Katrina

[gldstwmn]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/...ina_poverty_dc

Anger rises among Mississippi's poor after Katrina

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - For about a decade this gambling town on Mississippi's Gulf Coast has been the place to be in the state if you were poor, down on your luck and looking for work.

That changed on Monday when Hurricane Katrina came ashore, leveling hundreds if not thousands of houses, stores and commercial buildings and killing scores of residents.

The legalization of gambling in Biloxi created an economic boom in the early 1990s and the city developed a reputation as a place where a person could get a decent-paying job in the casino or hospitality business.

But not everyone prospered. In the devastated streets and atop the rubble piles where their homes stood before Katrina blew through, a bitter refrain is increasingly heard. Poor and low-income residents complain that they have borne the brunt of the hurricane's wrath.

"Many people didn't have the financial means to get out," said Alan LeBreton, 41, an apartment superintendent who lived on Biloxi's seaside road, now in ruins. "That's a crime and people are angry about it."

Many of the town's well-off heeded authorities' warnings to flee north, joining thousands of others who traveled from the Gulf Coast into northern Mississippi and Alabama, Georgia and other nearby states.

Hotels along the interstates and other main roads were packed with these temporary refugees. Gas stations and convenience stores -- at least those that were open -- sold out of water, ice and other supplies within hours.

But others could not afford to join them, either because they didn't own a car or couldn't raise funds for even the cheapest motel.

"No way we could do that," said Willie Rhetta, a bus driver, who remained in his home to await Katrina.

Resentment at being left behind in the path of one of the fiercest hurricanes on record may have contributed to some of the looting that occurred in Biloxi and other coastal communities.

A number of private residences, including some in upscale neighborhoods, were targeted, residents said.

Class divisions, which often fall along racial lines in this once-segregated southern state, are not new to Mississippi. It traditionally is one of the poorest states in the United States.

In 2004, Mississippi had the second lowest median household income and the highest percentage of people -- 21.6 percent -- living in poverty, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau

[strandinthewind]

You said

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

What about the people in Mississippi who were never ordered to evacuate?.

I replied

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I am unclear on that. I know much of the Gulf Coast was ordered to evacuate, but did not. In any event, that part of the world is not flooded in any significant way compared to NOLA and the surrounding area. So, the logic behind the delay rescue time is not as applicable, though it certainly there.

Then you posted an article about how the Air Force was playing basketball, which seemingly has nothing to do with the argument that the able bodied people who refused to evacuate were now hindering help to those who needed it and could not evacuate. So, I do not understand the meaning behind the posting of that article, unless it was to address the earlier argument that W is a dilitante, etc. To which I reply, W has done what he could and is sending aid, ships full of supplies, ordering the NG to go to the effected areas, FEMA is acting haste in that thousands have been evacuated in NOLA, etc.

[ShangriLaTroubl]

Originally Posted by Dreammms

i have been watching the news coverage all day. this is so heartbreaking.

strand your brother is in my thoughts.

This is crazy...this is larger than 911 in my opinion..people are starving, having to steal food. The whole is very catostropic. The hurricane has caused a state of emergency in GA with some places today marking up gas to 6 bucks a gallon! I talked to my mom and she told me that she went to some stations today and saw 5.00 a gallon, and some had signs that said "sorry, out of gas"

Chris

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/...ina_poverty_dc

Anger rises among Mississippi's poor after Katrina

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - For about a decade this gambling town on Mississippi's Gulf Coast has been the place to be in the state if you were poor, down on your luck and looking for work.

That changed on Monday when Hurricane Katrina came ashore, leveling hundreds if not thousands of houses, stores and commercial buildings and killing scores of residents.

The legalization of gambling in Biloxi created an economic boom in the early 1990s and the city developed a reputation as a place where a person could get a decent-paying job in the casino or hospitality business.

But not everyone prospered. In the devastated streets and atop the rubble piles where their homes stood before Katrina blew through, a bitter refrain is increasingly heard. Poor and low-income residents complain that they have borne the brunt of the hurricane's wrath.

