CJ, Wish I could hand you the WSJ article from today. They said there were two almost simultaneous overflows of levees "early Monday morning"... one from Lake Pontchartrain and one from Lake Borgne. Then sometime during the day, "a loose barge rams a hole in the levee along the Industrial Canal, further flooding the low-lying areas". All this pretty much did in the lower 9th ward area. They have the breach in the 17th street canal that flooded the central part of the city happening "early Tuesday".
You know, a lot is being made of the mayor/governor not requesting FEMA help. My WAG is that how these things work behind the scenes is that FEMA, the "experts" that do these things a half dozen times every year, call up the locals and say "You've got a big f'ing problem coming at you and you need to do this, and this, and this, right now or you are in deep s---". FEMA doesn't just sit back and say "The dumb SOB's didn't call, so we're not going to do a damn thing". <At least I hope they don't.>
The bottom line is that disasters are the whole reason FEMA exists, their entire focus, what they do everyday. If they are not consulting with cities that are about to undergo a disaster, telling them exactly what to do and when to do it to get federal help, then they are not doing their job.
The leaders of the state/city, on the other hand, may or may not see a disaster in their entire term. They certainly shouldn't be held to the same standard of knowledge or execution as FEMA.
John |
