nothing I didn't already know...
cnn.com
The Superdome has had a lousy track record as a refuge since it was first used in 1998 during Hurricane Georges. The place wasn't prepared for the 14,000 people who showed up there: in the chaos, people stole some $8,000 worth of barstools and artificial plants and did about $46,000 in damage.
Seven years later, the city had still not stockpiled enough generator fuel, food and other supplies to handle the job.
But there is no indication that buses also ferried people out of the city, beyond the reach of water. In fact, a fleet of several hundred buses was left to languish in a lot that eventually flooded.
But we still don't know what happened to New Orleans' $7 million grant in 2003 for a communications system that would connect all the region's first responders. Soon after the hurricane struck, the radios used by police, fire fighters and Nagin drained their batteries.
Then their satellite phones would not recharge, according to the Wall Street Journal. And, of course, land-line and cell phones went out. For two days, the mayor and his emergency team were cut off--holed up in the Hyatt Regency, fending off gangs of looters. We don't know why the mayor and his emergency team did not use the city's Mobile Command Center--meant for just such a disaster
|
