New Orleans Mayor: God Wants City To Be Mostly Black

[Pearl River]

As it was, over 1.5 million people evacuated the SE LA coastal areas and I'm sure the numbers were just as high in MS. Unfortunately there is no perfect plan. When contra-flow is in place, there are really only 2 ways out of N.O. One is I-10 and the other is HWY 90. We thought we did well taking the back roads out for Katrina.WRONG. So did several thousand other folks. What usually takes 4 hours to get to Orange, TX where we stayed, took us 10.5 hours.

[bvigal]

As it was, over 1.5 million people evacuated the SE LA coastal areas and I'm sure the numbers were just as high in MS. Unfortunately there is no perfect plan. ...

Exactly! If you look at the numbers, 100,000 people who couldn't leave or went to the SuperDome after the hurricane when the levees broke, is only 6% of the population, the other 94% evacuated. That's a pretty good job, I think!

Sure, it could have been done better, no argument there. But like Pearl River says, there is no perfect plan. Those 6% constitute the reason for 99% of the complaining and political posturing in the aftermath. From listening to many politicians, one would think NOBODY was evacuated, and everyone was simply left to die. After all, that's why they call it a natural disaster.

To be most accurate, I should NOT count in that 100,000 the many who could have left, but chose to stay. They were not really failed by any government agency. But we'll never know the exact breakdown.

I am far away from NO, yet I knew before the storm that there was great concern about the levees. Most people did, if they ever saw a newpaper or television. Growing up on the Mississippi River, I've seen several historic floods, and levee breaks. I remember one grueling day moving my cousins out of their house while watching the water splashing ominously near the top of a levee (at eye level) 50 yards from their house. The house did flood, by the way, within hours after we got everything out. You could not have paid me enough money to stay anywhere below sea level with a hurricane of that size approaching - no way, no how!!

For that matter, being here on an island, with capability to evacuate by airline only about 1% of our population with 2 day's notice (no government plans for that - it's up to the private airlines to give one a seat out), we really envy the ability to get in a car or on a bus and simply drive away from a hurricane.

[Pearl River]

bvigal wrote

To be most accurate, I should NOT count in that 100,000 the many who could have left, but chose to stay. They were not really failed by any government agency. But we'll never know the exact breakdown.

You are correct bvigal. WWL radio was broadcasting from there studio right next door to the Superdome on Sunday the 28th. The announcer was flabbergasted at the amount of people who drove to the dome and just parked their cars.

I can only guess, but several did not want to get stuck in traffic, several did not want to leave their property vulnerable to the trash that stayed behind and took advantage of the situation.

I don't fault the government, I fault those who had the opportunity and chose not to take it.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Roger that!

A2K

[MiamiensisWx]

Also, it's not all about New Orleans. To be truthful, it gets extremely annoying after a while. Can't we hear about the rest of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama?

[Pearl River]

CVW wrote

Also, it's not all about New Orleans. To be truthful, it gets extremely annoying after a while. Can't we hear about the rest of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama?

You know what, even us living here outside of N.O. are sick and tired of hearing about it. Slidell, Waveland, Pass Christian, Chalmette were very devestated by Katrina, along with a lot of other areas. Not to mention SW LA with Rita.

The reason it's all about New Orleans is because of the overwhelming African-American population. I know this sounds racial, but it's not. The media is taking it and running with it. If N.O. were mostly white it wouldn't be hogging the news.

[HurryKane]

if Louisiana did not have a total evac order, then the feds should have known that before Katrina and handled the evac themselves (like they did with Love Canal about 3 miles from where I grew up). Why this aspect was not addressed during the Pam scenario I am not sure. Maybe someone with more gov't knowledge can enlighten me

My understanding (and it's pretty layman at that) is that the federal government can't just barge into a state and order an evac. The state has to allow them in...which apparently was part of the problem with Blanco--she farted around and did not let the federal government in for preparations until it was far too late.