"Many people didn't have the financial means to get out," said Alan LeBreton, 41, an apartment superintendent who lived on Biloxi's seaside road, now in ruins. "That's a crime and people are angry about it."

Many of the town's well-off heeded authorities' warnings to flee north, joining thousands of others who traveled from the Gulf Coast into northern Mississippi and Alabama, Georgia and other nearby states.

Hotels along the interstates and other main roads were packed with these temporary refugees. Gas stations and convenience stores -- at least those that were open -- sold out of water, ice and other supplies within hours.

But others could not afford to join them, either because they didn't own a car or couldn't raise funds for even the cheapest motel.

"No way we could do that," said Willie Rhetta, a bus driver, who remained in his home to await Katrina.

Resentment at being left behind in the path of one of the fiercest hurricanes on record may have contributed to some of the looting that occurred in Biloxi and other coastal communities.

A number of private residences, including some in upscale neighborhoods, were targeted, residents said.

Class divisions, which often fall along racial lines in this once-segregated southern state, are not new to Mississippi. It traditionally is one of the poorest states in the United States.

In 2004, Mississippi had the second lowest median household income and the highest percentage of people -- 21.6 percent -- living in poverty, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau

Yes, the situation in Mississippi was tragic. However, I am talking about the people in NOLA who could have gotten on a bus and gone to the dome but did not because they were foolish, stubborn, or intended to loot afterward.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by ShangriLaTroubl

...this is larger than 911 in my opinion..people are starving, having to steal food.
Chris

I agree Chris.

[strandinthewind]

Companies pitch in
Major companies -- including Home Depot and Ford -- pledge millions to hurricane relief efforts.
August 31, 2005: 7:10 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Corporations are contributing millions of dollars in relief aid to help cope with the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina. The following is a list of companies that have taken steps to provide aid to those in need of funds, food and medicine following Monday's storm:

Abbott, a pharmaceutical and medical products company, has pledged to contribute $4 million, $2 million in cash donations and an initial $2 million in nutritional and medical products to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Abbott's initial contributions include cases of pediatric and adult nutritional products such as Similac infant formula, PediaSure and Pedialyte nutritional drinks and Ensure and ZonePerfect bars.

Amerada Hess said it would contribute $1 million to the American Red Cross for its disaster relief efforts in responding to Hurricane Katrina. In addition, the company will match individual employee donations to the Red Cross.

American Airlines flew 85,000 pounds of bottled water and nonperishable food items donated by the airline to New Orleans. American also picked up some of its own employees, other airlines' employees and stranded travelers and flew them to Dallas/Fort Worth.

Anheuser-Busch said it shipped 12,600 cases of drinking water for the Red Cross to distribute to victims in affected areas of Louisiana.

Bayer Corp. has committed $2 million in cash and product donations and will match employee donations to the Red Cross.

BI-LO/Bruno's supermarkets will match up to $25,000 in employee and customer donations to the American Red Cross.

Citigroup will donate $1 million to the American Red Cross and will match employee donations up to $1 million.

Comcast Corporation has committed to donating $10 million worth of advertising time for Public Service Announcements, in addition to $50,000 in cash to the American Red Cross. Comcast will also feature 10 hours of ON DEMAND programming in September, dedicated to airing American Red Cross updates, benefit concerts and information on what customers can do to help in the relief efforts.

Exxon Mobil will donate $2 million to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. It is also donating fuel to government responders.

Fannie Mae has mortgage relief provisions in place for borrowers in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and other states facing hardships as a result of widespread damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Flowserve will donate $50,000 and match up to $50,000 in employee donations to the Red Cross.

Food Lion said it would accept customer donations to the Red Cross and will send a truckload of bottled water to the area.

Ford Motor Credit Company is offering customers affected by Hurricane Katrina the opportunity to defer up to two vehicle payments.

Freddie Mac has extended its mortgage relief policies for borrowers affected by Hurricane Katrina in locations declared major disaster areas by President Bush.

General Motors is contributing $400,000 to the American Red Cross and matching employee donations up to $250,000. GM will also donate 25 vehicles for use by the American Red Cross.

Harrah's Entertainment will establish an Employee Recovery Fund of $1 million and will provide Biloxi, Gulfport and New Orleans casino employees with their regularly scheduled base pay for up to 90 days.

