NHC, NWS, Coast Guard Praised (Washington Post 9/26/05)

[Frank2]

Att Admin: Please let me know if this topic/article is not allowed, per S2K rules - thanks...


As Storms Threatened, Weather Service and Hurricane Center Stepped Up

By Stephen Barr

At a moment when confidence in the government's ability to handle big emergencies seems to be sinking, it's important to remember that two vital agencies -- the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center -- met the challenges of Katrina and Rita.

Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, last week held the first of several hearings on the government's bungled response to Katrina. The Weather Service and the Hurricane Center, he said, "passed Katrina's test with flying colors."

Earlier, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), chairman of a Senate commerce subcommittee on disaster prevention and prediction, said the Weather Service, in tracking Katrina, produced "one of the most accurate hurricane predictions we have ever seen."

Davis and DeMint pointed out that countless lives were saved because of the early and accurate warnings that flowed from the Hurricane Center as Katrina marched across the Gulf of Mexico in late August.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), the House Democratic leader, praised the Weather Service last week for "probably . . . the best performance of any of the federal agencies in all of this."

The Weather Service and Hurricane Center also are two agencies that know how to communicate effectively with the public. The Weather Service posts regular bulletins that help shape news media reports. Max Mayfield , director of the Hurricane Center, never appeared too tired to explain Katrina in televised interviews during the last week of August.

In his prepared testimony before the Davis committee, Mayfield said the Hurricane Center participated in 471 television and radio interviews from Aug. 25 through Katrina's landfall in Mississippi on Aug. 29.

On average, Mayfield said, forecasts of where Katrina would go "were more accurate than usual" and exceeded federal performance goals set for hurricane forecasts this year.

Davis said the forecasts showed "remarkable accuracy." Storm-track projections provided to the public 56 hours before Katrina came ashore were off by only 15 miles, he said. The Hurricane Center's predicted wind strength for Katrina at landfall, two days before the storm hit, was off by only 10 miles per hour, Davis said.

Mayfield personally called state and local leaders two days ahead of time to warn them about Katrina and gave daily pre-storm briefings to officials at the Department of Homeland Security, Davis said.

But government at all levels fell short in responding to the disaster, Davis said. "Over the next few months, we'll try to figure out why," he said.

One agency that was in place and ready to respond was the U.S. Coast Guard. In the greater New Orleans area, the Coast Guard reports it saved 33,520 lives through air and water rescues.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen was called upon to take charge of the Katrina response and recovery activities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Larry Hereth is coordinating the Rita response in Texas.


Congratulations to the NWS/NHC and Coast Guard for a job well done!!

Frank

[kevin]

The NHC / NWS are scientists.
The Coast Guard are professionals.

That's the difference between how they work and the rest of the gov't.

[MWatkins]

Congratulations to the NWS/NHC and Coast Guard for a job well done!!

Frank

Excellent.

Did you know Max was named person of the week by ABC news last week?

Good to see them getting the good press they deserve.

MW

[HurryKane]

That's awesome (both the article and the Mayfield honor).

[HurricaneQueen]

Mike:

Thanks for the news about Max. A very well deserved tribute.

Lynn

[superfly]

The NHC / NWS are scientists.
The Coast Guard are professionals.

That's the difference between how they work and the rest of the gov't.

Well, FEMA is supposed to be the primary disaster relief organization and they failed miserably.

[Downdraft]

Nice article. You can hear the mashing of teeth of State College, Pennsylvannia right now.

[Frank2]

Re: MWatkins's post

No, I didn't know that Max had been given that honor - well deserved, for sure. I was telling someone here in the office that I can remember our little lunch group back in the old NHC building, and, if I was fortunate to be working the day shift, and needed to wander into the break room to microwave something, I'd often find Max Mayfield with his sandwich and chips, Bob Case (retired) with his tuna, Dr. Bob Sheets with leftovers from home, and, Gil Clark (retired) with his wife's Texas Chili - humble surrounding for a group given so much responsibility (it wasn't a very big room at all, so, the rest of us would take turns - Dr. Neil Frank would often be traveling during the off-season, so, he usually wasn't one of the regulars).

When I feel low about this or that, I have to pinch myself (ouch) and remember how blessed I was to have worked for such fine folks...

Thanks for letting me know,

Frank

[kevin]

The NHC / NWS are scientists.
The Coast Guard are professionals.

That's the difference between how they work and the rest of the gov't.

Well, FEMA is supposed to be the primary disaster relief organization and they failed miserably.

They're administrators and get their high level jobs by being buddies with powerful people. At least that's what these eyes saw.

[Tommedic]

Superfly wrote that FEMA is supposed to be the "primary disaster relief organization". That is incorrect. The local and state Emergency Management are the primary disaster relief agencies. FEMA is a support agency to coordinate the resources of others, such as DOD,DOT,ARC, and others. Just my thoughts.

[Frank2]

True - the movie "Volcano" was over the top, but, it was a good example of how the local EOC Manager is vital in coordinating things on a local scale, since Federal help even in the best of situations is often not available for many hours or days.

Our old Dade County EOC blockhouse was known to most residents as a place of authority when it came to any emergency (it was built after the Cuban missle crisis of 1962), and that's the role of the County or State EM - to coordinate the response to any emergency.

Frank