Where I live, the 'second worst' (maybe worst) place for a hurricane to strike, the officials realize there is zero hope of a complete evacuation. It just can't happen, and if you tried, 10,000's would be on the road in gridlock as the storm struck.
Absolutely correct. You cannot reasonably expect 100% evacuation, although that must be the goal.
But what CAN be done is to provide shelters with food, water, security, electrical power, medical care -- all easily done, with only a small amount of planning. The Superdome and Convention Center are both suitable structures, but neither is adequate if you don't have backup power capability, if they aren't pre-stocked with food and water, etc.
Can you imagine what a difference might have been made by having spent just a couple million dollars to prepare these facilities as true emergency shelters? There is no way to call it other than gross incompetence at the local level.
If you want to make the argument that the federal government has to be prepared step in where local administrators are incompetent, it is a perfectly good argument (and that is really the role FEMA and the Guard ended up taking on).
The real solution is rugged individualism, as exemplified by the bus driver. Don't sit and wait on someone to take care of me. I'll take care of myself, thanks. |
