Hurricane Katrina: Who’s to Blame
There is a rush to blame the Katrina catastrophe on someone, and while there are those on the Left engaging in political corpse chucking at the Bush administration what is missed is where the failures actually were here (hint: they were local). Kyoto had nothing to do with this. Racism had nothing to do with this. Iraq had nothing to do with this. Federal spending had nothing to do with this. Poor and/or non-existent planning and poor execution had everything to do with this. (See debunking of stupid claims here and here)
People think the levees should have been upgraded but funding was cut. Those levees were still to protect against category 3 hurricanes. 15 foot walls do not protect against 22 foot waves. New Orleans and Louisiana knew the problem and they planned for it. The problem is they largely didn’t follow their own plan and left gaping holes. Protection against cat 5 hurricanes simply was not available, and the technology was about 25 years off, if it was going to work at all.
You can view the plans here. The plan clearly indicated that evacuation was the plan; they obviously just didn’t carry through on that plan. As a result, they had to make up things as they went, improvising the Superdome as a shelter despite the lack of any functioning facilities or supplies.
The overall strategy for dealing with a catastrophic hurricane is to evacuate as much of the at risk population as possible from the path of the storm and relocate them to a place of relative safety outside the projected high water mark of the storm surge flooding and hurricane force winds.
(see also this story on people stealing busses sitting in lots to get out)
That is an AP picture of a school bus parking lot. Note the array of flooded out buses neatly in lines? The million dollar question is why they are still there. If they were used in the evacuation, as they should have been, those buses would be in Baton Rouge right now. (Or at least ferrying people out of New Orleans). They KNEW the problem they’d have if a hurricane like that hit, and the city and state government did nothing to alleviate it. Instead, they made a last-minute half-baked decision to use the Superdome Thunderdome as a “refuge of last chance”. The floodwalls or work on the floodwalls don’t mean jack. The disaster plan took the problem into account. Flooded buildings are a pain, but can be repaired. You would have no disaster if no one was in the city at the time.
That brings us to point two. The evacuation plan was to start once the threat of a strong category 3 or better hurricane is in the Gulf. Katrina made it to the Gulf on August 27th, the day the President declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. When was the mandatory evacuation ordered? After Katrina became a Cat 5 at 10am on the 28th. Katrina made landfall as a Cat 4 at 6:15 am on the 29th giving people less than 24 hours to evacuate. On the 27th, if not before they should have initiated their emergency plans, got shelters and buses ready. Instead they ended up with almost 60,000 people at the Superdome with no way out.
Point three. The emergency plan has two large gaping holes. It included no contingencies for riots and no contingencies to bring food and supplies INTO the city. The plan called to keep moving people out. However, because of the damage there was little or no way to get in, and the few ways rescuers were able to get in were impeded by the looting and rioting. (Food notwithstanding. People were trying to “boatjack” rescuers.) These two holes played into each other, with people beginning more and more to choose the side of the criminal element because there was no plan to help them from the outside in place.
People may say, well they didn’t anticipate rioting. Let’s be honest a second. In this country, we riot when the home team wins a championship. What the (expletive) did you expect when you had 100,000 some odd poor, starving people in a corrupt who are neck deep in sewage? Rescue operations had to be stopped so that basic security can be established to provide an escape corridor. You have hardened criminals on one side, and desperate people that have joined them because they’re the only hope for survival now. You can’t rescue 100,000 people with helicopters. You’d also be hard-pressed to expect them to behave while loading up buses 100 at a time. We needed to then begin a massive call up of the National Guard to step in. Sure, some were in Iraq, but 70% was available, not including all the other states in the area. What can be criticized is why it took so long for those units to get to New Orleans (and some haven’t arrived yet). By the way, activation in this case is a matter for a governor, not the President. A serious look should be taken at Guard readiness in those states when this is over.
