Flip Side

I got some interesting comments about yesterdays post. I also got some links. I clicked em. Here is what I think about it all.

Something on the order of 200 - 300 thousand were in the evacuation zone. Many of those people had cars, but not all. The city had something on the order of 300 busses. If this bus fleet is anything like the fleet in Dade County, at least 10% are in the shop.

So what about the school busses? Could those not have been used?

Not if the bus drivers had CARS and decided to high tail it out of there. I would bet that many of the bus drivers did just that, along with a bunch of the police officers. And can you blame them? If you were a school bus driver would you get yourself and your family out, or show up to work? Would the couple of hundred bucks of overtime pay be enough to keep you there, or would you take the time to load your family and your most treasured objects into the car and haul ass?

Add to this mix the traffic nightmare, and all roads were opened up one way only. Even if the city was able to scrape up 500 busses and drivers, and only 50,000 people needed to get out, it would not be enough without sending busses on a few round trips. This would be hard to do once all lanes on all roads are one way - out.

Floirda has the same problem with The Keys. The Overseas Highway is a two lane road. To do a proper evacuation, enough busses and stuff have to be in place before it is time to leave. Once the order is given, all lanes on US1 and Card Sound Road are northbound only. The only way to get south is by air or sea.

And let us not forget the final problem, people not wanting to leave. There are many reasons why someone would not leave. First, maybe they have no way to get out on their own. In my case, I have a double cab pickup truck and a large flatbed trailer. I can pack up all my stuff and get it out in one shot. Even the crappy little television I watch. Everything can go out with me.

But not everyone has this. Some people only have regular cars. They might not leave when they can because they do not want to leave behind some stuff that is important to them. And those with no vehicles are in even more of a bind. They can not bring pets, and they are very limited in what they can bring. Oh yea, no pets in any shelter.

In short, the logistics of a massive evacuation are very hard to manage for a city where as many as 30% live at or below the poverty line. Lousiana is not exactly a rich state, and New Orleans is not a rich city.

Then there are the flood control devices. I do not know about Lousiana, but in Florida the flood control measures for my area are in the hands of SFWMD (South Florida Water Management District) and the Army Corps of Engineers. SFWMD is limited in what it can do without getting the Corps involved. Why is this important? I would think that the system in New Orleans would be similar. Dade County only has some control over the drainage system here, and no control over the massive levee around Lake Okeechobee.

In short, there was only so much that a local mayor has to get people out of an area - unless he orders people to be removed at gunpoint.

And anyway, all these things to not excuse the lack of action at the federal level. On Saturday, the NHC had the storm track going into the general area where the storm did hit. I know, I was tracking the thing. Before my internet went out on Thursday night the center of the cone of death was New Orleans.

This means that federal policy makers had at least a week to plan something. Actually, longer than a week. Even before the thing hit Miami the forecast track had it in the Gulf Of Mexico. And then there was last year. How many close calls did the feds need?

So who is to blame? I suppose that the hearings that are bound to happen will get to the bottom of that. That is IF someone who tried to stonewall the 9-11 hearings does not try to stonewall again. And just like some other military prison issues, the rush is on to blame the lowest ranking person that can be located. I see a pattern here.

And consider this - right now there are military units still in the USA that can be anywhere in the world in 12 - 24 hours. There are planes stationed in places like Kansas that can be loaded up with stuff to airdrop. There are troops that are ready to jump out of perfectly good aircraft, and into hostile land. I still want to know WHY THE HELL this was not done.

And if you still want to buy into the bush licking spin machine and blame a mayor who happened to have switched to the democrat party, consider Mississippi. Ain't no stinking liberal democrats there! Just lots of guns and churches! Yet people were left in danger zones. The destruction in Mississippi is not getting as much coverage as The Big Easy, but things are not exactly rosy there either. And the federal response was equally as poor.

So shall we blame Mississippi's governor? You know, the southern white republican guy? Or shall we focus all the blame on the democrat lady governor and the dark complected democrat guy? That will teach him to leave the godly party!

Finally, one last point. What is the federal level plan now? More of the same "do nothing then find someone else to blame" crap, or this time did they learn something?

I have a hurricane kit, and I do not live in an area at high risk of flooding. So in the event of a storm, I am not in an evacuation zone. I would leave the space in shelters for people who need it worse than I do. If I left, I would not stop driving till I was in Canada. It would be a good excuse to visit the place.

But if I stay, and my home is turned into a pile of toothpicks, and in the process my hurricane kit is lost....well lets just say if that happens I hope that whoever is in charge of the federal government is able to make a decision in less than a week.