Katrina on Shine

In case you have stumbled upon this blog and don't quite understand it's format, on Yahoo! Answers and also to people in person, I asked eight questions just to see what the immediate response would be. I asked those on Yahoo! Answers not to look their answers up on the internet, but to go off of what they thought or remembered from the storm that happened 3 years ago. Here's what I got, and here's my rebuttle. Oh, and please understand that I am very aware that New Orleans was not the only location to be catastrophically damaged by Katrina. The reason I am asking questions focusing on New Orleans is because of the controversy surrounding the stranded citizens and officials that stayed behind along with all of the conspiracies and media fueled rumors that went along with it.         <ul> <li> Answerer 1 </li> </ul> What do you think about Hurricane Katrina? --It was a terrible hurricane that dumped alot of water and caused a lot of structural damage. What do you think was most devastating the hurricane or the levee breach. --The hurricane added to the tragedy of the levee breaks. Water is powerful no matter where it comes from. Do you think it is the citizens faults for being trapped because they stayed? --If we elect people to public office then we should heed their words when they tell us to evacuate. Stuff is just stuff and can be replaced. Lives are a lot more important. I have empathy but yes the citizens that stayed make a mistake. To err is human. How many cities do you think are directly south of New Orleans ? --Cities south of New Orleans : Don't know without looking it up. What water do you think borders New Orleans ? -- Gulf of Mexico . If any, which part of the government do you think failed the greatest, and what was their biggest failure? --The greatest failure was lack of common sense; formality be damned. The way I understand what happened was that the mayor did not request assistance from the governor in a timely fashion. Then the governor did not request federal assistance in a timely manner. Then, as usual, President Bush got blamed for everyting as did FEMA. Looks like the United States Coast Guard was the only responder without a guilty conscience, Do you think New Orleans should be allowed to rebuild? --Yes, but not in the 9th ward or "the coffee cup." No sense playing with fate since your city will almost always be in the path of deadly storms. Your city and govt. can't afford to rebuild after each storm. Reduce the amount of damage by moving inland and letting the coast lines do what they are suppose to do--protect you and yours. Maybe Katrina happened as a wake-up call from God? What is your estimated race ratio regarding the population of New Orleans and the greater area? --I am a Christian and I am color blind to race. I know that there is a large black population and I know that there is a strong faith in God. Do you think that the response time had anything to do with race? --NO. I stand by what I wrote regarding the mayor and gov. The procedure is in their manual. They just didn't follow it. It is so easy to blame race when the facts are scarce or skewed. Merry Christmas and God Bless You! I support the 700 Club and Operation Blessing. I understand that their presence is still being felt in N.O. ·        Answerer 2 What do you think was most devastating the hurricane or the levee breach? It's hard to say. More people died in Louisiana so I suppose that. And if the levees would've held, we would have been alright. Do you think it is the citizens faults for being trapped because they stayed? No. Some stayed who could've left, yes, but for the most part, they had no other choice. How many cities do you think are directly south of New Orleans ? A few(not major cities). All of the West bank towns, grand isle, houma is at an angle, etc. What water do you think borders New Orleans ? Mississippi River to the west/south, Gulf to the south, lake to the north, swamps south east. If any, which part of the government do you think failed the greatest, and what was their biggest failure? State government by taking to long to allow relief in. Do you think New Orleans should be allowed to rebuild? heck yes, this is our home What is your estimated race ratio regarding the population of New Orleans and the greater area? 200,000 including Jefferson & St Bernard parishes I'd guess Do you think that the response time had anything to do with race? Nope. I think it was a class issue. <h3>Source(s):</h3> Jefferson Parish resident ·         Answerer 3 First of all, I hope it rebuilds, but they have to realize where they are and what kind of floodplain they live in. I think there are a couple of reasons people did not leave. Many people who live along the coast decide not to go because there are false alarms. People may have been told one was going to hit them and it hit down the coast, or it was going to be a 3 or higher and it was a 1, things like that. If they evacuate a couple of times for nothing or just a bad windstorm and a lot of rain, especially if they do it a couple of times, they might not want to go again. Then there was money. Most of those who were trapped were poor, maybe could not afford to get very far, I'm sure gas was in short supply as the storm moved in and people who could started to flee. Some had health reasons they wanted to stay where they were. And from what I understand, and if you live in the area maybe you know better, but the storm itself, the initial storm was not that devastating to New Orleans, there was more damage on the Mississippi coast, but it was the next day when the levees broke. So people who stayed may have felt safe at first, there was relatively (and I was not there, so I can't really say), but less damage from the initial storm than from the levees breaking, hours or a day after the storm. I think the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana should have been better prepared, but I was not there so I don't know