House GOP Report Blasts Govt. for Katrina Screw-ups

[Spence]

House Republicans plan to issue a blistering report on Wednesday that says the Bush administration delayed the evacuation of thousands of New Orleans residents by failing to act quickly on early reports that the levees had broken during Hurricane Katrina.

A draft of the report, to be issued by an 11-member, all-Republican committee, says the Bush administration was informed on the day Hurricane Katrina hit that the levees had been breached, even though the president and other top administration officials earlier said that they had learned of the breach the next day.

That delay was significant, the report says, rejecting the defense given by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security that the time it took to recognize the breach did not significantly affect the response.

"If the levees breached and flooded a large portion of the city, then the flooded city would have to be completely evacuated," the draft report says. "Any delay in confirming the breaches would result in a delay in the post-landfall evacuation of the city." It adds that the White House itself discounted damage reports that later proved true.

The report, by the select House committee examining the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, is the first of three major investigations into the subject; the others, for which reports are expected within one or two months, are being conducted by a Senate committee and by the White House.

The House report blames all levels of government, from the White House to Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana to Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans, for the delayed response to the storm.Source (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/13/politics/13katrina.html?ei=5094&en=0f4dfbff654a1111&hp=&ex=1139893200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print)

[BurgundyNGold]

In a related story, nothing changes. :rolleyes:

[Axegrinder]

So....who cares?
What are they going to do about it?

[dukeuch]

So....who cares?
What are they going to do about it?
















Absolutely nothing; unless the Democrats can somehow take either the House or Senate, or dare I dream, both, this fall. If so, yeee haw, let the fun begin! There will be no more "asking" for info (poor Joe Leiberman), there'll be subpeonas.

[RedskinsDave]

Are they still ignoring the fact that state and local governments are the ones responsible for evacuation?

[BurgundyNGold]

Are they still ignoring the fact that state and local governments are the ones responsible for evacuation?
Yeah, the local governments were awful, Dave. It's well documented how poorly the city of NO corrdinated their own evacuation efforts. However, it's not exactly like FEMA was a model of efficiency during all of this. They were awful. Really, I don't think that any level of government got a passing grade on Katrina.

OT, but there's this show on the Weather Channel called "It Could Happen Tomorrow". I suggest that ALL folks who actually do disaster recovery watch that to see what could and will probably happen at some point. This week, they had an F-5 hitting downtown Dallass. Needless to say, I had mixed feelings about the whole thing. :)

[RedskinsDave]

Oh I know FEMA screwed up. I am just waiting for someone to be honest about protocol and blame the right people for the right things. Recovery is the government's area and they failed there.

[fent]

OT, but there's this show on the Weather Channel called "It Could Happen Tomorrow". I suggest that ALL folks who actually do disaster recovery watch that to see what could and will probably happen at some point. This week, they had an F-5 hitting downtown Dallass. Needless to say, I had mixed feelings about the whole thing. :)

they got a preview of this a couple years ago when one hit downtown Ft. Worth. Top Secret FBI files were found strewn about a 30 mile area. Furniture from one of the big restaurants downtown was found in my best friend's neighborhood which is about 20 miles away. it was absolute insanity.

[CNYSkinFan]

Oh I know FEMA screwed up. I am just waiting for someone to be honest about protocol and blame the right people for the right things. Recovery is the government's area and they failed there.

I am seriously asking this question because I keep hearing how city and state officials screwed up in the evacuation plan, BUT didn't they follow the exact protocol that FEMA set up, i.e. housing the poor and unable to be evacuated in the superdome? It has been awhile since the hurricane but I was pretty sure that the local officials followed the plan brought forward to them by FEMA.

So if they did that and the plan failed (and due to slow and poor response, it did) is that not then a problem with the plan itself and not those who followed it. Now if the local officials were told to do something different by FEMA and they failed tom follow through I would like to see that. As far as I can tell they followed what the regional director of FEMA called for in the days preceeding the hurricane.

[RedskinsDave]

I am seriously asking this question because I keep hearing how city and state officials screwed up in the evacuation plan, BUT didn't they follow the exact protocol that FEMA set up, i.e. housing the poor and unable to be evacuated in the superdome? It has been awhile since the hurricane but I was pretty sure that the local officials followed the plan brought forward to them by FEMA.

So if they did that and the plan failed (and due to slow and poor response, it did) is that not then a problem with the plan itself and not those who followed it. Now if the local officials were told to do something different by FEMA and they failed tom follow through I would like to see that. As far as I can tell they followed what the regional director of FEMA called for in the days preceeding the hurricane.

They are responsible for having their OWN evac plans. I have seen enough Emergency Operations Procedures to know that evacuation is the responsibility of the state and local offices. I also know that if they were sitting around and waiting for orders from FEMA, they were the ones failing their people. The buses that ended up flooded were owned and operated by the city.

I wish I could find some of my old EOPs so I could post them here. The feds are brought in for support, not to run the emergency ops unless of course it's after a major disaster or a major terrorist attack. Even then, there are procedures in place where the local entity hands over leadership or the feds demand it.

[Spence]

The report is from the House GOP. If you read the entire story, you'll see they blame the Bush admin, the state government of Louisiana, and the municipal government of New Orleans. That's why I didn't put "Bush admin" in the title of this thread, I put "govt."

[BurgundyNGold]

The report is from the House GOP. If you read the entire story, you'll see they blame the Bush admin, the state government of Louisiana, and the municipal government of New Orleans. That's why I didn't put "Bush admin" in the title of this thread, I put "govt."
So they basically blamed government at all levels. I wonder how many million taxpayer dollars we spent for that in depth "60 minutes" exclusive, lol.

[Fathead]

You mean almost everyone involved at every level screwed up?!?! I wonder how many tax dollars it took to come to that shocking conclusion.

[dukeuch]

You mean almost everyone involved at every level screwed up?!?! I wonder how many tax dollars it took to come to that shocking conclusion.

I dunno, but I'd love to see some tax dollars spent to hold the screw-ups accountable.

[CNYSkinFan]

This just in breathing oxygen is good.

[RedskinsDave]

I dunno, but I'd love to see some tax dollars spent to hold the screw-ups accountable.

Yeah, you go do that. Then, once you've spent billions of dollars and can pin nothing on anyone, you tell us all how it went.

[Fathead]

This just in breathing oxygen is good.



Feel free to charge the government a few mill for that analysis.