FEMA not including coastal counties in 8/27 emergency declaration?

[stevietheman]

http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=4786

Notice the green-colored parishes -- the only ones included in the declaration.

The parishes in white, the coastal parishes, were NOT included in the declaration. They were only included in an amendment issued on the 29th: http://www.fema.gov/news/eventdfrns.fema?id=4786

[TrueAmerican]

1. looks like they were focusing on the "Red" areas

on the state to send their resources.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. This makes NO SENSE...

Why would they declare the inland areas a disaster and not the coast? This is unbelievable.

[walkon]

3. When you click on the map

It's entirely different and looks appropriate - dated 9-04-05.

[stevietheman]

5. Somebody told me they thought that was a recent "update" n/t

n/t

[Horse with no Name]

4. Here is your answer

The initial request in the letter states for ALL areas affected by the hurricane not designating counties...
then the second part lists the counties that won't be primarily affected but could possibly be secondarily affected by floods or tornadoes, etc.
Just covering all bases.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population
and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety,
talking about the area that is directly hit
or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.
Talking about the secondarily affected counties.

It follows the same format as the request from Gov. Blanco.

[WritersBlock]

7. Could you provide a link for that, please?

This is directly from the Federal Register Notice on the FEMA website - it specifically gives authorization for action in the designated counties, and it declares those parishes, NOT the coastal ones, to have been adversely affected by this emergency:

http://www.fema.gov/news/dfrn.fema?id=4489

Disaster - Information on Federally Declared Disasters

Federal Register Notice

Billing Code 9110-10-P

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Federal Emergency Management Agency



Louisiana; Emergency and Related Determinations

AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate, Department of Homeland Security.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This is a notice of the Presidential declaration of an emergency for the State of Louisiana (FEMA-3212-EM), dated August 27, 2005, and related determinations.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 27, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Magda Ruiz, Recovery Division, Federal Emergency Manage¬ment Agency, Washington, DC 20472, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that, in a letter dated August 27, 2005, the President declared an emergency declaration under the authority of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (the Stafford Act), as follows:

I have determined that the emergency conditions in certain areas of the State of Louisiana, resulting from Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing is of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant an emergency declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act). Therefore, I declare that such an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana.

You are authorized to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act to save lives, protect public health and safety, and property or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the designated areas. Specifically, you are authorized to provide debris removal and emergency protective measures (Categories A and B) under the Public Assistance program, including direct Federal assistance, at 75 percent Federal funding. This assistance excludes regular time costs for subgrantees’ regular employees. In addition, you are authorized to provide such other forms of assistance under Title V of the Stafford Act as you may deem appropriate.

In order to provide Federal assistance, you are hereby authorized to allocate from funds available for these purposes such amounts as you find necessary for Federal disaster assistance and administrative expenses.

Further, you are authorized to make changes to this declaration to the extent allowable under the Stafford Act.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hereby gives notice that pursuant to the authority vested in the Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, under Executive Order 12148, as amended, William Lokey, of FEMA is appointed to act as the Federal Coordinating Officer for this declared emergency.

I do hereby determine the following areas of the State of Louisiana to have been affected adversely by this declared emergency:

The parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, La Salle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn for Public Assistance Categories A and B (debris removal and emergency protective measures), including direct Federal assistance, at 75 percent Federal funding.

(The following Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers (CFDA) are to be used for reporting and drawing funds: 97.030, Community Disaster Loans; 97.031, Cora Brown Fund Program; 97.032, Crisis Counseling; 97.033, Disaster Legal Services Program; 97.034, Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA); 97.046, Fire Management Assistance; 97.048, Individuals and Households Housing; 97.049, Individuals and Households Disaster Housing Operations; 97.050 Individuals and Households Program-Other Needs, 97.036, Public Assistance Grants; 97.039, Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.)

/s/
_______________________________________
Michael D. Brown,
Under Secretary,
Emergency Preparedness and Response,
Department of Homeland Security.

Back to Disaster Federal Register Notices for Louisiana Hurricane Katrina



Last Updated: Tuesday, 30-Aug-2005 17:59:40

Bolding added.

[Horse with no Name]

8. This is the President's authorization

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

[Horse with no Name]

9. Here is how the FEMA statement/map relate

On the map on their page--green are secondarily affected parishes, white are affected parishes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, today announced that Federal resources are being allocated to support emergency protective response efforts response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina.these are the white parishes on the map.

On the secondarily affected counties:The parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn were designated eligible for assistance.these were the parishes designated in green on the map.

[WritersBlock]

10. Not to argue, but....

... if they were implicitly included in the original declaration, then why were the coastal parishes added in the amendment issued on the 29th?