what did or did not go on. It seemed like FEMA was almost unaware of the storm for a while or something. But I don't know if FEMA has to be called in by the state and they took longer, or it took longer to get FEMA there; or if they were close by and could not get to the city due to damage. The whole thing seemed uncoordinated and like nobody knew what to do. But it did seem like a lot more could have been done by the city and state to have shelters prepared, etc. But there again, I live in the midwest, where we have floods, tornadoes and an occasional earthquake, but I don't know how a community prepares for a large hurricane. I don't know if it had anything to do with race actually, but I'm white and the first thing I saw when they showed all of those people at the Superdome was, this is going to look like racism, no matter how many white victimes there were. I don't know the population of New Orleans, but I think in 2005, before the storm there was probably a 60-70% Black population, but I'm not sure and don't know now. New Orleans is bordered by the Mississippi River, Lake Ponchintrain (I don't know how to spell it, sorry) and farther South and Southeast the Gulf of Mexico , maybe to the East, also. The Lake is where most of the levees broke, from what I remember. There are no cities south of New Orleans , there might be some towns in the delta, I don't know. ·         Answerer 4 In the battle of man vs. mother nature, mother nature wins. The first mistake was finding an area by the ocean that is below sea level, then building a wall to keep the water out.   ·         Answerer 5 Hi there, Im glad I found your question. I saw a TV prog which stated that the goverment in the USA had full knowledge and understanding of the outcome of the hurricane a good 2 years before it happened. They ran a computer simulation called hurricane Pam, and it turns out it was an exact replica of Katerina. Pam was a catagory five that was the only differance. This programme did focus on the inactivity of the Government taken into consideration they had all the information at hand I am white guy living in Ireland and when the Hurricane struck and the aftermath we saw on the TV we knew that if it was white bodies floating down the rivers it would have been a different story. That Mrs Bush!!!!!!!!!!!! On the TV, she was there looking at all the stranded and shocked people in the football stadium and she had the neck to say that all these people were better off now then before. What planet is she livning on. I hope that the hurricane did not effect you too much but you know that Take care and God Bless.  _____________________________________________________________________________ Get ready to get debunked! In 2004 Hurricane Ivan brewed up in the Atlantic and headed for the Gulf. It rapidly became larger and reached Category five. The Gulf coastal regions of the United States were in a frenzy preparing for this massive storm.   The Greater New Orleans Area was put under voluntary evacuation. More than one-third of the population evacuated, including more than half of the residents of New Orleans alone. As everyone evacuated, intense traffic congestion on local highways caused delays of up to 12 hours. About a thousand special-needs patients were kept safe at the Louisiana Superdome during the storm. Ivan was considered a particular threat to the New Orleans area because dangers of catastrophic flooding.   Ivan roared through getting the Grand Cayman Islands , Jamaica , and Cuba . Meteorologist all across the Southeastern United States were warning all of the able citizens to evacuate before the storm made land fall. Despite it’s weakening, it was still coming as a category four. Fortunately the eye wall weakened and fell to a category three. This weakening decreased the land area it was able to cover, and Ivan primarily hit Gulf Shores Alabama .   The majority of the people that evacuated the Greater New Orleans Area, and those that were shipped to the Superdome, felt as if all the money and discomfort it took was all for nothing.   The following year, despite the sentiment they had for their previous evacuation,   when Hurricane Katrina was knocking at New Orleans ’ door, 80% of the estimated 1.8 million people in the city of New Orleans evacuated again, leaving a significantly smaller amount of people remaining in the city, by comparison to the Hurricane Ivan evacuation. This completely debunks the idea that New Orleans citizens didn’t want to evacuate for a false alarm again.   There were several rumors that the New Orleans citizens that were unable to leave were presented with the opportunity to be evacuated by buses that were free of charge. Upon further investigation it was realized that that was never the case. It was later proven through a combination of interviews that several government agencies massively failed their responsibilities. According to a senate report “Some 10,000 to 15,000 New Orleans residents took shelter at the Superdome, the “refuge of last resort” for those without the means to evacuate,  suggesting many may have preferred to leave the city altogether as part of a pre-landfall evacuation had they been offered the means. Their staying behind placed their lives in jeopardy and increased the strain on responders. Before landfall, the city failed to designate buses or drivers for post-landfall evacuations. Although the Regional Transit Authority (RTA), the local municipal bus agency in New Orleans, did stage a fleet of buses at the Poland Street Wharf,5 a high-ground location inside the city that remained unflooded, no level of government attempted to move drivers to those buses until Thursday, three days after landfall,6 even though the route to the wharf remained open throughout the crisis. Before Landfall, the Louisiana Secretary of Transportation and Development Ignored His Department’s Responsibility to Prepare for the Post-Landfall Evacuation”. It is our responsibility as Gulf Coast citizens to make evacuating for storms a priority, as we are foremost responsible for our safety and wellbeing as well as we are especially susceptible to catastrophe as a result of hurricanes because of our coastal location, however when we cannot help ourselves it is obvious that we will turn to our governments to help us. Sadly that is just the beginning of government failure.   