MIKE BAYHAM ON KATRINA: Day 6: Mogadishu on the Mississippi

What happens when you give people permission to act like hoodlums?

Published on September 3, 2005 By Baub In Politics

"The delay in putting New Orleans under martial law has taken a toll. Wild looters who have already completely pillaged every place of commerce within sight are now locking their feasting eyes towards abandoned private residences. No doubt the more desperate ranks of the hellish banditti currently plaguing the city will have few reservations in invading occupied homes, leading to further bloodshed.

My question to Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco is this: how the hell could you not see this coming?

New Orleans has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. A recent spate of murders led the mayor into politically murky waters by suggesting a new tax to finance a more aggressive fight against criminals just prior to Katrina's arrival.

Did the mayor really think the criminal element, their twisted minds clouded in many cases with drugs, would all of a sudden reform themselves and lend a hand?

Is Governor Blanco so lacking in foresight and vision that it never occurred to her that looting on a wide-scale was going to be a problem.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour never left any doubt that looters would be dealt with severely before the worst of Katrina hit the Magnolia State's fragile coastline, announcing to the world that such vermin would be dealt with ruthlessly."

An interesting contrast to the NO Mayor, the LA Atty General, the LA Governor, and one of the LA Senators who commented the looting wasn't something to worry about, not a big deal , completely understandable, and only being done for the necessities of life.

Comments

Independent1

on Sep 03, 2005

They did know.
http://www.lsu.edu/highlights/052/pam.html
http://hurricane.lsu.edu/floodprediction/PAM_Exercise04/Documents/Coastal_Land_Loss_Hurricanes_and_New_Orleans.htm

It was obvious beforehand that the local authorities would not be able to handle it. Hence the Disaster and Emergency Declarations prior to the arrival of Katrina.

And maybe you should do a little research before you assume that New Orleans is under Martial Law...No such thing in LA law. Blanco declared a state of emergency which has many of the same provisions as "martial law"...and guess what... she did it on Friday August 26th...before Katrina even hit. And then formally asked for Federal assistance on the 27th.
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=973
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976

So maybe the question should be what took DHS and FEMA so long to act?

Baub

on Sep 04, 2005

So the question moves from when she requested aid to what kind of aid? FEMA doesn't just pour 'stuff' into the state. They were prepositioning supplies the later part of the week in anticipation, but that's a long way from knowing exactly what you're going to need and when/where you're going to need it.

Keep in mind this was the weekend before the hurricane, so no immediate needs were mentioned in the declaration (except for some things like shelters and debris removal, which are safe guesses when it comes to hurricanes). The interesting part here is that with her declaration, Nagin could have started moving out his citizens that needed transportation. At that moment, he had all the authority needed to start comandeering all kinds of vehicles and transportation methods to get people out of NO and what did he do? Also, with the declaration, Blanco could have start shifting her National Guard or Highway Patrol around, but what happened there?

Also, how did the near miss of Katrina impact disaster readiness in LA? Did everyone stand down (remember all the back slaps on Monday) or shift their resources to Mississippi and Alabama after NO was 'spared'?

Independent1

on Sep 04, 2005

Food and water is a gimme. Something that should have definately been prepositioned by FEMA. It will be interesting to learn exactly why it took so long to get to many of the places that were reported by the various news outlets as lacking. Most of the speculation I have seen about this is obvious partisan spin, but I'm sure the truth will surface in time. Privatization of certain FEMA responsibilities is possibly to blame. My guess is one of the old FEMA guys who didn't leave FEMA during its recent restructuring will end up blowing the whistle on things like this.

http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2004-09-22/cover.html
http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=9166

As far as busses, if you look through NO documents and reports over the past few years the issue was discussed and local government realized that with more than 100,000 people would stay in NO, busses were an inadequate solution. However the transit busses were used to shuttle people to the superdome. How effective the additional use of school busses could have been is questionable. If you look at the survey from the Hurricane PAM exercise 68.8% of respondents would leave the area, 9.8% would leave their homes but remain in the area, and 21.4% would remain in their homes. So the number who stayed is a lot more than just those who couldn't leave. I personally haven't seen any interviews or news stories from rescued people who claim that a transit bus wasn't there for them to go to atleast to the superdome. I have seen reports of people who could have left beforehand, decided not to, and regretted their choice. Once again a lot of partisan spin surfacing, but the spin generated from a picture of a flooded bus lot is far from conclusive.

As to shifting resources to MS and AL, the response there where the flooding came and went (as most hurricanes in the past) was worse then I've seen in recent history which leads me to believe FEMA's leadership is not as good as it used to be, once again privatization, and also that much of the national guard equipment from that area is now somewhere in Iraq.

http://abc26.trb.com/news/natguard08012005,0,4504131.story?coll=wgno-news-1

In any case it is obvious that there is no effective leadership in all of this. Blanco hired Witt which I'm guessing will prove to be the best thing in all of this. He turned around FEMA in the nineties so his guidance should prove to be priceless. Seems to be the point in time when things started happening. But maybe it also has to do with the NG equipment and manpower from other states finally arriving to replace all the LA NG equipment that is over in Iraq.

In 2003,2004, and 2005 FEMA denied LA predisaster mitigation grants. Google on this topic and you will find a lot of dirt.

Baub

on Sep 04, 2005

How effective the additional use of school busses could have been is questionable.

I don't buy into that line of reasoning, which sounds dangerously defeatist. The buses would have useful on 2 fronts. First, each full bus would have been another 44-66 people saved; no questionable use there at all and second any bus taken out of the flood zone could have been used after the flood in rescue assistance. Also, with the State of Emergency, the City and State officials could have started comandeering other types of vehicles (planes, trains, etc) as well.

Independent1

on Sep 04, 2005

Do you know how full the NORTA transit buses were when bringing people to the superdome for two days before Katrina hit? I certainly don't. So that makes the use of additional buses questionable at this point in time.

Keep in mind that the Hurricane Pam study revealed that 21.4% of NO residents surveyed stated they would remain in their homes Startling as the researcher states " because it indicates that nearly 1 in 4 New Orleans residents would refuse to leave their homes as a possibly deadly major hurricane approaches the City."

You talk about Nagin not trying to move out the people lacking transportation. These are the lion's share of people who ended up at the Superdome and convention center. Do you suggest that they should have done this as soon as the declaration was made......before the NG arrived there to screen people? That would also have been another day for these folks in squalid conditions.

You also state that Blanco should have started positioning the Guard, etc. with the emergency declaration. Guess what? She did. There were 550 guardsmen initially positioned at the Superdome alone as the evacuation began. 3000 LA NG troops were activated prior to Katrina's arrival. 2000 more shortly after. 1000 are not being activated because they lost their homes, and the other 3000 are in Iraq.

My big question in which I am still looking for valid information is what percentage of the LA guards generators, high water trucks, humvees, refuelers, etc. are in Iraq?

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