it's clear that we can't handle this without help from above! But we need to probably keep religious talk to a minimum, there are probably some here who think praying is a waste of time and starting a debate in this thread (let alone on this forum) isn't good.

"Ironically all the people they are praying for can't watch or hear any of this."

Why is that ironic? We aren't praying _to_ them but _for_ them!

 

[B Ozanne]

According to Drudgereport:

BUSH CONSIDERS ADDRESS TO NATION; CALL FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION
Wed Aug 31 2005 10:20:34 ET

President Bush is considering an address to the nation asking citizens to conserve energy, a top White House says.

Bush ordered the release of oil from federal petroleum reserves to help refiners affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Bush returned to Washington on Wednesday to oversee the federal response to the historic disaster. He plans to coordinate federal efforts, across more than a dozen agencies, to assist hurricane victims.

"Still undecided is whether or not to call for a nationwide effort to reduce energy consumption during this emergency," a top Bush source explains. "It is seriously being considered."

Developing...

 

[David Wolfson]

Yes, considering promoting energy conservation.... that is quite whelming.

I've heard threads of a story that the repair of the 17th Street levee, one that failed, was among a number of high-priority flood control projects around NOLA identified last summer by the ACE for fast-tracking. The words "accident waiting to happen" were used, I believe I heard. The Bush administration/Congress cut this portion of the ACE budget by 80% to help pay for guess-what and the projects were strung out. I don't have the time or professional duty to confirm this right now, but it seems quite plausible to me. :x

 

[John Diel]

As a side note. I know that Regular Army Units are also being deployed to N.O. and surrounding area. We received a call from my stepsone early this morning who will leaving later today or tomorrow for the area. He's Army Aviation.

 

[B Ozanne]

I know the feds are coming, and their efforts are going to be amazing...unlike anything we have ever seen in this country.

 

[Jay McCoy]

The only way the military can use air assets is helicopters since both airports in the NO area are under water. thats makes air force transport planes useless to ferry out survivors. they can bring in materials to nearby bases but not to NO itself.

Alot of chinooks and blackhawks will be needed for this operations.

 

[Michael P. Morris]

Exactly - the only way to get people out is by ship or helicopter, and the houses are much too close together to get larger capacity boats into the area . I believe there are plans in the works to open up a runway at one of the nearby airports, but I am not sure how much that will help as there is still almost no way to get to the people who need help. It appears that the situation is borderlining on hopeless for some people, unfortunately...

 

[John Farley]

A more significant military response now seems to be getting under way, as reported in this CNN report:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/31/katr...very/index.html

Still, the scale still seems a little small (e.g. 2 cargo planes) for the scope of this disaster, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

As for some of the comments questioning the impact of diversion of resources to Iraq, some of the top military experts in the U.S. have said the military is spread too thin and that there is an excessive reliance on reserve and Guard troops in Iraq, so how could this not have some impact on the ability to respond? Resources, even of the U.S. military, are not unlimited, and 25-40% is a substantial part of any state's National Guard. And, as another poster noted, some of the agencies needed in a disaster response have faced budget cuts as a result of the costs of the war.

In any case, it is good to see a larger-scale national military response, as described in the CNN article, getting under way. Given the scope of this disaster, more will be needed.

 

[Anonymous]

A few observations:

First of all, the NWS warning became severe less than 24 hours before landfall. Not exactly a lot of preparation time for nationwide deployment of assets.

Became severe? Are you talking about the strongly worded warning? They made notice of the possibility many days in advance. The strong wording is really optional and was something beyond what would even be expected. The NWS performed just as expected during this event.[/quote]