In preparation for the storm, on August 26, Governor Blanco declared state of emergency. That day in North Louisiana 18 teams with medics, MREs, water and tarps were preparing to assist after the landfall of Katrina. On August 28 the day before the storm a mandatory evacuation order was put out for Terrebonne, Jefferson, St. Tammany, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles , Orleans and Lafourche Parishes. That same day twelve pick up points were established for people to be shuttled to the Superdome “the shelter of last resort”. About 10-15,000 people were brought before Katrina made landfall. Those who were healthy enough and had the financial means to leave obviously did. It was estimated that 100,000 people were not able to leave because of money or health.   Hurricane Katrina made land fall as a category three hurricane Monday, August 29, 2005. On the morning of Tuesday, August 30 the levees breached.  75% of New Orleans was flooded. The estimated 200 buses that were at the Poland Street Wharf 5 were never mentioned to any rescue officials, and the other buses (including school buses) that were inside of the flood zones were believed to flooded and unusable. Several people that were rescued from their roof tops were brought to the Superdome, others were able to swim or use their own equipment to get there on their own. The Superdome reported six deaths total. The media told of a man getting beat to death but never reported that the people who beat him to death were those that discovered he had just raped a woman. And the muckraking began.    There were several accusations that racism played a large part in why the rescue and recovery effort took so long. The Census Bureau estimated that in 2004 the race ratio between blacks and white was 20% white and 67.9 % white. (This is only in the New Orleans city limits and not a calculation for the Greater New Orleans area.) Much of these accusations came from the media showing mostly blacks. Eventually it was shown that there were a significantly larger amount of white people than originally thought, especially once the Causeway Bridge was shown as well as the media clips from the final and complete evacuation of New Orleans after landfall.   Rescue efforts started around 10p.m. the night of landfall with rescue boats launching out in Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes as well as in New Orleans East.   The government local, state and federal was put through the ringer. FEMA Chief Michael Brown testified that the southern and coastal parishes of the state were not a part of the Presidents declaration of State of Emergency because Governor Blanco neglected to request them as SOE. Oddly all southern and coastal counties of Mississippi and Alabama were declared as SOE. After the hearing Governor Blanco released her copy of the letter requesting those parishes indeed be included. Emails between FEMA officials, National Guard, and Coast Guard that were directly involved with the rescue effort and Michael Brown have been released showing his disturbingly little concern for response to the emergency in New Orleans . An email between brown and a colleague was also released; in the email Brown discusses fashion choices rather than the stranded local officials and citizens or his duty as chief of FEMA to immediately send help (of any sort). The teams that were in North Louisiana awaiting landfall of Katrina were finally able to arrive on scene on August 30 th (the day after landfall) FEMA was completely unaware that the Convention Center was being used as a second shelter until September first. Because it was taking rescuers so long to reach the Convention Center may citizens tried to leave via Crescent City Bridge but was stopped at gun point by Gretna Sheriffs Department, who reportedly fired at those trying to cross the bridge. According to the same Senate Report mentioned earlier “For several days after landfall, evacuation of New Orleans proceeded slowly, compounding the misery of residents stranded by the storm. The National Response Plan (NRP), the Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan, and the New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Plan stipulate that, typically, emergency response is locally initiated and coordinated. Federal, state, and local authorities knew long before the storm that at least 100,000 residents of New Orleans would lack the means to evacuate. Nonetheless, the city failed to pre-stage buses and drivers outside the flood zone. Meanwhile, the state’s lead agency for transportation during an evacuation ignored its responsibilities. The plans mentioned above stipulate that local and state governments may call on federal support if their own resources become overwhelmed. For catastrophic events, the NRP, the federal government’s blueprint for its preparation and response to national emergencies, adds that the federal government does not need to wait for requests from state or local government before offering assistance. Although details of this policy were still under development when Hurricane Katrina – an undisputedly catastrophic storm – struck, this should not have prevented federal officials from preparing before landfall to assist with post-landfall evacuation. Unfortunately, federal officials, including those working out of Louisiana ’s Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge , did little to prepare and were forced to scramble to provide assistance after Katrina struck. As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stated in their own after-action report: “Hurricane Katrina has presented the need for a national focus on evacuation and sheltering.” At some point it was realized that the Armed Forces were focusing more on looting than getting people off of their roofs. Buses for the evacuation did not arrive until that Thursday and Friday. It was not until the following Monday, seven days after landfall that the final 300 people were evacuated from the Superdome.   