A bit annoyed with some New Orleans citizens....

[edge]

Katrina was a man made disaster, and people are stupid!

Before Katrina there was another threatened storm and people were told to evacuate...and they did.
The storm fizzled and afterward a survey was taken. 20% of those that responded said that if told to evacuate again that they would NOT!

Gustov was not a catastrophe, but folks evacuated.....then they whined...and when the next big one hits they won't evacuate!
The Government will be blamed by the media....unless a Democrat is in office, then it will have just been a natural disaster!

What really annoys me is that people in NO and the media made it sound as if FEMA should have been there the next day.
I have family in S. Florida and everyone knows that THEY are responsible for the first 3 days.

The Red Cross was there ready to go into NO but the Mayor and Governor would not let them!
They felt that if the Red Cross came in with their supplies that the people would not get out!

IMO, the problem is the States.
FEMA should make sure that the States have plans for disasters. If the plan does not meet some level of scrutiny then FEMA lets the people of that State know that THEIR politicians are letting them down. Also then the Feds withhold Federal funds and come up with their own plan and charge back the States that have not come up with their own acceptable plan.

edge.

PS joecool...not cool! To compare a straight line wind storm to a Hurricane is very ridiculous!

 

[Bravo 4]

bwaites wrote- "...it was THEIR decision to live there, understanding the risks..."
That is true. Just like me living in Arkansas, if my house gets destroyed by a tornado it is gonna suck but that is part of the danger of living here. You have something to contend with just about everywhere. Tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, ridiculously cold winters...but New Orleans, that's like living in a big creek bed under a beaver ****. It's not IF but WHEN.
'06- I agree with your whole post. That's pretty much common sense to me.

I was one of the first "War Hardened Arkansas National Guard Soldiers" (that is funny)to set foot in N.O. and it was the most destruction you could ever imagine. Worse then anything I ever seen in Iraq. But I don't think the Iraqis, as selfish a people as they are, would have responded the way these low lifes did. I HATE thugs and I HATE gangs...and don't think too highly of people who spend their lives with a hand out (welfare)...it put most of us in shock for a day or two. We weren't sent down there to render AID, we were sent to restore order. And that is what we did. I didn't like the idea of using force against my own people but after seeing the way they were acting, I would have been glad to put a lot of then down...for good! After things settle down and the AID stations were set up, the RED CROSS sight leader told me that they estimate that up to 80% of the people in the lines didn't need to be there and were just looking for another hand out. But the people who need your help make everything else seem petty, like one woman we rescued had to swim from her flooded home to a large oak tree in the yard with her two year old son on her back and he was swept away by the water. Then she had to sit in that tree for three days with the rats and roaches with no food or water. The destruction was horrible, but those are the things I think about...if I really helped one person, it was worth the Army screwing up and not paying me for two months. Even that seemed petty at the time.

 

[edge]

Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans? [Posted Sept. 2, 2005]


Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.

The Red Cross shares the nation's anguish over the worsening situation inside the city. We will continue to work under the direction of the military, state and local authorities and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives.

As the remaining people are evacuated from New Orleans, the most appropriate role for the Red Cross is to provide a safe place for people to stay and to see that their emergency needs are met. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated.

American Red Cross

 

[Fiftydriver]

I think it simply boils down to the people in the effected area and their status as far as $$ or voting power that the politicals can take advantage of.

For instance, here in Montana and many other western states, we have had severe drought for well over a decade. Every summer starting from around June, the sky turns from the clear blue to an midevil red. Why, forest fires. This year in Montana was pretty mild fire season. In years past, millions of square miles have been literally burned to the ground. Yes, that is square miles I typed, not acres!!!

You will hear a bit on the news from time to time but rarely anything meaningful. To the land owners up here its a big deal, especially when the government decided to go with a let burn policy in the wilderness and then the **** fire grows so big they can not stop it and it makes it to private ground.