President Bush noticed the crisis coming 24 hours before New Orleans and Louisiana stepped up to do something about it. It isn’t the federal governments job to step in and run states. That’s why Louisiana has the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. They had a crap plan and didn’t follow it and now we all have to play clean up. While all are quick to blame Bush and Republicans, they ought to take a good hard look at the state and local governments who wrote the plan, left the holes, and failed to do what the could to stop this from getting out of control.
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Great article - you did a good job of tying it all together here!
Comment by leftbrainfemale | September 2, 2005
Well said. The left is once again showing how little common sense they have.
Comment by The Mad Tech | September 2, 2005
Well, it’s started…the black members of congress are starting to use the race card. Check out CNN
Comment by eacres | September 2, 2005
Whoof…. well said and well laid out. Take that you blackguards.
Comment by GM Roper | September 2, 2005
Hey John,
check out this post. One Lefty who admits G.W. Bush is not the one to blame.
http://blogs.lotterypost.com/rip_snorter/2005/09/speaking-the-unspeakable.htm
Comment by Monika | September 2, 2005
I agree my side is trying to interject its talking points and somehow link them through Bush to the hurricane’s devastating effects. I’ve heard about global warming, the war in Iraq, tax cuts for the rich, etc all somehow being to blame for this _natural_ disaster. I agree that many of these are problems, but they have virtually no connection to this hurricane. When mother nature throws a once in 200yr event, bad things happen.
“President Bush noticed the crisis coming 24 hours before New Orleans and Louisiana stepped up to do something about it”
However, this is complete nonsense. It was the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, who sent a REQUEST to President Bush on the 27th that he declare a federal state of emergency. Unless he requested 24 hours prior to that request that she send a request…but I don’t think that’s what happened. You don’t need to falsely portray gross negligence to defend Bush on this one.
RESPONSE:
Point remains, Bush did his job, they didn’t do theirs. They should have ordered the evacuation on the 27th, not the 28th.
Comment by Yawn | September 3, 2005
Race has always been the undercurrent of Louisiana politics. This disaster is one that was constructed out of racism, neglect and incompetence. Hurricane Katrina was the inevitable spark igniting the gasoline of cruelty and corruption. From the neighborhoods left most at risk, to the treatment of the refugees to the the media portrayal of the victims, this disaster is shaped by race.
City, state and national politicians are the real criminals here. Since at least the mid-1800s, its been widely known the danger faced by flooding to New Orleans. The flood of 1927, which, like this week’s events, was more about politics and racism than any kind of natural disaster, illustrated exactly the danger faced. Yet government officials have consistently refused to spend the money to protect this poor, overwhelmingly black, city.
The smug little rich boy who was plucked from a life of upper class mediocrity by his Daddy’s advisors, who saw him as an homie and malleable instrument for their plan to remake the government and transform the Middle East, now stands before us, manifestly unprepared for this moment. He doesn’t “get it,” but more damningly doesn’t think he has to.
THE BUCK REALLY DOES STOP AT THE TOP!
Comment by mark bonelli | September 5, 2005
Dear John,
I posted this on blogcritics where this article also appeared, and copy it here to make sure you don’t miss it.
Take a look at the history books regarding Hurricane Andrew. Local resources were wiped out by the storm. I know. I was there. Take a look at those school buses you say should have been used. (one S in buses- please, learn to use a dictionary.) In the pictures I saw, they are under water. If an area the size of Britain is destroyed by a storm, what exactly do you want the local authorities distribute? Good wishes? Exactly what did you expect the locals to do?
You demonstrate very little knowledge of how warnings, shelters, and evacuations actually work in real life. I have gone through 20 hurricanes in Florida, after growing up in Ohio. On the coast, you can only move 180 degrees,the rest is water. In South Florida, that is limited to 90 degrees, as we are bordered by more water to the west = Everglades. That is what the people in NOLA had; the only real escape was a 90 degree window to the west.