Home Depot will donate $1.5 million to various relief organizations, including the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. The home improvement retailer will set up six temporary support centers to provide reconstruction materials.

JPMorgan Chase will donate $1 million to the American Red Cross and will match employee donations up to $1 million.

Lowe's Companies will match in-store customer contributions up to $1 million. The company said it has truckloads of emergency supplies staged and ready for relief efforts along the Gulf Coast. Lowe's also says its more than 1,125 stores nationwide will serve as official cash-donation sites to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Nissan North America will donate $500,000 to the Red Cross and provide 50 full-size trucks to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Northwest Airlines will deliver hurricane relief supplies, including water, hand towels and batteries.

Office Depot pledged to contribute $1 million to the American Red Cross.

Pepsi Americas will contribute $500,000 in financial aid and water.

Pfizer will donate $1 million for rebuilding hospital and healthcare centers, $1 million for relief organizations including the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and the United Way of America and medicines, consumer and animal health products

Southwest Airlines is bringing supplies such as ice, bottled water, flashlights and bug spray. The airline also picked up about 20 to 40 evacuees.

Target announced a $1.5 million donation to the American Red Cross. The company said in a statement that it was also coordinating the distribution of essential relief products requested by the Red Cross, including water, ice, energy bars and bug spray.

Turner Broadcasting (parent of CNN) will donate $250,000 and match employee contributions.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has pledged $1 million to Lutheran relief agencies and will match member contributions.

United Airlines will give 500 frequent flier miles to anyone who donates $50 or more to the Red Cross, AmeriCares or Operation USA. The airline is also planning a relief flight with food and supplies.

Wal-Mart Stores says it will donate $1 million to the Salvation Army for relief assistance such as meals for victims and emergency and rescue personnel.

Washington Mutual will donate $100,000 to the American Red Cross and will match employee donations.

Wachovia will donate $250,000 to the American Red cross and match employee donations. Wachovia delivered food, water and generators to Mobile and Pascagoula and will continue to send supplies.

Winn-Dixie announced a program called "Neighbors Helping Neighbors," in which people can make donations in its Southeast stores for Hurricane Katrina victims.


Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/31/news...cane/index.htm

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Yes, the situation in Mississippi was tragic. However, I am talking about the people in NOLA who could have gotten on a bus and gone to the dome but did not because they were foolish, stubborn, or intended to loot afterward.

And earlier I asked you a question about Mississippi to which you replied you were unclear.
Take 3 aspirin and read it in the morning.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by ShangriLaTroubl

This is crazy...this is larger than 911 in my opinion..people are starving, having to steal food. The whole is very catostropic. The hurricane has caused a state of emergency in GA with some places today marking up gas to 6 bucks a gallon! I talked to my mom and she told me that she went to some stations today and saw 5.00 a gallon, and some had signs that said "sorry, out of gas"

Chris

I agree - stealing food is a horrid instance and is justifiable, esp. considering that food will likely go bad if this indeed takes two months to correct. However 45 VCR's, a rack of suits, the entire gun supply of WalMart, jewelry, cash, private possessions from homes not your's is not - it is a crime commited in an opportunistic fashion. I know you were not talking about that, but I feel it is important to acknowledge that there are different types of looters in this case. In fact, it is probably safe to assume as Nancy Grace did this evening that some people stayed behind to protect their possessions, which is insane, but when that store is all you have - how is that different from these people stealing to survive, esp. when the shelters had food and water if they had just gone to them

Also, the gas lines this evening were like ten cars deep at each pump and at more than one station. Scary indeed.

[gldstwmn]

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandf...n/12528135.htm
By SETH BORENSTEIN

Knight Ridder Newspapers


WASHINGTON - The federal government so far has bungled the job of quickly helping the multitudes of hungry, thirsty and desperate victims of Hurricane Katrina, former top federal, state and local disaster chiefs said Wednesday.

The experts, including a former Bush administration disaster response manager, told Knight Ridder that the government wasn't prepared, scrimped on storm spending and shifted its attention from dealing with natural disasters to fighting the global war on terrorism.

