Rita's coming: the left wing armchair observer** response
I hope*** this is true but I remember the pre-Katrina word was that preparation was slick as could be.
Glad they figured out the pet thing.
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**weird expression, huh? Makes it sound like we watch armchairs. Boring hobby.
***I admit I got some schadenfreude from Bush's team's incompetence. (It was a silver lining in a hideously dark cloud, okay?) But if they've managed to get their act together for Rita, it'll be a relief, not a disappointment.
Glad they figured out the pet thing.
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**weird expression, huh? Makes it sound like we watch armchairs. Boring hobby.
***I admit I got some schadenfreude from Bush's team's incompetence. (It was a silver lining in a hideously dark cloud, okay?) But if they've managed to get their act together for Rita, it'll be a relief, not a disappointment.
You read the whole thing, yes? Because the "lessons learned" were at the local level, not Federal. Mayors ordering evacuations early and in stages (That one is from Fred in Florida when 3 million people on the East Coast were trapped on the roads.) Fun! Entirely new license plate games were invented.
ReplyDeleteYou can slam the Feds - of course - but you will need a different article to illustrate their mistakes.
Huh? Ferfe? Did we read the same article
ReplyDeleteThat article mentions a mix of local and national responders.
problem:
not having a central command--that's in place
The Pentagon is sending in five two-person teams to set up communications after the storm comes through. If fire and police communications are down, Paulison (the new FEMA guy) said, "we're going to help them very quickly get those back up in place so they can do the job that they are trained to do."
not having enough troops--pentagon sent of national guard troops and supplies before hand. (granted the locals asked for them but still, they didn't ignore the request)
not having enough FEMA types--Paulison said FEMA has sent to the region 14 urban search and rescue teams with nearly 800 members. Before Katrina, just seven such teams were in place. FEMA also has pre-positioned 45 truckloads each of ice and water and 25 truckloads of food, he said
not having a president who seems to give a damn--he's already made a statement or two about this situation giving the impression he's paying attention this time.
And of course no article can be printed yet about the efficacy of the fed response because there hasn't had to be one--yet. It was post-storm aide that everyone ranted about. . .(Unless you go back to the cutting of Army Corp of Engineer funds to improve the levees...but I won't if you don't)
ReplyDeleteand ferfe...I am reading between lines here. .. . .you can NOT Possibly blame the Katrina thing ONLY on the locals. Yeah, okay, they can share some of the blame. But come on. Only their fault? They deserved all those promises of help for days that didn't come for days?
ReplyDeleteNo, don't answer. I'll just get all ranty again and I was doing so well (whimper).
Nah - I didn't say it was only the local government's fault - just that the larger lessons learned that are described in that particular article are on the state and local side.
ReplyDeleteFlorida has learned every hurricane lesson the hard way.
On the plus side, all of that Florida experience has now been hired by the Feds in the form of Miami's best Emergency Management man for FEMA. So. Someone who knows WTH he's doing is on the job, finally. Quite a few of our retired finest drove over to Louisiana and Mississippi on their own dime and volunteered to co-ordinate relief volunteers and supplies.
It's going to be a long, mean-assed hurricane season. Pace yourself. I think that those of us getting slammed every week are handling the storms better than the rest of the nation.
Besides, you know the storms are a Japanese Mobster Plot to avenge Hiroshima, right? I read that in USA Today and on Fox News. (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2005-09-20-wacky-weatherman_x.htm)
Visit Mary Stella's blog. You'll feel better.
Kate just from watching the news it really seems like people are on the ball and taking it seriously all the way around--at least IN STATE. They've worked to get hte elderly out. Children's Medical center flew the critical babies out and said they'd continue to until they got them all.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how the feds react afterward, right now it DOES seem that people are doing what they need to do. Getting the hell out and making sure that those with no transportation can get out too.
I tell you what though, I'm scared and I'm six hours north.
Aww Man Cece,you will be fine! Stay away from the coast. Make sure you have water and supplies. You may not remember but last year Florida took a hit from two Cat four\five hurricanes and though the barrier islands got hammered, they are recovering, people evacuated so there were relatively few casualties. And when the power goes out, eat the ice cream first.
ReplyDelete"eat the ice cream first." Finally some advice we can all relate to.
ReplyDeleteI've lived through a couple of hurricanes and the best advice I can give from my last experience is make sure you have a full deck of cards. Our power went out for a few days and we were trapped with a 49 deck of cards. Very frustrating.
And ignore your roommates when they tell you you're an idiot for buying bottled water and filling up the bathtub. I swear our water was disgusting for days after that storm.
Ferfe my kids are gonna love that advice if we lose power. I don't know what we're gonna get--like I said we're six hours north, give or take. We could get a couple inches of rain, we could end up with tornados. I'm prepared for the worst (note to self: pick up cards on the way home) but hoping for the best. Yes, Kate, I have water.
ReplyDelete