Have YOU ever been through a disaster? For Katrina,we had less than 36 hours in South Florida. Did you know that? Remember Hurricane Andrew? We had 5 days notice - 2 days more than NOLA had and still people could not get out in time. The roads were essentially gridlocked, the shelters filled, hotels inland fully booked over 24 hours before the hurricane hit. There was no place TO go because the storm was so big. There were no resources for miles and miles. The only thing that was different with Katrina was the extensive flooding; Andrew was a dry hurricane.
It was FEMA that brought security after Andrew. The local police forces were overwhelmed. Jeb Bush brings out FEMA for every big Florida hurricane. Why not in NOLA? It is absolutely hilarious that you genuinely believe that FEMA is not needed in a tragedy of this magnitude. It is unbelievably sad that others actually believe your nonsense. We buy FEMA’s services with our tax dollars to protect us in case of last resort diasters. Katrina is that. What do you think FEMA’s resources should be used for, if not Katrina? Perhaps supply more security for George Bush?
I would be most happy to have you come visit me during a real hurricane, if you want to learn how it really works, so you can be truly educated about how the real world works in the future.
RESPONSE:
As a matter of fact, I’m trainied in disaster management, I’ve dealt with a few. You haven’t answered why those buses should not have been used, you haven’t answered why the plan sucked. FEMA doesn’t provide security, they may get coordinate getting security down there. FEMA has a registry of resources that other people have. I know because I’m on it. There are no security forces that belong to FEMA, they belong to other organizations.
Those buses should have been used BEFORE the hurricane struck, precisely as the plan dictated… have you read their plan? I have.
Comment by DiverKate | September 5, 2005
Does anyone actually believe that the picture of school buses is real?? Come on! Just take a good look at it. As for the rest of the article - who knows. I stopped reading once I saw that ridiculous picture.
RESPONSE:
Yeah, the AP is really the arm of the “international zionist conspiracy”!
Comment by HaHaHa! | September 6, 2005
Then where is this picture in the article you have a link to? While I certianly belive that there were unused buses in N.O. the idea that they were all just sitting there in a parking lot in some of the cleanest floodwater I have ever seen is preposterous.
RESPONSE:
Looks pretty dirty to me. But again, it must be a vast right wing conspiracy by the AP.
Comment by HaHaHa! | September 6, 2005
There are several ways to look at whether Bush “did” his job or not - the point being that, even if he was briefed on events as they unfolded in the Gulf, it appears he did little except say a few prayers and offer support that just didn’t materialize. Perhaps federal semantics and paperwork are required to issue official incident of national importance types of disaster designation, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a dangerous storm approaching a major Gulf port could have an immediate and far-reaching effect on the national economy. That is far from a Louisiana problem.
Moreover, National Guard numbers are down for other reasons besides deployment in Iraq. Recruitment into the force is down as well, so most states don’t have active members that approach much more than 80% of their allowable enlistment numbers. That certainly cuts into available personnel for loan. Since Mississippi had 4000 troops overseas and Louisiana had 3000 over in Iraq, there were severe limitations. those limitations included the loss of most vehicles designed for high water usage; in Louisiana, the state reported that half of their equipment was in use overseas. Governor Blanco asked for assistance from other states before the storm struck; Tennessee promised to mobilize 6,000 troops in Memphis.
In this case you have a point - the numbers actually arriving in Louisiana and Mississippi were dismal and slow in being activated and sent to the stricken areas - but that isn’t Louisiana’s fault. In every press conference I watched from the arrival of the storm through the first three days after it struck, I constantly saw local and state officials begging for more help. The President, by the way, does have some authority to call out the National Guard - he can also commandeer civilian transport planes for emergencies. After all, isn’t that how the Guard ended up serving in Iraq?
