KR: Response to Rita illustrates how government failed after Katrina

[Pirate Smile]

By Jonathan S. Landay, Seth Borenstein and Alison Young, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Sun Sep 25, 8:18 PM ET


WASHINGTON - The speed with which the federal government marshaled significant military and other resources to evacuate, rescue and care for victims of Hurricane Rita raises new questions about why Washington was so slow to respond to Hurricane Katrina less than four weeks earlier.

The Bush administration says it's researching whether the federal government needs to have greater authority to respond to disasters - and whether the military should be in charge.
The response to Rita, however, suggests that the government had plenty of authority to respond to Katrina and that what was lacking during Katrina was an understanding of when to use that authority.

"The atmosphere here is very, very different than it was in the days following Katrina," said John Pine, Louisiana State University Disaster Science and Management director. Pine was in Louisiana's emergency operations center in Baton Rouge on Sunday and said that nearly as many federal officials were present as those from state and local agencies.

A day after Katrina, "it was all on the shoulders of state and locals," Pine said. "There was a lot more staging of a lot more operations in place for the second storm. ... I think you see a huge difference."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/_wea_storms_response;_ylt=AowBZWDmcntDeAclb_nigb.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[Pirate Smile]

1. more

"By comparison, the Pentagon did not activate its Katrina task force until two days after Katrina struck and active-duty military units were not used in any major way until at least three days after. The first major deployment of active-duty ground troops did not occur until five days after Katrina struck.

Perhaps the most startling difference was the military's role in evacuating thousands of nursing home residents, hospital patients and other frail people ahead of Rita. During Katrina, hundreds of such patients languished for days in water-surrounded facilities.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the military conducted the evacuations at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, a request Whitman acknowledged was "a bit outside the chain of command." Under the federal government's National Response Plan, such a request would normally come from FEMA.

Northern Command's preparations for Hurricane Rita also included placing on alert five two-man teams to set up long-range communications in the hardest-hit areas if requested by federal disaster relief officials. The teams were equipped with satellite telephones and fax machines. "

[Bridget Burke]

2. No "military conducted" evacuations in the Houston area....

Various City & County people got it done. The State was supposed to supply ambulances but they didn't show up.

[intheflow]

22. I've been saying this since Rita became a threat.

No matter how well * or FEMA reacted, it would only highlight how poorly they reacted to Katrina. :evilgrin:

[riverwalker]

3. Rumsfeld actually at work this time?

Revealed: Rumsfeld at Padres Ball Game As New Orleans Sank

By E&P Staff

Published: September 06, 2005 9:30 PM ET

NEW YORK The seemingly carefree behavior of top Bush administration officials early last week, who stuck to their vacations as tens of thousands cried for help in New Orleans, gained another twist with revelations that Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld was taking in a ball game in San Diego last Monday night--nearly 24 hours after Katrina hit the coast.

Rumsfeld has come under increasing criticism for the military's late arrival--offshore or otherwise--for possible use in rescue operations.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001055561

[Inland]

4. Nothing like a hurricane two weeks earlier to focus one's attention.

But what happens after three years, like the three years after 9/11, as attention flags and lazy, incompetent elected officials continue the effort to hire cronies and fire carreer bureaucrats?

[Junkdrawer]

5. Self Delete - Posted wrong thread.

[central scrutinizer]

6. just look back at last year if you want more evidence

google "hurricane frances" and FEMA - you can go directly to FEMA's webpage where they boast of all of the resources they have in place in Florida in advance of Frances - a category 2 hurricane. Of course, this was Florida, where a Republican was governor, it was a swing state and the election was two months away.

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease_print.fema?id=13745

And much of the "assistance" given out by FEMA went to politically connected cronies. How much do you want to bet that that money was immediately laundered through some bank accounts right back into the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign warchest.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Sept05/Leopold0910.htm

[CJCRANE]

7. Rita was the "Mulligan".

They flubbed Katrina but got a second go with Rita.