[Pearl River]

HurryKane wrote

Quote:
if Louisiana did not have a total evac order, then the feds should have known that before Katrina and handled the evac themselves (like they did with Love Canal about 3 miles from where I grew up). Why this aspect was not addressed during the Pam scenario I am not sure. Maybe someone with more gov't knowledge can enlighten me


My understanding (and it's pretty layman at that) is that the federal government can't just barge into a state and order an evac. The state has to allow them in...which apparently was part of the problem with Blanco--she farted around and did not let the federal government in for preparations until it was far too late.

HurryKane, that's correct. Again, mandatory evacuation does not mean they can come in and take you out of your house. So it really doesn't matter what type of evacuation order was given.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Kind of renders the adjunct "mandatory" a rather meaningless term except for purposes of emphasis.

A2K

[tornadochaser1986]

ya that was just an ignorant statement on his part guess hes not getting re elected

[LaPlaceFF]

What are the legalities of a mandatory evecuation?

[Audrey2Katrina]

Well, a lot of litigation is pending; (big surprise) but I think most if not all of it aimed at governmental responsibilty (although they DO bear some culpability inasmuch as those levees were woefully inadequately kept up) will be thrown out. When you're under a mandatory evac order, and choose to thumb your nose at it -- you take your own chances, and suffer the consequences when they happen.

A2K

[ROCK]

Just curious. WHY is the US government responsible for the NO levees?? I mean shouldn't this be a LA issue. They don't come to Galveston and fix the sea wall when it breaks. Seems to me if adaquate local / state leaders had been in place before Kat they would have realized the levee issue a long time ago. But wait, they had a study in 1999 but did not act. If they needed money to fix the levees they should have lobbied for it.

Bottom line is that NO/LA turned a blind eye to the levee's and prayed they wouldn't be breached....complete betrayal to its people it was supposed to protect.

[Pearl River]

The levees fall under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that's why they fall under the U.S. government.

[Audrey2Katrina]

That's actually a good question; and FWIW I'm not one of those pointing fingers at the feds, and certainly not looking for THEM to provide MY every need--shouldn't be it's primary purpose IMHO, but the levees are maintained through levee boards (and that IS local) but ultimately handled, I believe, through agencies like the ACOE or USACE and their operatives which is where I believe a level of culpability can be arguably presented. There is no doubt local politicians and big-wigs were overly willing to roll the dice till it came up craps (this year) and didn't minde the risks they were taking with peoples' lives in the process. This has ALWAYS been a sticking point in this area; and one which frustrates the educated voters to no end, as the less educated masses kept putting horrifically corrupt cronies back in office. This is also why the area suffers from a major brain-drain--lots of folks would rather move out than stay and fight for better government. Regarding the ACOE more on their connection can be found below.


This is their website:

http://www.usace.army.mil/who/

A2K

[ROCK]

The levees fall under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that's why they fall under the U.S. government.

Yes, I am aware of that point. But the question was WHY isn't it handled from a local/ state level. IMO it should be. Where does all the casino money go? Why couldnt that fund be ear marked for levee repairs? Just a thought. But again I am sure this point has been brought up numerous times and in numerous posts. Hindsight is always 20/20....

[Margie]

Looks like the House investigation came to the same conclusion I did: "House investigators acknowledge...they 'will never know' what would have happened had federal, Louisiana and New Orleans officials activated plans and called on the military before the storm and evacuated the city sooner than Aug 28...The summary...also criticizes preparations and decisions by...Nagin...who knew that 100,000 city residents had no cars and relied on public transit. The city's failure to complete its mandatory evacuation, ordered Aug 28, led to hundreds of deaths, the report said."

The timing of the evac order...I had stayed up all night (again) into Sunday morning, and was watching WWL streaming video and it was around 7:30am Sunday that Nagin announced on the air he was "still thinking" about whether to issue a mandatory evac. I think I caught a couple hours of sleep then because I was up again when my brother called just before deployment around noon on Sunday.

