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Katrina Breakdowns, continued.

From UPI:

Police from surrounding jurisdictions shut down several access points to one of the only ways out of New Orleans last week, effectively trapping victims of Hurricane Katrina in the flooded and devastated city.

An eyewitness account from two San Francisco paramedics posted on an internet site for Emergency Medical Services specialists says, “Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the city on foot.”

“We shut down the bridge,” Arthur Lawson, chief of the City of Gretna Police Department, confirmed to United Press International, adding that his jurisdiction had been “a closed and secure location” since before the storm hit.

“All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down,” he said.

The bridge in question—the Crescent City Connection—is the major artery heading west out of New Orleans across the Mississippi River.

Lawson said that once the storm itself had passed Monday, police from Gretna City, Jefferson Parrish and the Louisiana State Crescent City Connection Police Department closed to foot traffic the three access points to the bridge closest to the West Bank of the river.

He added that the small town, which he called “a bedroom community” for the city of New Orleans, would have been overwhelmed by the influx.

“There was no food, water or shelter” in Gretna City, Lawson said. “We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people.

“If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged.”

But—in an example of the chaos that continued to beset survivors of the storm long after it had passed—even as Lawson’s men were closing the bridge, authorities in New Orleans were telling people that it was only way out of the city.

“The only way people can leave the city of New Orleans is to get on (the) Crescent City Connection … authorities said,” reads a Tuesday morning posting on the Web site of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper, which kept reporting through the storm and the ruinous flooding that followed.

Similar announcements appeared on the Web site of local radio station WDSU and other local news sources.

I blame Michael Brown.

(h/t Glenn)

Meanwhile, smiling conservative populist Trent Lott brags of his own bravery to FOXNews’ Major Garrett.  According to Garrett, Lott boasts of telling people in Mississippi to “go around FEMA”—in short, to “go around the bureaucracy”—so that supplies could get into Mississippi.

Of course, Lott’s subversion of the national disaster plan (in which FEMA plays a role) might, when the facts come to light, be the cause of the very bureaucratic snafus he decries—after all, if every petty tyrant seizes the opportunity of a disaster to declare himself King, those who are actually charged with managing the situation will have to combat off-command chain decisions, which can lead to redundancy and force a slow-down to the entire process of getting relief distributed in an orderly (and needs-based) process.

Lott’s grandstanding, far from heroic (or even competent), is in fact irresponsible and despicable—a bit of made-for-media self aggrandizment that is symbolic of entire broken system.

The sacrificial lynching of Michael Brown—spurred largely by the media and grandstanding law makers in Congress—is simply the cherry on the whole fetid sundae…

****

update:  I should have added above that Lott, whose politics of personal puffery is every bit as shameless as the demagoguery happening on the left, well knows that FEMA’s response time is given as 3-5 days—and that the response to Andrew was slower.  Here, you have a hurricane that hit 3 states, caused secondary levee damage (leading to the NO disaster), and yet FEMA still managed to coordinate help at the low-end of their stated response time.

I find it repulsive that Brown may be removed for actually improving the FEMA response—all so braying, grandstanding asses from both parties can beat their breasts and get their sanctimonious mugs on tv.

Yup, I’m going the way of Gulliver…

43 Replies to “Katrina Breakdowns, continued.”

  1. John Cole says:

    Lickspittle sycophant Bush apologist.

  2. John says:

    I blame Michael Brown.

    That’s ridiculous.  Don’t you know that it’s Bush who is personally blocking refugees from escaping New Orleans?  When he’s not busy strangling kittens, of course.

  3. Patrick says:

    I sent the same comment to Glenn when he posted his disgust about that article:

    I believe you’re being harsh, declaring as ‘An absolute disgrace” the fact that Gretna (probably among others) secured their town by shutting down a bridge.

    The key to disaster management, and something that the federal government has sunk a ton of money via grants into, is planning.  Localities come up with plans for such events, and/or towns and counties/parishes get together and plan larger scale operations.  With the amount of money that FEMA has spread via grants since 9/11, planning and local/regional coordination ought to be the last thing that went wrong.  Unless the money was squandered and real coordination was not planned.

    I’ll retract this if somebody shows me that Gretna did not publish the closing of that bridge in their disaster manuals, or if that information was not shared with New Orleans (presumably on the other end of that bridge.)