It has been mentioned several times that New Orleans should not be given the opportunity to rebuild. Florida has been severely damaged by hurricanes much more than the Louisiana coast, but it is rarely suggested that they not rebuild. Quite the contraire is stated “it’s the price you pay for living in paradise” one Florida Key home owner stated in a local news interview. I don’t understand how or why a city should be refused the right to rebuild. Why should citizens be refused their home?    I know as a southerner, and especially as a Louisianan indigenous to South Eastern part of the state, I often feel prejudged or questioned. I’m sure I can thank Adam Sandler and The Water boy for that. But that character is not who I am or who my fellow Southeastern Louisianans are, and we obviously understand that much of the coastal area is indeed below sea level but we also realize that is what our levee systems were developed for. Stop spending our tax dollars as a self given raise for the corrupt politics and build levees that will save lives, and save money. I’ve always had distaste for the questionable education systems in the state but I get it now, why would you educate your population? Doing so would eliminate your ability to manipulate, control, and fool your citizens.    So if you build the levees to protect us why are we still being ridiculed for wanting to live in our homes by everyone from misinformed strangers to politicians and law makers who supposedly have our best interest at heart? These same people don’t seem to look at other areas in the country that are equally damaged monetary and death wise by other natural disasters.     Is the Northwest (between California and Canada ) refused the right to rebuild after their massive earthquakes? What about Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida after the hurricanes, or Hawaii after Volcanic activity, or North Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and parts of South Dakota after Tornadoes, or North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin for being in the Floodplains, or Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, and Delaware after suffering drought or California after their wildfires consume 4,300,000 acres a year, or the ten states of the Great Plains and Much of the North Eastern Part of the United States that are harmed by blizzards or Wyoming and California for the landslides they experience, or Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas for Sandstorms, or California’s coast  for their threat of Tsunamis, these states aren’t even encouraged to not rebuild, while New Orleans in particularly is more than encouraged to not rebuild there are lawmakers trying to literally outlaw building in certain areas that were inhabited before Katrina. This is the only instance were I kind of see why black people might see a little racism going on here.   The more interesting thing to me is that no one really mentions the cities south of New Orleans and in talking to northern strangers I can see why. A surprising number of people told me they thought that the city of New Orleans was directly on The Gulf Coast and that no cities were beneath it.   A number of cities would be very disappointed to realize that a vast majority of people who do not live or travel through the Parishes south of I-10 do not realize that they exist. There are three parishes that have land directly below New Orleans (St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson). If you hold a ruler horizontally and put the bottom of it, at the bottom of Orleans Parish on a map, there are nine Parishes below the lowest part of Orleans Parish (Cameron, Vermillion , Iberia , St. Mary, St. Martin, Assumption, Lafourche, Terrebonne, and St. Charles ). Needless to say contrary to what many people believe, New Orleans does not border The Gulf of Mexico. It is bordered by Lake Ponchatrain and the Mississippi River . So in saying that mouthful, are the views that our “critics” have on New Orleans the same views that have on those collective 12 Parishes? Wow, where would we relocate those Parishes and those states listed above?   I recently asked 8 questions regarding Katrina, just to see what the immediate responses would be. The questions and the correct answers are as follows.   What do you think was most devastating, the hurricane or the levee breach? The most devastating part of the hurricane was the aftermath, and the limits the flood waters put on the rescue efforts and abilities. The flood happened as a direct result of the levee breach. Obviously if so many buildings and homes were still standing well enough for people to be on the roof tops, those buildings were not damaged severely by the hurricane but flooded and compromised by the water.   Do you think it is the citizens’ faults for being trapped because they stayed? Absolutely not. Many of those who were not able to leave due to health or money wanted to leave but could not. If I am frying something on the stove and the grease pops and causes a flame, I will remove the pot and pour salt on the flame. If I leave a candle unattended in the living room and it burst into flames and catches my end table and sofa on fire, I will (after escaping) call 911. Point being: We don’t need or ask for help when we can help ourselves. It’s when we are out of resources of our own that we extend a hand for help. Obviously these people weren’t able to help themselves and were not helped by those who are in place and paid by our tax money to help us. We as an entire country are very reliant on our Emergency Response Teams and 911 teams. Our whole life we know that “if our end table and couch” does catch on fire we can call 911 and the fire truck will be on their way. When it gets to the point that you don’t have a phone to call 911 and no way to monitor your own rescue’s progress, and the teams are being slowed down by a mass amount of water (that obviously eliminates the ability of riding around in a truck on the load speaker yelling “if you’re out there, send us a sign!” it’s one of the most hopeless and abandoned  feeling in the world, it feels like you’re going to die, and nobody is going to know why or how, and nobody is going to care.   