Remembering the warnings about Katrina
There was plenty of time before Katrina for people to get out of its way, and plenty of warning — by everyone except the state and local government apparently. The local government officials displayed passivity at precisely the time when action should have been taken. Plenty of other people knew precisely what was going on 24-36 hours before the storm hit. Last Saturday night, on August 27, at 11 at night, more than a full day before Katrina’s landfall, Drudge said this:
The National Weather Service said this, via Vodkapundit:
DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED
HURRICANE KATRINA
A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH…RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS…PETS…AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING…BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.
Note the apparent passivity of the governor and the mayor on Saturday, in this Reuters story from 5:23 pm New Orleans time on Saturday:
Residents began to flee the vulnerable city of New Orleans on Saturday as Hurricane Katrina gathered strength in the Gulf of Mexico for a second and potentially deadlier assault on the U.S. coast after killing seven people in Florida. Traffic began to build up on roads out of the low-lying city famed for its historic French Quarter and annual Mardi Gras parades. Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for coastal areas and voluntary evacuation orders for others.
“It looks like we’re going to bear some of the brunt of this storm,” Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. “Hurricane Katrina’s aiming our way.”
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he would likely call for the state’s largest city to be evacuated early on Sunday and might use the Louisiana Superdome as a giant shelter.
You do an evacuation when you can make the most use of an evacuation, that is, as far in front of the storm as possible. You don’t wait half a day to do so, and then complain about flights being cancelled, as Nagin did. We note that the man who could not give a timely order for evacuation, but wanted to sleep on it, also decided later, on Tuesday, to defer the critical decision of martial law for 24 hours, when it was already way too late. As for the comments by the governor, they show a woman who is apparently utterly clueless.
September 3rd, 2005 at 8:47 am
Not only that but it was President Bush who called the Governor on Sunday and requested that she issue a MANDATORY evacuation order. It was the Mayor who left thousands of his citizens behind rather than mobilize the HUNDREDS of buses available.
September 3rd, 2005 at 11:06 am
How dare you put out the facts!
Watched Al Sharpton on Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show* late last night.
Even with Tucker trying to stop him from his outright script of lies, Sharpton
just overtalked spewing out the mantra of the “race pimps”.
Jack I sincerly hope that you will read and consider the Private Email I
have just sent. It certainly would apply to the above referenced tableau.
See from comment above the power of that Photo worth 13,530 human lives.
Tucker’s show is “The Situation” on MSNBC. Wish I could begin this sentence
with “not to be confused with”, but there is great overlap with “The Situation
Room” (Day Room would be more descriptive title) on CNN with Wolfless
Blitzer and Jack A– Cafferty. Tucker is a “Libertarian” and against the Iraq
war so he fits in nicely with MSNBC who seem to have now indoctrinated
Scarborough. Note how quickly rumors of his running for US Senate were
put down. Can’t imagine any conservative voting for him after watching his
show.