    Patrick

  4. Blackjack says:

    Jeff,

    I’m not surprised about Lott—he’s always been a “me me me” kind of guy.  After the Thurmond debacle, I wanted him gone.  Not because of the comment itself (which I thought was pretty innocuous) but because it was clear to me that he was willing to flush the entire GOP down the toilet just to save his ass.  That’s just how he is.

  5. alene says:

    So…was there no communication between and among the various parish police forces and advice givers?  Or was communication possible, but no command and control laid down?  Who should have been directing the policy of Gretna police et al, and determining consistent evacuation advice for the trapped in NOLA?

  6. Ian Wood says:

    The truth!  Won’t somebody please think of the truth!

  7. Patrick says:

    I am reminded of the inter-agency lack of coordination at the WTC, where the police got orders to pull out but that was never relayed to the Fire Department (according to Bill Curtis.) In the post-9/11 world, a gob of federal dollars has flowed down via grants to many state and local projects, and a good portion went for training and coordination activities – for which it was intended.

    Unfortunately, some went for pet projects and bigger and shinier objects.  Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of each state to ensure that these coordination and planning projects are in place.  If that doesn’t happen, it’s not the Feds job as once the money is spent there really isn’t any accountability (see the rash of stories in the past two days about how 9/11 money was spent on a host of non-NY, non-disaster projects.)

    TW fire.  You’re kidding, right?

  8. Patrick says:

    I should add that some of the lack of cooperation, both in NY and around the country, is more culture and tradition than technology-driven.  There has always been, and continues to be, competition between agencies (both same level <law enforcement v. law enforcement) and inter-level <law enforcement v. fire suppression>.  Both from tradition and for funding.

    TW color– red v. blue

  9. cirby says:

    It’s funny how many people are screaming about the Gretna law officer’s response when the person who screwed up was the New Orleans guy who told them to go to the wrong place.

    They had their confrontation on the bridge late Friday night, two days after the evacuations started from the Superdome, and mere hours before the Convention Center started emptying out.

  10. Fred says:

    Trent who now?

    Good grief, I thought we were finally quit of that blow-dried, empty suit.

  11. Tim says:

    Couldn’t Lott’s “go around FEMA” be comparable to Rep. Jindal’s advice to a constituent that its better to “apologize later than wait for permission”?  I didn’t read the Lott transcript, so I don’t know what context it was in, but it sounds similar to Jindal’s article in yesterday’s WSJ.

    Or Trent Lott could just be a big boob.

  12. dougrc says:

    Psstt! Did you hear the latest??? Brown is being pulled to prepare him for the associate Supreme Court justice nomination…pass it on.

    Gawd I love conspiracy theories!

    Oh, and, Trent Lott is a borderline doofus!

    What?

    Oh yeah…he’s not borderline.

  13. dougrc says:

    By the way, Jeff, you are right on target. FEMA did and is still doing a heroic job, no matter what the MSM and the leftist wackos think. No where in the world could any organization have reacted any faster and with as much influence as did FEMA. Brown may be in somebody’s doghouse right now, but history will show his organization performed well beyond their mission parameters. Good job, FEMA!

  14. Not Trent Lott says:

    Trent Lott lost his house.  HIS HOUSE!!!!1!!!1

    Blaming the victims again I see.

  15. dougrc says:

    Not Trent Lott, let’s be accurate about that…he lost ONE of his houses. That’s victim with a small “v”.

    Not quite the same as being shoeless with nothing to your name but the clothes on your back.

  16. Not Trent Lott, let’s be accurate about that…he lost ONE of his houses. That’s victim with a small “v”.

    i tried explaining that to rto,and he seems to think we’re talking about some kind of home that’s been in the family for generations. i have no idea.

  17. TODD says:

    Hey isn’t it Friday?????????

  18. CPAguy says:

    I am seeing a pattern emerge. A lot of people in and around the City of New Orleans are AFRAID of the people who did not get out before the storm.

    1. Somewhere I heard that when they considered using buses to get more people out, the plan was scuttled because they couldn’t get the necessary police escort.

    2. Red Cross and Salvation Army were denied access, because the local authorities didn’t want to attract more people to the Convention Center or Superdome.

    3. Neighboring police departments wouldn’t let people walk out of New Orleans, because they didn’t want their towns to be over-run with N.O. refugees.