[pitohui]

8. they thought it would hit texas

that is why they mobilized aid, they couldn't be arsed when it was just la & miss on the line

the politics of this is disgusting, there was not insignificant loss of life in the evac of houston yet it is being spun as a "success," i am not aware of another evac that took so long to move ppl such short distances

the old ppl on that bus would be alive today if not for "let's use all the buses no matter how junky" bullcrap, they were murdered as dead as if * put the gun to their heads himself

if this be success, i hate to think what failure would look like

& i hate to think what would have happened if the storm had actually hit houston as predicted

the entire prediction was incorrect, there was no cat 5 slamming houston, there was no "stalling" for days w. 30 inches of rain over arkansas, it was a completely over-hyped over-sold storm & i have to ask why

[defiant1]

21. You hit that on the head....

Got to save *'s home state!!!

:puke:

[Up2Late]

23. I agree with every thing you said, except for the last bit...

"...the entire prediction was incorrect, there was no cat 5 slamming houston, there was no "stalling" for days w. 30 inches of rain over arkansas, it was a completely over-hyped over-sold storm & i have to ask why..."

Thats like saying, The Dallas Cowboys were predicted to roll right over the New England Patriots in that game Sunday (not a real game, I'm totally making this up), But instead, The Patriots scored almost every time The Cowboys did, and the thing ended up in Overtime, with Dallas winning with a Field goal, and I want to know why this game was so over hyped and turned out so differently than was predicted before the game? :eyes:

That is the Nature of Hurricanes! And considering the original Forecast of where it would landfall and how strong it would be, that 5 day forecast was pretty damn close. The original forecast was for it to landfall as a Cat. 3, possibly Cat. 4 at about the north end of Galveston Bay and go just north of Houston. It did slow to almost a stall, then it moved on. It WAS a Cat. 5 for a while. I have no Idea were you got the 30 inches of rain, that one is kind of nuts.

It may seem like it was way off and hyped, but that's because the storm track varied a bunch, because their isn't as much data for the computer models for Category 4 and 5 Hurricanes. The center of the storm track varied from 60 miles South of Galveston/Houston to where it ended up, but the possible landfall "cone" covered the entire Texas coast when it was still 3-4 days out.

I say, just count ourselves lucky that this wasn't catostrophic, the reason the Feds did better was because this was a much less problematic area that it hit, and it hit as a 3, and because all the Feds knew was that if they screwed this one up too, they might all be hanged or have a full blown insurrection on their hands.

Did you never hear the story of why Hurricanes were originally given womens names?

Sheeh :eyes:

[FighttheFuture]

9. NOLA was the Trifecta: POOR and/or BLACK and/or DEMOCRATIC...

Any questions?

[paineinthearse]

10. KR's reporting has been solid and journalistic

Going back to the 2004 electons and since, KR's reporting has been solid and journalistic. I've sent a message to James Asher, chief of the DC bureau.

I did, however, urge him to include information about Senators Warner's and Snow's proposal to modify posse commitatus.

Nominated.

[ComerPerro]

11. Well, for one thing, it affected Republican areas

So naturally the Republican administration responded faster.

And, the part about Bush in the article says it all.

They want an excuse to give the Federal goverment more power and more authority.

I think they just got their excuse.

[Miss Chybil]

12. I don't know why everybody expected Bush to handle Katrina and its

aftermath, for God's sake. He was on vacation! Give the guy a break. Next time, Mother Nature needs to change her schedule around to accommodate the guy and all his friends. Who does she think she is, anyway?

[Up2Late]

24. Exactly, I mean, Cheney and KKKarl didn't even get back into the game...

...until 3 to 5 days after * "took charge" by doing his fly-by.

I don't think he even has keys to the "War Room," Probably why he had to fly to Colorado, so that the press would follow him and not see Dick and KKKarl running the the Government.:silly:

[confludemocrat]

13. huge Bush display f/Rita shows only points up what he shoulda done f/N.O.

In fact this time in a fasion typical of a dysfunctional mindset, they OVERDID the pre Rita stuff and created this gridlock and gas shortages, nad had dozzens of helicopters overflying rich peoples second homes along coast for no reason.