How many cities do you think are directly south of New Orleans ? There are three parishes that have land directly below New Orleans (St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson). To further the answer, if you hold a ruler horizontally and put the bottom of it, at the bottom of Orleans Parish on a map, there are nine Parishes below the lowest part of Orleans Parish (Cameron, Vermillion , Iberia , St. Mary, St. Martin, Assumption, Lafourche, Terrebonne, and St. Charles ).   What water do you think borders New Orleans ? Lake Ponchatrain , and The Mississippi River . Not The Gulf of Mexico .   If any, which part of the government do you think failed the greatest, and what was their biggest failure? Hurricane Katrina was just that, a hurricane. It is not anyone’s fault. The element of the hurricane that the three levels of government (state, local, and federal) were able to control was the evacuations prior to and after the storm. Local governments failed to prepare for the storm itself, and the aftermath of the storm. They also failed to educate their citizens on the immense dangers and deadly situations that staying in their own homes or seeking refuge in the Superdome would bring. The local government also failed when they did not organize transportation to evacuate those indigent citizens before landfall. The local government failed again when they weren’t prepared with buses post-landfall to evacuate those who stayed. Eventually those who did stay were evacuated so obviously the funds were available, wouldn’t it have made more sense to exhaust those funds before landfall in the effort to save lives? FEMA failed in their response to the aftermath emergency, they also failed when they were oblivious to the convention center and the thousands and thousands of people housed there until three days after the storm. They failed when they didn’t take it upon themselves to intervene with state and local officials to set up pre and post-landfall plans for population control, law and order, medical attention, evacuations, and the removal of bodies. The state government failed when the Governor Kathleen Blanco and the Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin failed to carry out the set evacuation plans for the city. Nagin was criticized for taking so long (19 hours before landfall) to order a mandatory evacuation. However in his defense the priority of the evacuation had nothing to do with those people who could not leave on their own. The governor and mayor advised those citizens that remained to head for the Superdome, knowing that it was not equipped with enough medical supplies, food, water, or security. These failures are among many more failures as well as they are among many other achievements accomplished by local, state and federal governments.   Do you think New Orleans should be allowed to rebuild? Absolutely. The Army Corps of Engineer and the local government needs to route funding properly to enable proper, strong, trust worthy, lasting, tough, and effective Levee Systems, and the local officials need to find many ways to educate the citizens on the evacuation plans for those who can afford to leave and for those who can’t. There should be buses and drivers designated to remove indigent citizens in a timely fashion (sooner than the day before), meeting points to catch those buses. Instructions for those who are challenged by health and cannot travel the long distances with out risking further damage to their health or death should be given out in several different ways (brochures, radio, nightly news, church gatherings, etc). Instructions and tips for speedy evacuation routes for those who are leaving on their own should be given to the public as well via several different forms of media. The city should not be rebuilt blindly or ignorantly or unprepared. We shouldn’t do the same thing over again and expect a different result. (After all that is the Ben Franklin’s definition of insanity.) We should use technology and architecture along with education to better the city and make it stronger.   What is your estimated race ratio regarding the population of New Orleans and the greater Area? Orleans Parish          20%      white     67.9% black St. Bernard                88.29% white     7.62% black Plaquemines            69.77% white   23.39% black St. Tammany             87.03 % white     9.90% black   Do you think the response time had anything to do with race? I think the response time had everything to do with governments’ failure and inability to communicate and prepare for pre and post landfall emergency management, citizens not taking responsibility for themselves, and a massive amount of flood water that covered 75% percent of New Orleans that crippled the rescue teams and prevented them from using certain resources in their efforts to respond quickly, and absolutely nothing to do with race or class. Television images and crisis and the effect it has on how viewers perceive the crisis goes way back to Regan. I doubt our officials at any level looked at the images of floating bodies, dead elderly on bridges, dead babies on bridges, and said, “Ok their either black, or their poor white trash dumb Cajuns so  lets take our time on this one guys.”

Katrina

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