I have a saved copy of the original PDF from that page, showing the green and white counties. The legend clearly states that the counties in green are designated for public assistance, and that there is no designation for the counties in white. It's dated August 27th.

If you click on the graphic today, you get a pdf file that has the southeastern parishes designated as "Public Assistance," and the southwestern parishes designated as "Public Assistance Category A & B." The vast majority of the original green parishes from the first edition are now labelled "No designation." It's almost a complete opposite of the original declaration.

If they then felt the need to amend it and change the southeastern parishes from "No Designation" to "Public Assistance" on the 29th, and change the northern 2/3s of the state from the original "Public Assistance" to "No Designation" ... in other words, do a flip-flop, then it certainly looks to me like a blatant mistake in the original declaration.

[Horse with no Name]

11. It wasn't a mistake

But perhaps a little too complicated for someone like Brown to understand? It is there in black and white.
Perhaps it is just another little show of smoke and mirrors...trying to confuse the sheeple.

[WritersBlock]

13. Maybe it was Brown's mistake.

Very possible that he screwed it up, in which case my post on your other thread still holds:

<dupe>

I am not trying to start an argument. I agree totally with you that the buck stops at the White House, and he gave FEMA authority to respond, because it says in the original declaration that they can change it if necessary.

The point I am trying to make is that the omission of the coastal parishes in the original declaration very likely meant two days of confusion on the ground, while the FEMA people tried to figure out what they could, and could not, do.

I think the omission is a large part of the reason for the slow federal response, and is therefore evidence of either extreme incompetence or criminal negligence on the part of this Administration. Or, more likely, both.

I think it's a smoking gun.

</dupe>

[Spazito]

12. The President's declaration takes precedence over anything

that FEMA might have put on their site and it is covered in the first paragraph of the President' declaration:

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.


If the 'update' done on FEMA's site was some sort of ass covering, it won't work, the declaration is the document that matters.

[krkaufman]

14. That's the Press Release, notifying the public of the above Actions.

The above post (#7) is the FEMA "Notice" and your link is to the WH press release. The actual order is "FEMA-3212-EM", as detailed in the FEMA notice:

SUMMARY: This is a notice of the Presidential declaration of an emergency for the State of Louisiana (FEMA-3212-EM), dated August 27, 2005, and related determinations.

Not sure where you'd find "FEMA-3212-EM."

[WritersBlock]

15. #7 is the Federal Register Notice... and the proof.

Does anyone know where they would be posted, if not in the Federal Register?

I still believe that on the 27th of August, only those parishes in green on the site I linked to above were in the declared emergency. Note this quote:

I have determined that the emergency conditions in certain areas of the State of Louisiana, resulting from Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing is of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant an emergency declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act). Therefore, I declare that such an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana.

The emergency was not declared for "all" of Louisana on the 27th; it was declared only for "certain areas" of the state. Those areas were the northern 2/3s of the state. Not until the 29th were the actual coastal parishes included in the emergency declaration... at which time the northern part of the state was removed from the emergency declaration.

This two-day delay would have caused massive confusion on the part of the FEMA co-ordinators; confusion which would have caused considerable delay in getting rescue resources into the areas.

I think that the omission of the coastal parishes from the initial declaration of emergency on the 27th was the main reason that FEMA would not - could not - let rescuers into the area, therefore this ommision cost an untold number of lives. The person responsible for the omission should be held accountable for those deaths. And that person is George W Bush.



(On edit - updated post subject)

[SillyGoose]

6. Very weird. Here's the speech where he mentions LA fed disaster declaratio

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050828-1.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 28, 2005

President Discusses Hurricane Katrina, Congratulates Iraqis on Draft Constitution


Prairie Chapel Ranch
Crawford, Texas

11:31 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: This morning I spoke with FEMA Undersecretary Mike Brown and emergency management teams not only at the federal level but at the state level about the -- Hurricane Katrina. I've also spoken to Governor Blanco of Louisiana, Governor Barbour of Mississippi, Governor Bush of Florida, and Governor Riley of Alabama. I want to thank all the folks at the federal level and the state level and the local level who have taken this storm seriously. I appreciate the efforts of the governors to prepare their citizenry for this upcoming storm.

Yesterday, I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana, and this morning I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Mississippi. These declarations will allow federal agencies to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with state and local officials. We will do everything in our power to help the people in the communities affected by this storm.

Hurricane Katrina is now designated a category five hurricane. We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities. I urge all citizens to put their own safety and the safety of their families first by moving to safe ground. Please listen carefully to instructions provided by state and local officials.
...


I don't understand why only certain counties would fall under the disaster declaration particularly when its obvious coastal counties would be very hard hit by the storm.