[ClintonTyree]

14. bush SOOO wanted to showcase his managerial "skills"....

in the lead up to and during Hurricane Rita. The Press got wind of his San Antonio "photo-op" and embarrassed bush into canceling it so he "wouldn't get in the way". So our pretzelnit hunkered in a bunker in Colorado and was a total "hands on" CEO type of guy and directed every aspect of the operation. :eyes: No mention that Rita did 1/10 the damage of Katrina and he had all the mistakes from Katrina to learn from. He expected us to swoon over his handling of Rita but it's like comparing apples and oranges. The devastation from Rita paled in comparison to that of Katrina, but we're supposed to forget all about that and give him a medal for his bravery. :eyes:
Right....... People will never forget those images of the dying and people who were treated worse than animals in the Superdome and Convention Center.
The damage is done georgie, there's no way for you to recover from this. You were supposed to be the "security" president, people felt so secure with you at the helm. We were shown that you are a sham, an "all hat and no cattle", "all form and no substance" that has no idea how to handle a major catastrophe within our borders.
What do you have left? You blew the Iraq war, bigtime, and you blew the handling of a national disaster, bigtime. You're nothing, an empty suit incapable of running our government. Resign.

[wellstoner]

15. Katrina's "Have you no decency sir?" moment

Mr. Broussard finally nails the right wing spin machine
to the wall. The following is an exerpt from Meet The Press
yesterday. This guy is all heart. He's asked about the details
of his heart wrenching story. And he lashes out at
the Right Wingers.

It is truly Katrina's "Have you no decency, sir?" moment:


Mr. Broussard: Listen, sir, somebody wants to nitpick a man's tragic loss of a mother because she was abandoned in a nursing home? Are you kidding? What kind of sick mind, what kind of black-hearted people want to nitpick a man's mother's death? They just buried Eva last week. I was there at the wake. Are you kidding me? That wasn't a box of Cheerios they buried last week. That was a man's mother whose story, if it is entirely broadcast, will be the epitome of abandonment. It will be the saddest tale you ever heard, a man who was responsible for safekeeping of a half a million people, mother's died in the next parish because she was abandoned there and he can't get to her and he tried to get to her through EOC. He tried to get through the sheriff's office. He tries every way he can to get there. Somebody wants to debate those things? My God, what sick-minded person wants to do that?


Or go here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9438988/

[DeepModem Mom]

17. Excellent post, wellstoner -- welcome to DU!

I think an earlier, similar moment was when Anderson Cooper, nearly losing it to tears of rage and exhaustion, said to Senator Mary Landrieu:

Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated.

And when they hear politicians slap—you know, thanking one another, it just, you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours. And there's not enough facilities to take her up.

Do you get the anger that is out here? …

I mean, I know you say there's a time and a place for, kind of, you know, looking back, but this seems to be the time and the place. I mean, there are people who want answers, and there are people who want someone to stand up and say, "You know what? We should have done more. Are all the assets being brought to bear?"

[confludemocrat]

18. Love that expression, "he was all heart" perfect and as contrast w/ "them"

[demo dutch]

16. Stupidity or racism??

[Aviation Pro]

19. As usual the fantasy-based crowd...

...started patting themselves on their collective backs after Rita. Unfortunately for the "too little, too late, too stupid" group the damage caused by Rita, although not as catastrophic as Katrina, is now coming into focus: hundred of thousands of homes without power, whole herds of cattle wiped out, and rural areas underwater.

These folks have a lot to learn about effing with Momma Nature.

[W2Hague]

20. Cirque de Incompetence

To describe the Bush administration as succinctly as possible:
Waste, Fraud and Cronyism, Oh My!

For the graphic illustrating the Cirque de Incompetence may I direct your attention to

<A
href="http://www.bruindesign.com/">
____________BruinDesign.com today_____________

[TheMadMonk]

25. Of course you realise what's going to happen now.

Scrubby will tell us all that:

"We got it right this time."

"We're now on top of what went wrong in NOLA."

"The problems everyione was upset about have now been addressed."

"There is no longer any need for expensive inquiries, finger pointing, assigning blame, and pointless recriminations."

"Oh! And of course, everything is going absolutely swimmingly in Iraq."

[susanr516]

26. FEMA is not doing so well with Rita response

either, according to this story.

County Judge Carl Griffith said today he has become so frustrated with the federal relief effort that he has instructed all local officials to use police force if they have to to take supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"If you have enough policemen to take it from them, take it," Griffith said.

His frustration comes as squabbling continues among federal, state and local over what some characterize as a woeful lack of communication.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3369454