NationStates Jolt Archive

An article from the Houston Chronicle, 2001. It's quite a chilling read. The agency has sunk from an effective institution to morass that doesn't even now people are trapped in New Orleans when it's splashed across the news.

the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked the potential damage to New Orleans as among the three likeliest, most castastrophic disasters facing this country.
The other two? A massive earthquake in San Francisco, and, almost prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York City.
The New Orleans hurricane scenario may be the deadliest of all.
In the face of an approaching storm, scientists say, the city's less-than-adequate evacuation routes would strand 250,000 people or more, and probably kill one of 10 left behind as the city drowned under 20 feet of water. Thousands of refugees could land in Houston.
Economically, the toll would be shattering.
Southern Louisiana produces one-third of the country's seafood, one-fifth of its oil and one-quarter of its natural gas. The city's tourism, lifeblood of the French Quarter, would cease to exist. The Big Easy might never recover.
And, given New Orleans' precarious perch, some academics wonder if it should be rebuilt at all

http://www.hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/houston.htm

An article from the Houston Chronicle, 2001. It's quite a chilling read. The agency has sunk from an effective institution to morass that doesn't even now people are trapped in New Orleans when it's splashed across the news.



http://www.hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/houston.htm

Jeez...

What's the point of even doing this kind of study if the only action they take is to slash the budget for that emergancy and send most of the National Guard to Iraq...

Again, Bush's incompetence shows itself again.

It is stunning how many blunt lies are being told on the TV.

"No-one could have forseen this."

"New Orleans has been unreachable."

"We never knew these people [in the Convention Center] existed."

"There are no Louisiana National Guard in Iraq, you know this perfectly well!"

:rolleyes:

You know what's even scarier?

In July 2004 over 40 government agencies drilled for exactly that emergency in New Orleans.

They can't have that short of an attention span to have forgotten what to do how in only a year? Or can they?

It is stunning how many blunt lies are being told on the TV.

"No-one could have forseen this."

"New Orleans has been unreachable."

"We never knew these people [in the Convention Center] existed."

"There are no Louisiana National Guard in Iraq, you know this perfectly well!"

:rolleyes:
http://www.idrewthis.org/index.html

George W. Bush said on "Good Morning America" that no one anticipated that the levees might break. That is flat out false. In fact, many people anticipated it. FEMA, in 2001, identified a category 5 hurricane destroying the levees and flooding New Orleans as one of the three major disasters most likely to befall the United States (http://www.hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/houston.htm). One of the others was a terrorist attack on New York.

Well, guess what? We've had both. Guess what Bush did to prepare? Nothing. Then the administration looked us straight in the eye, both times, and said no one could have anticipated that this would happen. Well, bullshit, George. It's bullshit and I don't think you care.

A lot of other people did as well. What I am so pissed about is that FEMA, Homeland Security, and Pentagon officials are syaing this is "beyond the worst case scenaios" (off various news confrences on CNN and other media).

My little brother, a junior professor of music taught helped teach a multi-disciplinary course that covered a unit called "Drowning New Orleans" that was based on this scenario (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000) that was even worse than reality. (As bad as reality gets, I doubt there will be the 100,000 dead predicted in my brothers scenario...)

If a junior music prof can foresee that, why can't FEMA?
:mad:

The Weather Channel foresaw Hurricane Katrina as well.

And yes, as with every hurricane, flooding was expected.

Here's what wasn't expected: Levees breaking turning NOLA into a lake. If the levees had not broken, NOLA would already be returning to normalcy.

"less-than-adequate evacuation routes would strand 250,000 people "


You do understand that is the LOCAL governments job right?

A lot of other people did as well. What I am so pissed about is that FEMA, Homeland Security, and Pentagon officials are syaing this is "beyond the worst case scenaios" (off various news confrences on CNN and other media).

My little brother, a junior professor of music taught helped teach a multi-disciplinary course that covered a unit called "Drowning New Orleans" that was based on this scenario (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00060286-CB58-1315-8B5883414B7F0000) that was even worse than reality. (As bad as reality gets, I doubt there will be the 100,000 dead predicted in my brothers scenario...)

If a junior music prof can foresee that, why can't FEMA?
:mad:


Must be fun whenever a disaster hits 10,000,000 armchair generals come out of the woodwork to say its your fault...You people are pathetic.

You know what's even scarier?

In July 2004 over 40 government agencies drilled for exactly that emergency in New Orleans.

They can't have that short of an attention span to have forgotten what to do how in only a year? Or can they?

Hmm, just like they drilled for a terrorist attack not long before 9/11....

Must be fun whenever a disaster hits 10,000,000 armchair generals come out of the woodwork to say its your fault...You people are pathetic.

:rolleyes:

Excuse me for being pissed when the Federal experts are unable to read Scientific American and other journals (my brother's 2002 "Drowning New Orleans" unit was based on 100+ articles in addition to the Mark Fischetti article linked above).

The various federal agencies should be able to predict the worst case scenarios better than a junior music prof. That they weren't, by their own admission, is a disgrace. That's about the only thing Bush has got right since this whole disaster started.

Excuse me for being pissed when the Federal experts are unable to read Scientific American and other journals.
LOL, I find it even more amusing how the head of FEMA went on TV on Thursday to say "Dude, WTF, I never knew those people existed!" when they were on every news outlet, TV, radio, paper and Internet since Monday. :rolleyes:

I knew that they considered this a major threat for a long time. But before 9/11, it has been a very long time before anything happened in this country. I think FEMA felt too safe, and contented itself with small emergencies, like earthquakes and blizzards.
Now that we know how vulnerable we are, there are many other cities in the US that man or nature can destroy, and it is sobbering to think which ones.
LA has no water. It may cause sinkholes once the ground water runs dry, but most of their water is imported right now. Still, what happens if the snow falls thinly on the Sierra Nevadas, or, as may happen soon, the Colorodo River runs dry? It is already reduced to a stream by the time it reaches the Mexican border.
The cities in the Great Plains may be hit with a disastorous tornado. Topeka was flattened back in '66 by a giant twister. Witchita should count itself lucky, because a giant tornado passed just to the south of it in '91.
And of course, there are blizzards. But I feel that they get a dispraportionate amount of attention. The worse that can happen is that the roads close for a few days, but it's all better once the plows come out. Besides, living in blizzard country, I can tell you that I'd rather have my winter weather over tornados and hurricanes any day.