The Katrina Fiasco
Having seen a couple Lj's mentioning Katrina and a lot of responses that were simply uninformed I thought I could do some informing to those I consider my friends and those I don't even know. Below is a pretty complete timeline of the fiasco and proof of budget cuts on the levee project.
So an article in the national review claimed that "enviromentalists" are to blame?
Taken from http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS0110/509160369/1260
"The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National Review article concluded: "Whether this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain."
The problem with that conclusion?
The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake Pontchartrain levees on the other side of the city."
"Bookbinder said the purpose of the litigation by the Sierra Club and others in 1996 was where the corps got the dirt for the project. "We had no objections to levees," he said. "We said, 'Just don't dig film materials out of the wetlands. Get the dirt from somewhere else.' "
Let's note that taking material from the wetlands "destroying the wetlands" is what helped Katrina be so bad. The wetlands are a natural buffer. That is why you here a lot about wetland reconstruction now.
Ok. I did some research. And have found the most reliable information on levee funding that is out there. Where you might ask can one get completely guaranteed accurate information on Funding for the army corp of engineering project for new orleans levees?
Why the army corp. of engineers! :)
http://www.usace.army.mil/civilworks/cecwb/fy03_annual_report/mvd.pdf
"Section
in Text Project Funding FY 99 FY 00 FY 01 FY 02 FY 03
Total
Funds to
Sep. 30,
2003
8. Lake
Pontchartrain and
Vicinity, LA
(Hurricane
Protection)
(Regular Funds)
New Work
Approp.
Cost
(bear with me. it didn't paste well.)
This is the amounts specifically for the levee that failed.
Fy 99
Appropriated 16,000,000
Cost 24,443,102
(big difference. Obviously clinton would be to blame for this one...oh wait. it was a republican controlled house at the time so scratch that)
Fy 00
app. 26,204,000
cost 27,402,978
(a jump obviously to cover the miscalculation from the previous year and make sure the contractors got paid from the previous year)
Fy 01
App. 14,295,000
Cost 14,458,657
(nice drop in funding there eh?)
Fy 02
app. 9,134,219
Cost 10,023,800
(ouch! yea their funding is definitely increasing....NOT)
Fy 03
App. 10,163,400
Cost 10,412,869
(They got a million more in 03. yay!)
That is the 03 report so stops there.
I did find the projected budget for 06 (pre disaster) also.
In http://www.usace.army.mil/inet/functions/cw/cecwb/budget/budget.pdf
And the fy04 budget as well
http://www.usace.army.mil/civilworks/cecwb/budget2004/budgetfy04.pdf
So media aside and the accusations of slant from right to left. The above is dry and stastical reading but makes no claims. The facts speak well enough.
The funding was cut and appears to have really gotten smacked after 9/11. This might have been all well and good and money well redirected if the disaster relief had actually worked well.
This is an interesting tidbit of info too... The old FEMA was psychic.
"Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2001 listed a hurricane striking New Orleans as one of the top three catastrophic events the nation could face (the others being a terrorist attack on New York City and an earthquake in San Francisco), funding for corps projects aimed at curbing flooding in southeast Louisiana lagged."
So be careful my friends in San fran. You are next in line.
/dark humor
On Fema response
The head of Fema's employees union and part of Fema since it started in 1979 said on NPR that he was shocked to see there was almost no response in the FEMA center until after the hurricane hit. I was astonished as I listened to Leo Bosner talk about what happened or didn't happen in the lead up to Katrina in LA. If anyone is qualified to know how FEMA should be prepping before a disaster it would be him, yet he went on about how on saturday he walked in expecting a hub of activity of preparedness yet there was hardly any staff there. Nearly the same for Sunday as well.
The Timeline
This timeline provides the information to prove that the govenor did all she could do.
http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Hurricane_Katrina_Chronology
This timeline is the most complete I have seen yet. It is very detailed and from what I can read completely absolves the local and state officials of the purported screwups on their part. It also covers most of what I was going to bring up in this livejournal. Those of you who don't consider yourselves political need to ask yourselves why. If, that is, you are as horrified by the Katrina catastrophe as I am.
Because it is because of politics that things succeed, or in this case, fail abysmally.
This line I do find very disgusting
"2005/09/02Armed Officials in GretnaArmed officials, described as "Gretna sheriffs" in this first hand report by California paramedics or as "troops" in this report from Fox News Channel prevent the evacuation of New Orleans by pedestrians crossing the Crescent City Connection over the Mississippi River. The Gretna Blockade was enforced by gunfire over the heads of people attemping to evacuate and escape rapidly deteriorating conditions in New Orleans.(Additional info, including statements from Gretna's sheriff, here.)"
Had I been one of those people I would have continued walking. Daring them to shoot an unarmed civilian simply trying to get out of the hell zone.