The disaster preparedness agency at the center of the relief effort is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was enveloped by the new Department of Homeland Security with a new mission aimed at responding to the attacks of al-Qaida.

"What you're seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels," said Eric Tolbert, who until February was FEMA's disaster response chief. "All three levels have been weakened. They've been weakened by diversion into terrorism."

In interviews on Wednesday, several men and women who've led relief efforts for dozens of killer hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes over the years chastised current disaster leaders for forgetting the simple Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.

Bush administration officials said they're proud of their efforts. Their first efforts emphasized rooftop rescues over providing food and water for already safe victims.

"We are extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government (and) all of our federal partners have made to this terrible tragedy," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said during a news conference Wednesday in Washington.

The agency has more than 1,700 truckloads of water, meals, tents, generators and other supplies ready to go in, Chertoff said. Federal health officials have started setting up at least 40 medical shelters. The Coast Guard reports rescuing more than 1,200 people.

But residents, especially in Biloxi, Miss., said they aren't seeing the promised help, and Knight Ridder reporters along the Gulf Coast said they saw little visible federal relief efforts, other than search-and-rescue teams. Some help started arriving Wednesday by the truckloads, but not everywhere.

"We're not getting any help yet," said Biloxi Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Boney. "We need water. We need ice. I've been told it's coming, but we've got people in shelters who haven't had a drink since the storm."

The slow response to Katrina and poor federal leadership is a replay of 1992's mishandling of Hurricane Andrew, said former FEMA chief of staff Jane Bullock, a 22-year veteran of the agency.

Bullock blamed inexperienced federal leadership. She noted that Chertoff and FEMA Director Michael Brown had no disaster experience before they were appointed to their jobs.

The slowness is all too familiar to Kate Hale. As Miami's disaster chief during Hurricane Andrew, Hale asked: "Where the hell's the cavalry?"

"I'm looking at people who are begging for ice and water and (a) presence," Hale said Wednesday. "I'm seeing the same sort of thing that horrified us after Hurricane Andrew. ... I realize they've got a huge job. Nobody understands better than I do what they're trying to respond to, but ..."

Budget cuts haven't made disaster preparedness any easier.

Last year, FEMA spent $250,000 to conduct an eight-day hurricane drill for a mock killer storm hitting New Orleans. Some 250 emergency officials attended. Many of the scenarios now playing out, including a helicopter evacuation of the Superdome, were discussed in that drill for a fictional storm named Pam.

This year, the group was to design a plan to fix such unresolved problems as evacuating sick and injured people from the Superdome and housing tens of thousands of stranded citizens.

Funding for that planning was cut, said Tolbert, the former FEMA disaster response director.

"A lot of good was done, but it just wasn't finished," said Tolbert, who was the disaster chief for the state of North Carolina. "I don't know if it would have saved more lives. It would have made the response faster. You might say it would have saved lives."

FEMA wasn't alone in cutting hurricane spending in New Orleans and the surrounding area.

Federal flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana has been chopped from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005, according to budget documents. Federal hurricane protection for the Lake Pontchartrain vicinity in the Army Corps of Engineers' budget dropped from $14.25 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year. Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu requested $27 million this year.

Both the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper and a local business magazine reported that the effects of the budget cuts at the Army Corps of Engineers were severe.

In 2004, the Corps essentially stopped major work on the now-breached levee system that had protected New Orleans from flooding. It was the first such stoppage in 37 years, the Times-Picayune reported.

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay," Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri told the newspaper. "Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

The Army Corps' New Orleans office, facing a $71 million cut, also eliminated funds to pay for a study on how to protect the Crescent City from a Category 5 storm, New Orleans City Business reported in June.

Being prepared for a disaster is basic emergency management, disaster experts say.

For example, in the 1990s, in planning for a New Orleans nightmare scenario, the federal government figured it would pre-deploy nearby ships with pumps to remove water from the below-sea-level city and have hospital ships nearby, said James Lee Witt, who was FEMA director under President Clinton.

Federal officials said a hospital ship would leave from Baltimore on Friday.