I heard thirdhand through the grapevine late Sat evng that Nagin had been unreachable on Sat...I understand NHC had been getting more upset as Sat wore on and no sign of action in NOLA. What I heard was that they could not reach him by phone and had to track down Nagin on Sat night by getting hold of Blanco, she managed to reach him at home, where he said that she was interrupting his dinner (so much for priorities). She then told him to call NHC right away. Supposedly Max Mayfield practically begged him to issue a mandatory evac, but he would not. So you can take that information with whatever level of validity that you like. It is clear Nagin never did make an attempt or even start to plan to evacuate those people without their own transportation, even though the recent Hurricane Pam exercise spelled out the need to do so; many of those people were poor, waiting on their Sep 1st paycheck, and so didn't have the money or means to evacuate on their own.

[Derek Ortt]

the feds cna take over... but only through the Insurrection Act, which was considered to be envoked after Katrina. I do not know if it is legal or not to invoke it before an event of Katrina's magnitude

That said, wouldn't be better if in times of obvious emergency like Katrina that we can set aside archaic laws and beauracy to save the lives that need to be saved?

[Javlin]

Looks like the House investigation came to the same conclusion I did: "House investigators acknowledge...they 'will never know' what would have happened had federal, Louisiana and New Orleans officials activated plans and called on the military before the storm and evacuated the city sooner than Aug 28...The summary...also criticizes preparations and decisions by...Nagin...who knew that 100,000 city residents had no cars and relied on public transit. The city's failure to complete its mandatory evacuation, ordered Aug 28, led to hundreds of deaths, the report said."

The timing of the evac order...I had stayed up all night (again) into Sunday morning, and was watching WWL streaming video and it was around 7:30am Sunday that Nagin announced on the air he was "still thinking" about whether to issue a mandatory evac. I think I caught a couple hours of sleep then because I was up again when my brother called just before deployment around noon on Sunday.

I heard thirdhand through the grapevine late Sat evng that Nagin had been unreachable on Sat...I understand NHC had been getting more upset as Sat wore on and no sign of action in NOLA. What I heard was that they could not reach him by phone and had to track down Nagin on Sat night by getting hold of Blanco, she managed to reach him at home, where he said that she was interrupting his dinner (so much for priorities). She then told him to call NHC right away. Supposedly Max Mayfield practically begged him to issue a mandatory evac, but he would not. So you can take that information with whatever level of validity that you like. It is clear Nagin never did make an attempt or even start to plan to evacuate those people without their own transportation, even though the recent Hurricane Pam exercise spelled out the need to do so; many of those people were poor, waiting on their Sep 1st paycheck, and so didn't have the money or means to evacuate on their own.

Yea Margie have to agree on this one.How is it that the MS Gulfcoast mayors had such a good heads up.They got there info from the same source as Nagin.Halloway days in advance(4-5days) had contracts set up with outside debris removal teams to clean up afterwards.My own debris in my yard(60'x10'x8') was p/u within 14-18 days after impact.Then Halloway's insight to buy insurance against revenue lost from the Casino industry.IT'S CALLED PLANNING.The other thing with Nagin calling for the evac order so late,it contra,really messes with exits for the MS coastal counties.During Ivan it took folks 6hrs to get to Hattiesburg because of contra.

[Audrey2Katrina]

the feds cna take over... but only through the Insurrection Act, which was considered to be envoked after Katrina. I do not know if it is legal or not to invoke it before an event of Katrina's magnitude

That said, wouldn't be better if in times of obvious emergency like Katrina that we can set aside archaic laws and beauracy to save the lives that need to be saved?

Couldn't agree with you more on this one, Derek. I don't know that fully 100,000 people in New Orleans didn't own cars--the population was only 450,000 and this would put it at nearly 25% unless they figured children into the numbers--still seems awfully high. I seriously doubt it's 100,000 families/households, and if this is the adult population, then it would suggest that as much as 50% of the households had no auto transportation and I seriously question that figure. I suppose it's possible, but I do know in driving through wrecked neighborhoods I found countless cars, trucks, SUVs etc. that those who chose to stay simply left at their houses when the waters forced them out, and the final tally on folks left in the city at the storm's arrival was around 100K and quite a few of those had cars.

This does not in any way exculpate the woeful plan to evacuate people, especially the poor or the infirm, and both the planning and execution were dismal-- Nagin will hopefully be replaced in the upcoming election.

A2K