Blanco, for example, did receive extra law enforcement offers from other cities and counties around the country. Many of those offers were originally funneled through FEMA, including some before the storm, and they were turned away. There were also reports during the week that FEMA was directly interfering with state and local operations that were already hampered by communication system breakdowns caused by the storm. Some of these reports include accusations of emergency service channel jamming, though I’ve seen no direct evidence of that origination, at least at this point. But there were increasing numbers of reports of FEMA operatives, who were apparently in the area at the time, turning back early shipments of food and supplies and not allowing generators or troops into the city. There were also reports of FEMA commandeering equipment (which could explain why they seemed so slow in delivering promised supplies themselves) including buses, fuel, and equipment for law enforcement. One sheriff accused them of actually cutting the wires of his only communication lines and he posted armed guards to prevent their interference again. The mayor of Slidell threatened to shoot anyone from FEMA who attempted to take his city’s supplies and equipment.
The idea that it was inconceivable that supplies could be ferried into the middle of the city is ridiculous. The Times-Picayune sent a convoy of WalMart trucks with food and supplies into the city on Wednesday; Hyatt Hotels in Atlanta and Houston sent their own convoy into the city on the same day with supplies for survivors in their hotel. If you look at a picture of the Superdome, the Hyatt is the hotel with the north side having most of the windows blownout - about one block’s distance or so from the Superdome.
Then there is the issue of equipment, including the refusal to airdrop supplies into the stricken areas, knowing there were likely 100,000 or more people still in the city. While I don’t know who made this decision, the only explanation I’ve seen for the long delay in dropping supplies was the lack of helicopters and the fear that it could spark rioting among dazed survivors of the storm.
Even fully staffed, the New Orleans police department only had about 1500 officers to use - most of them were engaged, along with the Coast Guard, in overwhelming rescue operations. Relief officers somehow had difficulty getting into the city, even those who were ready to go as soon as soon as the storm hit. By Tuesday, a frustrated Mayor was alluding to issues among major decisionmakers in the relief effort, citing way too many “cooks in the kitchen.” His frustration was genuine, since the break in the 17th St. levee should have been attacked immediately but the only helicopter assigned was diverted to more rescue operations. Frustration continued to mount with FEMA - offers to use U.S. Forest Service firefighting planes, for example, were reported to be rejected by the federal agency. While details are still sketchy, it appeared that some kind of power struggle ensued and continued even after the President finally became involved.
About the levee - improvements in that levee and in wetland preparations were part of the overall plan for improvements. And yes, while it was only designed for a Category 3 storm, New Orleans wasn’t hit with the eye of the hurricane - it had swerved east as a Category 4. High wind reports that I saw posted during the storm did top 100 mph at the airport, but unless my Saffir-Simpson skills are rusty, that qualifies as a category 2. The initial belief was that the levees would hold, even though storm surge had engulfed an estimated 30,000 homes.
The issue here is the idea that the President of the United States failed to respond to a disaster that unfolded with national consequences in a timely manner. At any point from the first moment that the governors begged for assistance, the federal government should have immediately stepped forward to send all available resources. Since that same federal government was already using National Guard troops in federal action overseas, their support should have been both prompt and expected. Simply not being required by law to intervene doesn’t mean a national crisis meant avoidance.
As early as Monday, the President could have intervened immediately after seeing the first scenes of the initial flooding and the wide devastation. It certainly wasn’t because the Mayor and the Governor were silent about their needs at all.
There was no conceivable excuse for the Biloxi Sun to report that Air Force personnel played basketball and did calisthenics across the field from a shelter where survivors were recounting their stories to reporters. There was no excuse for the Bataan, deployed to the Gulf with some 600 beds, 1200 sailors and a few surgical units, to sit by helplessly with no directives from their superiors to engage in taking care of survivors.
This is not an issue of wondering why school buses didn’t ferry people in a door-to-door mandatory evacuation - the city didn’t have enough school buses to do that job anyway. While the effort would have hoped to raise the number of the population that did evacuate, roads were clogged for hours and the size of the storm sent some evacuees back into the hurricane at shelters in Jackson, Mississippi. The Mayor of New Orleans issued a voluntary evacuation order the day before the mandatory order - and while I’m no expert at city evacuation plans, I suspect no city of any size has a very workable or extensive operation. If the Mayor made a mistake, it was in issuing the mandatory order perhaps too late - but the Superdome, I believe, was already receiving elderly and residents who needed extra care. It appears that hotels didn’t have a plan to evacuate their own guests, either, since tourists were trapped without flights or rental cars to flee the city. I’ve heard of no efforts by the governor of Mississippi to send buses into his coastal area to evacuate citizens - he merely “begged” them to leave.