"These things need to be planned and prepared for; it just doesn't look like it was," said Witt, a former Arkansas disaster chief who won bipartisan praise on Capitol Hill during his tenure.

FEMA said some of its response teams were prepared.

The agency had 18 search-and-rescue teams and 39 disaster medical teams positioned outside storm areas and moved them in when the hurricane died down.

Nonetheless, victims of this week's hurricane should have gotten more, said John Copenhaver, a former southeastern regional FEMA director.

"I would have difficulty explaining why there has not been a visible presence of ice, water, tarps - the kind of stuff that typically get delivered to hurricane areas," Copenhaver said.

A FEMA spokesman, James McIntyre, blamed the devastation in the region for slowing down relief efforts.

Roads were washed out and relief trucks were stopped by state police trying to keep people out of hazardous areas, he said.

That explanation didn't satisfy Joe Myers, Florida's former emergency management chief.

"I would think that yesterday they could have flown in," said Myers. "Everyone was flying in. Put it this way, FOX and CNN are there. If they can get there ..."

FEMA moved quickly with its search-and-rescue teams, which took precedence over delivering water and ice, McIntyre said.

"We're trying to save lives," McIntyre said. "The rescue teams are FEMA people. The medical assistance are FEMA people. Right now, getting people off roofs and keeping people from drowning are a priority."

Further complicating the relief effort in Louisiana is scandal within the state agency. Recently, three top officials of Louisiana's emergency management office were indicted in an investigation into the misuse of hurricane funds from last year's Ivan.

None of this matters to residents of the Gulf Coast.

"We're lost," said Steve Loper of Pascagoula, Miss. "We have no direction, no leadership. People are in bad trouble."

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

And earlier I asked you a question about Mississippi to which you replied you were unclear.
Take 3 aspirin and read it in the morning.

Right, but that was about the ordered evacuation of Mississippi and what it entailed. Please quote the post that that article was responding to because I do not see it, though I enjoyed the article.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Right, but that was about the ordered evacuation of Mississippi and what it entailed. Please quote the post that that article was responding to because I do not see it, though I enjoyed the article.

Post #222.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandf...n/12528135.htm
By SETH BORENSTEIN

Knight Ridder Newspapers


WASHINGTON - The federal government so far has bungled the job of quickly helping the multitudes of hungry, thirsty and desperate victims of Hurricane Katrina, former top federal, state and local disaster chiefs said Wednesday.

The experts, including a former Bush administration disaster response manager, told Knight Ridder that the government wasn't prepared, scrimped on storm spending and shifted its attention from dealing with natural disasters to fighting the global war on terrorism.

The disaster preparedness agency at the center of the relief effort is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was enveloped by the new Department of Homeland Security with a new mission aimed at responding to the attacks of al-Qaida.

"What you're seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels," said Eric Tolbert, who until February was FEMA's disaster response chief. "All three levels have been weakened. They've been weakened by diversion into terrorism."

In interviews on Wednesday, several men and women who've led relief efforts for dozens of killer hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes over the years chastised current disaster leaders for forgetting the simple Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.

Bush administration officials said they're proud of their efforts. Their first efforts emphasized rooftop rescues over providing food and water for already safe victims.

"We are extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government (and) all of our federal partners have made to this terrible tragedy," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said during a news conference Wednesday in Washington.

The agency has more than 1,700 truckloads of water, meals, tents, generators and other supplies ready to go in, Chertoff said. Federal health officials have started setting up at least 40 medical shelters. The Coast Guard reports rescuing more than 1,200 people.

But residents, especially in Biloxi, Miss., said they aren't seeing the promised help, and Knight Ridder reporters along the Gulf Coast said they saw little visible federal relief efforts, other than search-and-rescue teams. Some help started arriving Wednesday by the truckloads, but not everywhere.

"We're not getting any help yet," said Biloxi Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Boney. "We need water. We need ice. I've been told it's coming, but we've got people in shelters who haven't had a drink since the storm."

The slow response to Katrina and poor federal leadership is a replay of 1992's mishandling of Hurricane Andrew, said former FEMA chief of staff Jane Bullock, a 22-year veteran of the agency.

