"We knew it was bound to happen" (story re Katrina, on BBC)

[Benbow]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4285298.stm

They <Raymond and Jane> spent a week and a half in Galveston, but heard that in order to qualify for the help Fema was offering Katrina's victims they would have to get into one of the official relief shelters. So they travelled up to Austin and moved into a shelter at the city's Convention Centre for three days. Once there Jane and Raymond were given spare underwear and a box for their meagre possessions, as well as food stamps and the $2,000 (£1,130) cheque that the evacuees are each being given by Fema to help them get back on their feet.

But as far as Raymond is concerned the experience at the shelter was something they both could really have done without. "They didn't know what they were doing. It was basically three days of queuing," Raymond said. "Three days with no privacy surrounded by the noise of everyone else there."

<snip>

Raymond knows that Uptown, which sits on high ground, was spared the worst ravages of the flooding, but nonetheless he is still angry. "Everyone in New Orleans has known for years that the levees would not hold if we took a direct hit," he said. "If we all knew it, how come the politicians didn't?"

<snip>

Patrick Callahan, who is returning to the newly opened Algiers area of the city, is similarly bitter. "I have lived in New Orleans my whole life and we always knew it wouldn't even withstand a category three," he said. "We knew that if we ever did get a direct hit it would be really, really bad and that going to the Superdome would be a very bad idea."

"I am just a resident. If the residents knew it, why didn't they?"

Also, picture caption: "Patrick Callahan kept his computer hard drive with him all the time". That's what I would hope to be able to do, too. My evacuation list would start a bit like this: dog - yes; Anglo-German concertina - yes; computer hard drive - yes. :-)

[liberal N proud]

1. They did know, they the fed's chose to ignore it

Wasn't there story after story about the local officials requesting money to reinforce and build up the levee and canal system?