It seems to me that the only active federal group that consistently responded to this crisis was the U.S. Coast Guard. While I don’t know the command structure of the Guard, it seems strange to me that they could recognize the extent of the crisis and work directly with local and state officials while FEMA seemed dead in the water.
It also seems ridiculous to assume that a city alone can completely evacuate metropolitan areas of a large size. The state just didn’t have the extra resources to handle this crisis, and this was obvious to the entire world by the time the storm was winding down on Monday and the full depth of the crisis unfolded on Tuesday.
Our government on any level should not have to be reminded that their first and foremost responsibility is the protection of the lives of its own citizens. What I saw during the coverage of this crisis was Louisiana’s lieutenant governor helping with search and rescue operations while the President was giving a political speech at a commemorative event. In an event where we have citizens dying for want of a simple bottle of water, I damned well expect my country to IMMEDIATELY use every available resource to save those lives.
Comment by Kevin | September 6, 2005
Through my own experiences I know that there will be some lessons learned from this disaster in the coming months, and probably for years to come too. In the mean time, it’s my opinion that the disaster in New Orleans punctuates some real problems that we could all learn from.
First, we have all become somewhat complacent about our Local, State, and Federal Government. The majority of us have long forgotten that, in a true democracy, people must adopt a proactive approach towards the daily activities related to government. Participation is required! The average individual can produce a plethora of excuses for their own lack of participation, most of which is directly related to the lifestyle that we have so faithfully embraced. Our Constitution empowered the PEOPLE, STATES, AND NEVER ONCE IMPLIED THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RULED OVER ALL!
Our mainstream media is another problem! You must notice that our free press does not ever apologize or assume any sense of responsibility for their failure to adequately cover newsworthy issues. How long have we known about the potentials associated with the levee? It’s much more profitable for our “free press” to turn this issue into another left verses right issue (easy money). We are all getting sucked into this huge debate with a very predictable outcome, and our elected officials will once again manage to escape any accountability.
If there were one local reporter in New Orleans that was actively engaged in reporting on the condition of that levee, its threat to public safety, and really following the issue through to the end of the Local/State/Federal Government process - he or she should stand-up and be counted. If there were one reporter who was putting some pressure on Local and State officials to make improvements to the levee, and following the issue to its end- then there really would be an “exclusive” story. We would not be having this debate today!
Instead of improving the integrity of our free press we somehow manage to tolerate their continous effort to entertain the public in general. Our free press gives us what we want; not anywhere close to what we truly need. Our “free press” has become the masters of the obvious, distributors of the easy sell, and they focus more time reporting on which movies are grossing the most dollars at the box office. In addition, our “free press” finds mostly plain view stories that requires little foresight or labor. Perhaps this is because we have permitted a few corporations to control our “free” press. The moment the advertiser enters the room, our “free press” increases its revenues, and greed begins to congregate. Our “free press” is failing because stories about real issues are not profitable, and the vast amount of other consumer related stories are.
Until we the people become less complacent, more proactive in our own government, turn the televisions off, and begin to share some of the responsibilities associated with just being a good citizen - this cycle of denial will continue, we will never learn, and we will continue to be the victims of our own demise.
- James J. Pond
P.S. Please tell me that we have enough foresight to predict the outcome of this debate. I predict that all levels of our government will accept some responsibility, our free press will continue to cover the story until it is no longer profitable, and the stories of lost lives, displaced families, and heartwarming stories of survival will slowly fade away for the next story which avoids the real issue: Our Own Failures!
Comment by HIKER4EVER | September 8, 2005