    This, I think is a problem that can be blamed on the policing of the city before the storm. People say that N.O. needs a Guiliani, but it really needed a Guiliani for the 5 years before the storm.

  19. rls says:

    If he is getting canned because he inflated his resume in order to get hired, then he should go.

    If he is being canned because of the perception of FEMA inadequacy then that is a travesty.  And make no mistake about it.  It is a perception only.  Chertoff’s the only one to stand up and say it.  Everybody else is caving in to this great perception created by MSM & the Dems.

  20. Tman says:

    CPAguy,

    Absolutely correct.

    As Mac Johnson wrote at Human Events Online

    The storm may have triggered the violence, but it did not cause it.  What we saw in New Orleans was what happens in America’s most murderous city when the criminals realize that all the cops have left.

    It wasn’t desperation, or insanity, or protest.  It was New Orleans, without police.

    Many people believe that Washington, D.C., is the “murder capital of America.” And indeed it often is, but that is only because such rankings are limited to “major cities” –those with a population of 500,000 or more, and New Orleans has (or had) a population of 485,000.  Were it not for this actuarial accident, Washington, D.C.. wouldn’t even have a shot at the murder title.  The per capita murder rate in New Orleans is 16% higher than in “Murder Capital” Washington, D.C.; and nearly 10 times the national average.  To have a murder rate equal to that of New York City, New Orleans would need to reduce its murders by 86%.  No, that’s not a typo.

    Read the rest, it completely confirms your point.

  21. corvan says:

    Over at the corner Jonah Goldberg is reporting that at least one of the Times’ sources on the Brown resume deal is back-tracking a bit.  It would be interesting to have some one talk with each of those sources and see how they felt the Times portrayed their words.

  22. TomB says:

    Jeff, could you let the trolls out for a bit just so they (or anybody else for that matter) could answer just one question?

    What is Brown and FEMA specifically alleged to have done or not done that was wrong or inadequate?

    I’ve asked this question a dozen times on various blogs and the lefties all disappear. The closest I’ve ever gotten was one person who said they weren’t “proactive enough”. Whatever that means.

  23. Still Not Trent Lott says:

    How dare you squash my dissent?  Haven’t you rethuglicans ever READ the 1st Amendment?!?

    TW – one, as in it may have been one house, but it was my, um, his favorite.

  24. Ok It IS Trent Lott says:

    What is Brown and FEMA specifically alleged to have done or not done that was wrong or inadequate?

    Dude, he worked for Bush!!!!  What else do you need to know?!?

    You bastards probably didn’t think I’d ever get back at you for turning on me like that did you?!?  Revenge is mine I say!!!

  25. rls says:

    TomB,

    I too have asked that question on several blogs and have yet to receive an answer.  The most I get is, “He’s incompetent, he’s a political crony, he has no emergency response experience”.

    No one has any cogent answer to the question.  By the way, over at the Corner are the details regarding his Senate Confirmation.  June 19, 2002 confirmed by “Unanimous Consent”

  26. Ring says:

    Instapundit linked to this piece yesterday. The comments, which are pretty interesting, seem to place doubts on the writers of the piece.

    Regardless, it seems that one of the problems was that people were being forced to leave, either by the police, or by not providing aid, but they had neither a place to go, nor the means to get there. It’s almost as if they wanted them dying in the streets instead of the poorly run shelters.

  27. Jim in Chicago says:

    Speaking of morons who are incapable of explaining exactly what FEMA did wrong, the village idiot at NRO’s Corner, Rod the Wad Dreher, continues to prove that he’s read absolutely nothing on the Fed response, and understood even less:

    http://corner.nationalreview.com/05_09_04_corner-archive.asp#076094

    This is the same guy who was wetting his pants last Wednesday.  He’s the type of guy who Miss Alli would love to be in charge, all emotion and no brains. 

    Makes Sully look like John Wayne.

  28. Jeff Goldstein says:

    Looks like Rod could use a big hug from Dr Phil.

    Hey, may I bump your comment into post form, Jim?

  29. Jim in Chicago says:

    Go ahead.

  30. Patricia says:

    I think you’re right CPAguy.  Everyone, including Nagin, knew they had a failed state on their hands and feared the consequences.

    Well, until th FEMA money came along and they could all take off for Vegasand just, criminy, stop worrying about it all.

  31. susan says:

    He’s been hysterical since the beginning.  No composure, he just panicked like a puppy dog.

