Agencies drilled for 'worst-case scenario'

[Cartman]

Agencies drilled for 'worst-case scenario'

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/02/hurricane.drill/index.html

... one of the drill participants, Col. Michael L. Brown, then-deputy director of the Louisiana emergency preparedness department, told the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper that, in a worst-case scenario, there would be only so much government agencies could do.

"Residents need to know they'll be on their own for several days in a situation like this," Brown, who is not related to the FEMA director, told the paper.

... another good quote:

Participants determined a need for 1,000 shelters for 100 days. They decided they already had 784 and would need to find the remainder.

The state of Louisiana had resources to operate shelters for three to five days, and plans were made for how federal and other sources could replenish those.

..

[Shadowcat]

FEMA report on "Hurricane Pam" (http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=13051) :

Sheltering

* The interagency shelter group identified the need for about 1,000 shelters for a catastrophic disaster. The shelter team identified 784 shelters and has developed plans for locating the remaining shelters.
* In a storm like Hurricane Pam, shelters will likely remain open for 100 days. The group identified the resources necessary to support 1000 shelters for 100 days. They planned for staff augmentation and how to include shelterees in shelter management.
* State resources are adequate to operate shelters for the first 3-5 days. The group planned how federal and other resources will replenish supplies at shelters.

Search and Rescue

* The search and rescue group developed a transportation plan for getting stranded residents out of harm's way.
* Planners identified lead and support agencies for search and rescue and established a command structure that will include four areas with up to 800 searchers.

Medical

* The medical care group reviewed and enhanced existing plans. The group determined how to implement existing immunization plans rapidly for tetanus, influenza and other diseases likely to be present after a major hurricane.
* The group determined how to re-supply hospitals around the state that would face heavy patient loads.
* The medical action plan includes patient movement details and identifies probable locations, such as state university campuses, where individuals would receive care and then be transported to hospitals, special needs shelters or regular shelters as necessary.

LSU assists researchers with "Hurricane Pam" (http://www.lsu.edu/highlights/052/pam.html) :

From the simulation, officials estimate that a storm like Hurricane Pam would:

* cause flooding that would leave 300,000 people trapped in New Orleans, many of whom would not have private transportation for evacuation;
* send evacuees to 1,000 shelters, which would likely remain open for 100 days;
* require the transfer of patients from hospitals in harm’s way to hospitals in other parts of the state;
* trigger outbreaks of tetanus, influenza, and other diseases likely to be present after a storm;
* create 30 million cubic yards of debris and 237,000 cubic yards of household hazardous waste.

As a result of the Hurricane Pam Exercise, agencies are in the process of applying what they learned to their emergency response plans. Those changes include:

* assisting people without transportation – the American Red Cross is developing a program that would ask private citizens to collect people at area churches and transport them.
* identifying more than 700 shelters and planning the locations for the remaining sites.
* outlining patient movement details and determining how to set in motion existing immunization plans.
* establishing a command structure that would employ up to 800 searchers.
* identifying existing landfills capable of accepting hazardous waste and outlining debris removal plans.

[Shadowcat]

NO in chaos (http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=1593&topicId=21355&docId=l:307427989) :

Such chaos, hurricane experts said in interviews Thursday, was both predictable and preventable.

"We pretty much knew this would happen somewhere along the line," Gregory W. Stone, director of the Coastal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University, said Thursday. He is among the scientists who have issued dire warnings for years.

"A lot of that has not been taken seriously" by the federal government, Stone said. "That's a regrettable thing to say."

U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, concurred.

The government has shown "not much of a commitment to this issue," Thompson said. Congress will investigate whether the suffering caused by Katrina could have been avoided, or at least mitigated, he said.

and

More than one in five of those surveyed said they would stay at home, even during a major storm. Researchers estimated that at least 100,000 New Orleans residents had no means to evacuate: no car, not enough money for airfare or a bus ticket, no friends or family to help them leave town.

"They knew they were going to have a large number of people who weren't going to be able to get out on their own," said Jay Baker, a geography professor who studies hurricanes at Florida State University.

But authorities apparently never put plans in place to evacuate them before a storm. Instead, a day before Katrina hit, the city opened its massive stadium, the Superdome, as a shelter of last resort --- nothing more, Baker said, than "a place for people to have a better chance to survive than if they stayed in their homes."

and

Since 2000, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been studying the idea of reinforcing the levees to withstand a Category 5 storm, the strongest on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The 300 miles of existing levees, at 17 feet, were designed to protect New Orleans --- parts of which are as much as 10 feet below sea level --- from no more than a Category 3 hurricane.