Bullock blamed inexperienced federal leadership. She noted that Chertoff and FEMA Director Michael Brown had no disaster experience before they were appointed to their jobs.

The slowness is all too familiar to Kate Hale. As Miami's disaster chief during Hurricane Andrew, Hale asked: "Where the hell's the cavalry?"

"I'm looking at people who are begging for ice and water and (a) presence," Hale said Wednesday. "I'm seeing the same sort of thing that horrified us after Hurricane Andrew. ... I realize they've got a huge job. Nobody understands better than I do what they're trying to respond to, but ..."

Budget cuts haven't made disaster preparedness any easier.

Last year, FEMA spent $250,000 to conduct an eight-day hurricane drill for a mock killer storm hitting New Orleans. Some 250 emergency officials attended. Many of the scenarios now playing out, including a helicopter evacuation of the Superdome, were discussed in that drill for a fictional storm named Pam.

This year, the group was to design a plan to fix such unresolved problems as evacuating sick and injured people from the Superdome and housing tens of thousands of stranded citizens.

Funding for that planning was cut, said Tolbert, the former FEMA disaster response director.

"A lot of good was done, but it just wasn't finished," said Tolbert, who was the disaster chief for the state of North Carolina. "I don't know if it would have saved more lives. It would have made the response faster. You might say it would have saved lives."

FEMA wasn't alone in cutting hurricane spending in New Orleans and the surrounding area.

Federal flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana has been chopped from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005, according to budget documents. Federal hurricane protection for the Lake Pontchartrain vicinity in the Army Corps of Engineers' budget dropped from $14.25 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year. Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu requested $27 million this year.

Both the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper and a local business magazine reported that the effects of the budget cuts at the Army Corps of Engineers were severe.

In 2004, the Corps essentially stopped major work on the now-breached levee system that had protected New Orleans from flooding. It was the first such stoppage in 37 years, the Times-Picayune reported.

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay," Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri told the newspaper. "Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

The Army Corps' New Orleans office, facing a $71 million cut, also eliminated funds to pay for a study on how to protect the Crescent City from a Category 5 storm, New Orleans City Business reported in June.

Being prepared for a disaster is basic emergency management, disaster experts say.

For example, in the 1990s, in planning for a New Orleans nightmare scenario, the federal government figured it would pre-deploy nearby ships with pumps to remove water from the below-sea-level city and have hospital ships nearby, said James Lee Witt, who was FEMA director under President Clinton.

Federal officials said a hospital ship would leave from Baltimore on Friday.

"These things need to be planned and prepared for; it just doesn't look like it was," said Witt, a former Arkansas disaster chief who won bipartisan praise on Capitol Hill during his tenure.

FEMA said some of its response teams were prepared.

The agency had 18 search-and-rescue teams and 39 disaster medical teams positioned outside storm areas and moved them in when the hurricane died down.

Nonetheless, victims of this week's hurricane should have gotten more, said John Copenhaver, a former southeastern regional FEMA director.

"I would have difficulty explaining why there has not been a visible presence of ice, water, tarps - the kind of stuff that typically get delivered to hurricane areas," Copenhaver said.

A FEMA spokesman, James McIntyre, blamed the devastation in the region for slowing down relief efforts.

Roads were washed out and relief trucks were stopped by state police trying to keep people out of hazardous areas, he said.

That explanation didn't satisfy Joe Myers, Florida's former emergency management chief.

"I would think that yesterday they could have flown in," said Myers. "Everyone was flying in. Put it this way, FOX and CNN are there. If they can get there ..."

FEMA moved quickly with its search-and-rescue teams, which took precedence over delivering water and ice, McIntyre said.

"We're trying to save lives," McIntyre said. "The rescue teams are FEMA people. The medical assistance are FEMA people. Right now, getting people off roofs and keeping people from drowning are a priority."

Further complicating the relief effort in Louisiana is scandal within the state agency. Recently, three top officials of Louisiana's emergency management office were indicted in an investigation into the misuse of hurricane funds from last year's Ivan.

None of this matters to residents of the Gulf Coast.

"We're lost," said Steve Loper of Pascagoula, Miss. "We have no direction, no leadership. People are in bad trouble."