    I’m hungry.

  32. susan says:

    Sorry, my comment refers to Rod the Wad.

    Lott needs to go away.

  33. Steve in Houston says:

    I’ll give Dreher a small break, since that’s his home state (and I think home town). But that break won’t last for long.

    Anyway, if you want to see the results of seamless organization from the state down to the local level, massive and spontaneous civic and corporate cooperation, effective law enforcement and multihued attention to the needs of the downtrodden, just look about 350 miles west of New Orleans.

    And yes, I’m bragging.

    And yes, I am bragging.

  34. Steve in Houston says:

    No, really, I’m bragging. And forgetting how to use the Internets.

  35. Slublog says:

    Makes Sully look like John Wayne.

    Now that’s cold.

    True, but cold.

  36. TomB says:

    We have a winner!

    Our first answer to “what Brown did wrong” is from “Jack” in the comments over at Wizbang:

    Competent preparation would have meant working out the local/state/federal roles IN ADVANCE of a flood in New Orleans.

    Communications, security, and water resources should have been positioned outside the storm track (in Texas for example) and should have started rolling toward the city as soon as the storm was over. FEMA could have coordinated that.

    FEMA should have worked WITH local and state authorities instead of engaging in petty and personal fights with government officials.

    FEMA should have acted immediately to evacuate the Superdome after the storm (this would have meant COOPERATION not bureaucratic turf fights.

    IOW, Brown didn’t make Blanco and Nagin act more responsibly.

    Another gem from the “reality based community”.

  37. Matt30 says:

    Lott was making a point about the unique nature of this storm a few days ago.  He did so by mentioning that the house he lost was built in the 1850’s. 

    Now, I’m not saying anything else here except to suggest that perhaps Mr. Lott doesn’t need to be broadcasting the fact that he owns a home that was almost certainly built by slaves.

  38. Dan Kauffman says:

    The hounds are certainly baying for blood aren’t they?

    Dean has illuminated us on the subject of how many died in New Orleans, because of the Race they belong to.

    I wonder how long it will be before there a speeches decrying that the reason for the difference between there and Mississippi is because of the PARTY they belonged to.

    IE Bush took care of his own and let Democrats die.

    Sad things the total chaos in NOLA is because of the Party in control there, not exactly the spin Dean will put on it.

    http://www.angelfire.com/ky/kentuckydan/CommitteesofCorrespondence/index.blog?entry_id=1080990

  39. Don’t condemn the Gretna PD too soon. They coordinated the closing with the parish (county) police and the state police department in charge of the bridges. That’s right—the cops who have the job of running the bridges were involved.

    So why did people in New Orleans keep telling people to head over the bridge? According to the NO evacuation plan, bridge closings were supposed to be announced. Either the bridge cops didn’t tell New Orleans, New Orleans didn’t ask, or the word just didn’t get out in time.

    If the New Orleans plan had been followed—and the now-ruined busses been used—then there wouldn’t have been nearly as many people needing shelter in the city. Had the shelters been adequately supplied and staffed, then people wouldn’t have been turned away from them.

    From the little information that’s out now, the Gretna PD did pretty well. They not only secured their area of responsibility, they also moved about 4,000 people to other shelters.

    TW: ‘believe’. As in “don’t believe everything published by the UPI”.

  40. B Moe says:

    I don’t think there was anything wrong with FEMA’s response, I think the 2500 or so career folks there did the same fine job they always do.  But I seriously want to know what Brown contributed to the effort, cause I’m guessing not much.  He seems to be primarily a figurehead and it that position he blows goats.

    How hard is it to say, “I’m not sure of the details, I’ll look into it and get back to you”? 

    All I know is if I worked for FEMA, and busted my ass putting in the hours most of them are putting in right now, and then had to put up with a ton of shit because my boss looks like a fucking moron on national television, my morale would be pretty damn low.

  41. I Am Trent Lott and Spartacus says:

    My people are getting slow service because Bush doesn’t care about Dixiecrats!

    THE HYPOCRICY!!!

    TW: death, as in, “the word I have to type to post this comment is ‘death.’”

  42. […] makes a “racially insensitive” remark (even one I happen to believe, despite my noted dislike for Lott, he did not intend), Democrats and the mainstream press depict those comments as a kind of […]

  43. Gangster38 says:

    No further explanation required. ,

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