Boston Globe: Chronology of errors: how a disaster spread

[Eugene]

This is a very long article. It criticizes the response at
all levels of government, starting locally and working its
way up to FEMA.

Chronology of errors: how a disaster spread

By Keith O'Brien and Bryan Bender, Globe Correspondent and
Globe Staff | September 11, 2005

<snip>

Every forecast from the National Hurricane Center, beginning 56 hours
before the storm struck, had predicted that the hurricane would come
ashore at Category 4 intensity or greater and that it would then pass
over or near New Orleans and the Louisiana-Mississippi border.

Air Force "hurricane hunter" planes, flying from Florida and into the
eye of the storm, were clocking wind speeds of 145 miles per hour,
then 150, then 160.

But from the critical hours before the hurricane made landfall to the
desperate days after Katrina sent floodwaters surging into the streets
of New Orleans, government officials at every level -- local, state,
and federal -- had misjudged, miscommunicated, and underestimated both
the power of the storm and the seriousness of its aftermath.

Their decisions, or in some cases failure to decide anything at all,
left tens of thousands imperiled. And now, from city hall to Capitol
Hill, people are calling for inquiries into what went wrong.

http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/11/chronology_of_errors_how_a_disaster_spread/
(free reg.)

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. I thought

it was a pretty balanced article.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Does it give an insider view of what happened at the local level?

Or are they regurgitating the right-wing talking points?

(Sorry, don't have time to read the entire article, this morning)

[rox63]

3. The Globe is usually pretty good

The Boston Globe leans a little to the left. The Boston Herald leans way to the right. I haven't read it yet, but I suspect the Globe article is probably pretty good.

[Eugene]

4. It recounts events as seen from the ground

by local police, county officials, and the National Guard.

Important points:
Everybody underestimated the severity of Katrina despite NWS warnings.
Everybody except the Coast Guard waited too long to mobilize.
City officials assumed that the National Guard and FEMA had their backs.
Most of the National Guard is deployed in Iraq.
FEMA failed to provide busses as requested.
FEMA and Brown did not respond when the levees failed.
FEMA ordered outside help to stay put.
Local police were incapacitated by the flood.
Using the Superdome as a shelter was already known to be a bad idea.
Bush called on his claim that nobody could have forseen the disaster.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Your summary suggests that there was very little for the local

government to do. I disagree with the Boston paper in this regard: NPR reported that everyone did suspect it was going to be the BIG one. In which case, the local government DID think the National Guard and FEMA had their backs.

I still don't see the culpability at the local level.

(By the way, great summary.)