| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Home Front: Economy | ||
| New Orleans had many warnings | ||
| 2005-09-04 | ||
Just a year ago, Hurricane Ivan caused disaster plan review
There were hours-long traffic jams. Those who had money fled, while the poor stayed. The warnings were the same: Forecasters predicted that a direct hit on the city would send torrents of water over the city's levees, creating a 20-foot-deep cesspool of human and industrial waste. "They say evacuate, but they don't say how I'm supposed to do that," Latonya Hill, 57, told the Associated Press at the time. "If I can't walk it or get there on the bus, I don't go. I don't got a car. My daughter don't either." Advocates for the poor were indignant in 2004 – just as they are complaining now. "If the government asks people to evacuate, the government has some responsibility to provide an option for those people who can't evacuate and are at the whim of Mother Nature," said Joe Cook of the New Orleans ACLU. With Ivan, city officials first said they would provide no shelter, then, just hours before the storm was set to hit land, they agreed that the state-owned Louisiana Superdome would open to those with special medical needs. Mayor Ray Nagin's spokeswoman, Tanzie Jones, insisted that there was no reluctance at City Hall to open the Superdome, but said the evacuation was the top priority. "Our main focus is to get the people out of the city," she said. But again, in 2004, no city or school buses were used to take people to safety. Callers to talk radio complained about the late decision to open up the dome, but the mayor said he would do nothing different. And, indeed, he didn't do much different last weekend before Katrina struck. Even the problems that occurred at the Superdome this week had a precedent – during a threat by Hurricane Georges in 1998. An estimated 14,000 poured into the stadium, but theft and vandalism were rampant. During the threat by Ivan, only 1,100 fled to the Superdome and they were supervised by 300 National Guardsmen, who were able to avoid major crime problems. Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Nagin both acknowledged after the Ivan near miss they needed a better evacuation plan.
| ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 Sherry's right - W called Blanco on sunday, urging mandatory evacuation (which was noyt his responsibility to call for...). It's a fact, she dithered |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-04 16:58 |
| #6 I thought Sherry was clearly on the President's side: Texas is on the Gulf also, and Bush, having been the governor there, knows the drill and knows what responsibilites the states have, the locals have, and what the feds have. Louisiana's governor and N.O.'s mayor DID NOT DO THEIR PART, tying the hands of the feds. It's proof that Bush is not Hitler, and we are not a Nazi country with all government decision making centralized. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2005-09-04 15:12 |
| #5 I'm not a mentalist SPOD but try putting "...he knew it was a disaster for his country" AND THAT HE COULDN'T GET THOSE IDIOTS GOING." That's the way I read it, right or wrong only Sherry knows. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2005-09-04 11:18 |
| #4 If I am wrong my apoligies. However this is the way it usually starts. I have seen so much of it in the last 6 days I am in full offensive mode. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-04 02:43 |
| #3 I don't think Sherry meant it the way you think she did. By the way, if you want to see BDS in full-blown regalia, head over to the Washington Monthly and check out their commenters. I did battle a little while this evening on one of their threads (now 200+ and counting, I did about 12 or so) -- oh my. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-09-04 02:18 |
| #2 Nice case of BDS you got there "Sherry." |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-04 01:46 |
| #1 As the world looks directly at us, with these two people in charge, Bush gets blamed. Bush has been a governor of a "hurricane state." He knows the drill. He knows the steps between state power and federal power. You just gotta believe, as he watched this disaster unfold, he knew it was a disaster for his country. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2005-09-04 01:22 |