"We ended up on that freeway underpass and actually spent the night there because it was clear to us that there was no other media there. We were doing initial reports saying there are a thousands of people coming out of the sewage with no where to go and even people back in our New York headquarters were going 'we're not seeing this anywhere, not on the AP wires, not on the competition, what are you talking about?'...We felt like people had to know what's happening and it put our crew in a position to see things that we never dreamt you would ever see in the United States of America."
<snip>
"I don't think we know
yet, Dave. I think right now they are so busy trying to find the dead and save some of the living that they haven't gotten there yet. The time will come for that and it may be right on us but I'm not sure it's now. They should have had a plan to get people out of there. They should have and in the first few days, Dave, we stood on a bridge over the city. Interstate 10 snakes over the city of New Orleans, it's elevated, and by the thousands and the thousands, they emerged from the sewage and had no where to go but to interstate 10 and they sat on interstate 10 for days with no food and no water. Days old babies, elderly people in wheelchairs without the medicine they need day in and day out. I'm on in the afternoon on studio at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon going 'exit 235A -- there are thousands of people who need food and water, send the cavalry' and they didn't come for days and I don't know why that is. I don't know where the breakdown is but I'm confident there are a lot of people who didn't survive because of it."
<snip>
"The federal government had designated on its list of potential catastrophes in the United States. Number one was the earthquake in San Francisco which levels the city. Number three on this list from the federal government was the hurricane which destroys and devastates the city of New Orleans and though they didn't get it, it came close enough and still destroyed."
"I think there was slowness to react. I don't know yet where it comes from. You know, Dave, we sat on interstate 10's overpass and that was our world. Our world was women with children who don't have formula and an enormous temperature who have been out in the sun for three days and elderly people in wheelchairs who don't have insulin. That was our whole world. And all we knew help was not coming. 'Come to exit 235A and come and save these people lives.' How did that happen? It seems that people were not ready for this. Was it local, was it parish, was it state, was it federal? Is there plenty of blame to pass around? Probably."
"When we had our disaster in New York. New York notifies Washington. NY notifies Pataki. It's the same thing anywhere in the country where there is a disaster. I grew up down there. These storms are not surprises for governments. Governments are ready for these things. Hurricane Betsy in 1969 was a wake up call for New Orleans. The army corp. of engineers has known forever that these levies will not stand for more than a category three storm. They said it forever. Well it's true now and a lot of people have some questions to answer."
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/aftermath_shep_smith_alone_on_the_underpass_showing_viewers_a_nightmare_25530.asp#more
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