(Alison Young, Ron Hutcheson and Tish Wells of the Knight

So FEMA's mass evacuation of like 5,000 stranded people (some covered in attics mind you) has been a bust

The Navy Ships full of supplies - who needs them

The Fed. money on hand prior to strom - not needed

The complete cooperation between the states and the Feds - unwarranted

_______________________________________________________________

I get that the Feds could be doing more and the budget cuts suck - they always could be and do. But, the response has been pretty good so far Even you admitted that earlier

[Jessica Leigh]

[QUOTE=strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Up until a few years ago, many of those prisoners were in tents - in fact it was called Tent City. The Feds blew a gasket and ordered the Parish to construct real jails as the tents were inhumane, esp. in the Summer. It was a big stink in NOLA at the time.

are you kidding? but our tent city in phx is NOT inhumane? people die here from heat in the summer and our sheriff is allowed to keep all of the prisoners in tents still.

[gldstwmn]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...icle309222.ece

By Andrew Buncombe
Published: 31 August 2005
Some people seized on the chaos caused by Hurricane Katrina to add to it by looting abandoned homes and stores while law enforcement agencies were busy trying to help those struck by the storm.

Reports from several devastated communities said police had already arrested people for looting and 1,600 members of the Mississippi National Guard were being deployed, in part, to deter thieves. CNN showed gangs of looters in New Orleans trying to break into buildings.

A local television channel said police with automatic weapons were called to a grocery store after looters went on the rampage, pulling apart a cash dispenser and taking groceries. The store was ransacked.

Denise Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, took pictures of the looters. She said: "It's downtown Baghdad. It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not."

On Canal Street, the main road through the city's business district, looters opened the steel gates of clothing and jewellery stores, filled industrial-sized rubbish bins with clothing and jewellery and floated them down the street on plywood. One man, who had 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store. "No," he said. "That's everybody's store."

Haley Barbour, the Governor of Mississippi, said: "I have instructed the Highway Patrol and the National Guard to treat looters ruthlessly. Looting will not be tolerated and rules of engagement will be as aggressive as the law allows."

Looting is believed to have started shortly after the storm passed. In Biloxi, local reporters listening on a police scanner, heard the Harrison County Sheriff, George Payne, angrily tell his deputies to make room in the county jail for thieves.

Some people seized on the chaos caused by Hurricane Katrina to add to it by looting abandoned homes and stores while law enforcement agencies were busy trying to help those struck by the storm.

Reports from several devastated communities said police had already arrested people for looting and 1,600 members of the Mississippi National Guard were being deployed, in part, to deter thieves. CNN showed gangs of looters in New Orleans trying to break into buildings.

A local television channel said police with automatic weapons were called to a grocery store after looters went on the rampage, pulling apart a cash dispenser and taking groceries. The store was ransacked.

Denise Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, took pictures of the looters. She said: "It's downtown Baghdad. It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not."
On Canal Street, the main road through the city's business district, looters opened the steel gates of clothing and jewellery stores, filled industrial-sized rubbish bins with clothing and jewellery and floated them down the street on plywood. One man, who had 10 pairs of jeans draped over his left arm, was asked if he was salvaging things from his store. "No," he said. "That's everybody's store."

Haley Barbour, the Governor of Mississippi, said: "I have instructed the Highway Patrol and the National Guard to treat looters ruthlessly. Looting will not be tolerated and rules of engagement will be as aggressive as the law allows."

Looting is believed to have started shortly after the storm passed. In Biloxi, local reporters listening on a police scanner, heard the Harrison County Sheriff, George Payne, angrily tell his deputies to make room in the county jail for thieves.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Post #222.

Well, I just quoted that - let me do it again:

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

What about the people in Mississippi who were never ordered to evacuate?

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I am unclear on that. I know much of the Gulf Coast was ordered to evacuate, but did not. In any event, that part of the world is not flooded in any significant way compared to NOLA and the surrounding area. So, the logic behind the delay rescue time is not as applicable, though it certainly there.

Again, how does posting the article you did clear up that. The article you posted did not mention the evacuations. The second one did though.