FEMA had analysed the KATRINA scenario

[kallend 2,175]

www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease_print.fema?id=13051

The FEMA exercise last year showed that a major hurricane at NOLA could have exactly this effect.

But I guess no one paid any attention, see here.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[nate_1979 9]

I believe that they used "waters over the levees" not "levees breaking"...

FGF #???
I miss the sky...
There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

[kallend 2,175]

Quote

I believe that they used "waters over the levees" not "levees breaking"...

So what? The analysis still predicted a major flood, huge fatality rate and tens of thousands stranded. They KNEW this was likely to happen.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[skydiver30960 0]

Not trying to be an ass, just asking this in a very level tone of voice:

What could they have done?

Abandon the city BEFORE it was destroyed? Looks great in hindsight, but try going to Miami today and see if you can make it happen.

Rebuild/reinforce levees? Can this be done? Would it have helped? I ask because I honestly don't know.

Improve diasaster preparedness and response through increased education and drills? Probably the best answer. But as a member of the Fire/EMS community, I can say from experience that trying to motivate the public to take such training seriously is near impossible.

Again, not being an ass, just wondering...


Elvisio "infrequent poster to SC" Rodriguez

[RhondaLea 4]

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What could they have done?

A few things:

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,372455,00.html

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[Guest]

I generally listen to and give much credence to what you say, but referencing an article written by Sidney Blumenthal, give me a break. He worked in the Clinton Whitehouse, "Senior advisor" type aka hatchet man, and gets up in the morning and spends his time working to make his own way back into power someday.

I'm not saying the respone at all levels of government shouldn't have been better, but it is unrealistic to expect government to perform with the same alacrity as private industry. Simply, the incentives for performance do not exist in government like they do in private industry.

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.

[RhondaLea 4]

Quote

I generally listen to and give much credence to what you say, but referencing an article written by Sidney Blumenthal, give me a break. He worked in the Clinton Whitehouse, "Senior advisor" type aka hatchet man, and gets up in the morning and spends his time working to make his own way back into power someday.

I dislike the Republicans and the Democrats equally, although for different reasons. I don't give much credence to spin, but I do care very much about facts.

Regardless of Blumenthal's motivation or politcal affiliation, regardless of what he wants us to believe about the politics of the matter, if we look at the facts, New Orleans was known to be a preventable disaster waiting to happen, and we let it happen anyway.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[Guest]

Quote

Regardless of Blumenthal's motivation or politcal affiliation, regardless of what he wants us to believe about the politics of the matter, if we look at the facts, New Orleans was known to be a preventable disaster waiting to happen, and we let it happen anyway.

Lots of cities are known to be disasters waiting to happen. City planners across the country will be screaming for federal monies to make infrastructure upgrades. It will be hard to know what is useful spending and what is not, because there will be a cacaphony of want by all localities to address known vulnerablities.

In Portland, for example, they wish to spend many years worth of city budgets on earthquake upgrades (to 9.0). Whether that money is better spent here or someplace else won't be decided in the engineering realm or even city planning realm, but the political one.

I'm hard-pressed to tell the people living downstate, much less California, that they should pay for Portland earthquake upgrades for the projected 800-year "big one." I'd like Portland to pay for it itself, if it deems it worthwhile spending. If Portland doesn't deem it worthwhile spending, then no one else should.

But then if the 9.0 happens in the next 50 years, there will of course be studies that make it seem like it was predictable. Does resource allocation require changing? Possibly. How? We live in a democracy, votes change things.

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.

[RhondaLea 4]

Now you're getting into a whole 'nother issue: how foolish are we who live in disaster-prone areas.

Hey, I live on a big sandbar--far enough from the ocean to give myself a false sense of security, but still in a state that, by its inherent nature, is patently unsafe.

This issue raises (again) the whole lot of questions about allocation of funds that have been debated--unsatisfactorily--for years. I don't pretend to see the big picture, I just see the disaster area after the fact and rue our lack of foresight, right up to the bitter end.

Right now, however, I'm operating under the assumption it will take a lot more time and money to clean up what happened in New Orleans than it would have cost to prevent this outcome.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[Guest]

Quote

Right now, however, I'm operating under the assumption it will take a lot more time and money to clean up what happened in New Orleans than it would have cost to prevent this outcome.

We're holding hands on that point.

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.