Firefighters do what they can but to be honest, its more luck with the weather then anything. Around here, home owners have taken things into their own hands, cleared trees around their homes and taken steps to protect themselves and for the most part, you can survive a fire even of these huge sizes, IF YOUR PREPARED.

THen this past year, ALL you could hear was california burning up. Day after day nothing but millon dollar homes going up in flames. Certainly it sucks but when you see these people building homes right in the middle of old stand pine trees and not clearing any ground around their homes, its no wonder they all go up like dry kindling. Or in south california when they build on these very steep hills(I call them hills) that are covered with scrub brush and no chance for any firefighter to come to help or cut firelines if they wanted. MAkes no sense.

So while California gets all the media attention because the homes going up are +Millon dollar homes or some **** movie stars home, Montana and other western states get no attention at all even though our land loss is several times what California looses every year.

Again back to my point, of the people in the area are useful to the media or politicians to push their aggenda or if the people whine loud enough, they get the attention.

If the people effected by these natural disasters are prepared and take care of themselves you never hear about it. Only goes to show the true color of the media bias in this country to be honest.

Like I have said before, every area has its problems to deal with, prepare your self and take care of what you have and your family and your neighbors. Do not expect help to come because it will not get there in time from the government but when it does come, DONT BITCH ABOUT IT!!!

Nuff said on the subject from me.

 

[James Jones]

You have to look at the source of the whining , NO doged the bullet with Gustav yet you still hear about all the masses that were not taken care of during the evacuation process. The area that was ruined by Gustav is inhabited by some very hardy resiliant people most of them live off of what the fish for or in the oil fields , this region is low lying and the homes are not built to withstand the sort of abuse that these storms dish out , I'm certain that many areas were destroyed and I assure you that the people who live their will not be on TV bitching about what they lost of why the government wasen't their sooner to bail them out , yet you have people who were evacuated at no cost to them and who recieved no damage to their home who will scream and cry about what they are not getting and why arn't they getting extra goods from Uncle Sam. So again you have to consider the source of the "whining"

I live just 20 miles north of New Orleans and when I bought my home I had no trouble with flooding but the area around me has been developed by both commercial and residential properties , the new developments have re routed most of the storm water run off so now my home does flood if we get to much rain in to short of time or if a storm surge fill Lake Ponchatrain to a point that the rain can't run off. I've got a very nice piece of property and nice home in a nice safe neighborhood , I don't want to leave so I just pay more for better flood insurance and if and when I get flooded all I can do is clean up the mess and rebuild it.

The levee system in NO had been neglected for decades and the A.C.E. is working hard to fix it but in then areas that have been rebuilt and beefed up were seriously tested with Gustav and I personaly feel that had this storm made land fall as a Cat 4 like it was predicted you would be seeing all the news that you did after Katrina. Its gonna happen again you can bank on that and after a couple years of people not getting a royal treatment when the evacuate they will stop and you will have a million plus people stuck in a flooded bowl of toxic soup.

It doesen't matter where you live you will have some sort of natural disaster troubles weather it be harsh winters , flooding rains , tornados or whatever , the best you can do is prepair for the worst and hope for the best and if mother nature slaps you down get up and rebuild what you have.

So when you hear all the complaining about the government letting down the citizens please don't group all the people in this region with the scum that dwells in New Orleans , the media will never interview the 4 th generation shrimper whos house was just blown down and is already rebuilding with no help from the goverment at all , because its not the message that the media is looking for just like in Iraq they will not report on all the good thats being done.

 

[joecool]

Kirby sad but true… This has been going on where I live, I grew up near the small down of Bandon all of the people that grew up and lived there never build or lived near the beach or jetties.

Flash forward 35 years Californians moving up can finally afforded ther beachfront property and build their million dollar homes. These people are building right on the edge of the seawalls and as close to the beach as they can.

The people that have lived there all of ther lives just can't believe some body would be so stupid as to build a house right were is going to a take the full blunt of a storm. And besides that the beach is cold and windy It's just nuts…