"We certainly understood the potential impact of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane," Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Corps' chief of engineers, told reporters Thursday in a telephone briefing.

Last spring, the Army engineers' New Orleans office complained that budget cuts proposed by the Bush administration and approved by Congress "will prevent the Corps from addressing these pressing needs."

Thompson said the Corps' arguments contain "significant merit."

"What concerns me is the fact that for the last several budgets, the president has pretty much zeroed out a lot of the Corps' work," Thompson said. "We [in Congress] always had to go back in and try to help. I have not seen flood control as a real priority in this president's budgets."

For the Bush administration to claim no one could know is, at the least, disingenuous and at the most, an exercise in the old CYA game.

[bluekazoo]

Thank you, Skitty.

[Shadowcat]

Well, you know how curious cats can be...and now we have Google. ;)

[Cartman]

"We certainly understood the potential impact of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane," Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Corps' chief of engineers, told reporters Thursday in a telephone briefing.


In a post at OTWA you just accused General Strock of being Bush's "Boy" - now you are quoting him in your crusade against the President.

Make up you mind!

..

[Kashtin]

In a post at OTWA you just accused General Strock of being Bush's "Boy" - now you are quoting him in your crusade against the President.

Make up you mind!

..


She has made up her mind.

Bush is bad.

Bush causes hurricanes.

Doesn't matter how she has to spin it, as long as Bush can be bashed.

[Heartland]

I haven't seen one person on this board post that Bush caused the hurricane. That is exactly the type of spin that has been used by right-wingers for decades now.

Who cares if it's not true, right? It sounds good, it makes you feel better, it promotes your right-wing agenda, and that's all that matters. If it plays in the churches in Texas, it must be a good thing.

[kim]

naw - it doesn't sound good - sounds wussy...

- please all join in kicking wus ass...

[Shadowcat]

Bush causes hurricanes.

Where did I say that Bush caused hurricanes? He's more likely to cause shitstorms.

Doesn't matter how she has to spin it, as long as Bush can be bashed.

Of course, you realize that the same thing could be said about YOU, except one could simply insert "anyone who doesn't worship the Bush adminstration" for "Bush". Quid pro quo and all that.


n a post at OTWA you just accused General Strock of being Bush's "Boy" - now you are quoting him in your crusade against the President.

Go back and read what I wrote at OTWA. I'll wait...

*humming theme from "final Jeopardy" while filing claws*

The posts about Strock at OTWA have to do with whatever his role may be in the Bunny Greenhouse whistleblowing case. My comment on such was speculation.

In case you don't quite grasp the concept of speculation, let me help you out.

NOUN

1. Contemplation or consideration of a subject; meditation.
2. A conclusion, opinion, or theory reached by conjecture.
3. Reasoning based on inconclusive evidence; conjecture or supposition.

But if this is still too difficult to wrap your lone functioning brain cell around, let me clarify. Not to worry, I'll use small words and type slowly so you'll be able to keep up.

The...quote...you...posted...was...part...of...a.. .news...story...about...what...is...going...on...i n...New...Orleans.

It...is...NOT...about...Bunny...Green...house.


The only thing the stories have in common is Strock. One does not negate the other.

Man. I sure hope you don't have to survive on your reading comprehension skills or you're toast(especially if you have to rely on FEMA for assistance).

[krisinluck]

I haven't seen one person on this board post that Bush caused the hurricane. That is exactly the type of spin that has been used by right-wingers for decades now.

Who cares if it's not true, right? It sounds good, it makes you feel better, it promotes your right-wing agenda, and that's all that matters. If it plays in the churches in Texas, it must be a good thing.YAY! Thank you for saying that, Heartland!

If Bush hadn't sat on his ass at his ranch for two or three days while this monster from the Gulf was heading into and smashing our Gulf Coast, the backlash at him would be less than it is right now, IMO. There would still be backlash, because he is a weak president who has always tried to lead by Fear and Religion, but it wouldn't be as vicious as it is now.

There is no way for the churches in Texas, or his advisors, to spin this in such a way that it was RIGHT for him to stay on vacation while this was coming at us.