> Bush’s Criminal Ignorance: "I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees."
4 September 2005, 05:29
Slow response bewilders former FEMA officials
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Government disaster officials had an action plan if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. They simply didn’t execute it when Hurricane Katrina struck.
Thirteen months before Katrina hit New Orleans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill that Ronald Castleman, then the regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, called "a very good exercise."
More than a million residents were "evacuated" in the tabletop scenario as 120-mile-an-hour winds and 20 inches of rain caused widespread flooding that supposedly trapped 300,000 people in the city.
"It was very much an eye-opener," said Castleman, a Republican appointee of President Bush who left FEMA in December for the private sector. "A number of things were identified that we had to deal with, not all of them were solved."
"It’s hard for everyone to understand why buttons weren’t pushed earlier on," Castleman said of the federal response. http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/12549282.htm
Slow response bewilders former FEMA officials
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Government disaster officials had an action plan if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. They simply didn’t execute it when Hurricane Katrina struck.
Thirteen months before Katrina hit New Orleans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill that Ronald Castleman, then the regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, called "a very good exercise."
More than a million residents were "evacuated" in the tabletop scenario as 120-mile-an-hour winds and 20 inches of rain caused widespread flooding that supposedly trapped 300,000 people in the city.
"It was very much an eye-opener," said Castleman, a Republican appointee of President Bush who left FEMA in December for the private sector. "A number of things were identified that we had to deal with, not all of them were solved."
"It’s hard for everyone to understand why buttons weren’t pushed earlier on," Castleman said of the federal response.
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/12549282.htm
’Drowning New Orleans’
October, 2001
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=000...
’Keeping Its Head Above Water’
New Orleans Faces Doomsday Scenario
December 1, 2001
http://www.hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/houston.htm
’Washing Away’
2002
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/part1.html
’City in a Bowl’
September 20, 2002
http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_neworleans_...
’Disaster in the Making’
September 22, 2004
http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2004-09-22/cover.html
’A Way Out’ ( Despite advances, the subject of evacuation has been a widely overlooked issue within the transportation field.)
April, 2004
http://hurricane.lsu.edu/_in_the_news/tmemag0404.htm
’A Disaster Waiting to Happen’
September 28, 2004
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-09-28/cov...
’Gone With the Water’
October, 2004
http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5 /
What if Hurricane Ivan Had Not Missed New Orleans?
Novermber, 2004
http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/o/nov04/nov04c.html
Fire Michael Brown as FEMA head, Rep. Wexler urges President Bush
January 26, 2005
http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/dhh_weblog/2005-blog/2...