http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8367702.stm
So, when Katrina first happened there was a lot of ZOMG FEMA, and WTF BUSH ( he doesn't care about black people, or so I've heard.)
But at the time, I actually read into what happened. Engineering failures of that magnitude are actually incredibly interesting to me. They are almost as amazing as engineering marvels such as the Ares rocket program. It's not about the end result as it is about the numbers involved being staggeringly large.
What's interesting about the levee failure is that the failures almost all occurred in areas where much needed repair and strengthening work had already been done. This is likely why the Army Corps of Engineers screwed up. And the simple fact is, on day 2 anyone with half a clue could have told you that. Their dykes failed, they did not inform FEMA of a possible risk to the structural integrity of the dyke system. In fact, they specifically told FEMA when questioned about it that they did not expect problems.
FEMA in spite of this, still issued a mandatory evacuation recommendation to the city of new orleans as well as several other cities in the surrounding region. Neither the governor not mayor did anything to enforce this or even make this information as available as it should have been considering the risk.
The reason it's important that the dykes failed in new construction zones is important. It explains why the Army Corps of Engineers might have screwed up ( apparently repeatedly ). They knew their dyke system, and its tolerances from years of work on site with it. But the new construction had not yet been tested thoroughly, and was in an active state of flux. No one should have expected them to know with any real degree of certainty the status of that system, or it's possible failure points. But, no one could have provided a better estimate than them... so everyone trusted what they said. Maybe they shouldn't have, maybe the army corps of engineers could have been more strenuous in saying just how much they did not know, but I know from experience that in critical situations no one wants to here maybes and don't knows... they want data. They need to do their job and they are relying on YOU to make a choice. The army corps made a choice. It was wrong.
FEMA planned for a response pattern based around the assumption there was no risk to the dykes. This proved fatal. Most of their on site resources were nullified by flooding. Their risk management recommendations to the cities they were charged to respond in had been ignored. And when the shit hit the proverbial fan, the state government effectively ceased to operate. The loss of communications / transportation infrastructure to local law enforcement and emergency responders made them all but blind, and severed them from their command structure.
In short, FEMA was left with no resources, no information, and the people they were screaming for help from were too busy covering their own asses to direct them what they needed to respond.
I say that because federal government attempts to hand off resources to new orleans in the wake of the disaster were largely ignored.
People claim George Bush is in some way responsible for this failure. I mean, reagan was right in his famous "the buck stops here" statement... to a degree. But, Dubya did something amazing during this disaster... something very few people are going to remember him for even though they should. He stuck his neck out. He spent about 8 hours trying to get the new orleans local government to request military assistance... they refused to respond. So he looked for a few assurances from congress he wouldn't be arrested and went ahead and deployed marines anyways. That is a clear violation of posse comitatus. He could have gone directly to jail... do not pass go, do not get to excuse yourself... STRAIGHT to jail. He was only granted an after the fact pardon by congress. But with a somewhat hostile congress at the time, they could have easily played that into an impeachment or permanently crushed the executive offices credibility. But, it was barely even reported on.... and most of congress never even raised it as an issue. Ultimately that was the right call, and I think most people when it comes down to it are unwilling to attempt to profit on that.
Now, you can hate G W Bush, and FEMA for a number of things... but I still say, in Katrina... those two were the good guys. And even the Army Corps of Engineers... with whom the blame lies... ( and there are some civil engineers out there who are no doubt drinking themselves to death right now... and with this ruling could possibly face jail time... ) has some fairly good reasons for why they screwed up, and the situation is in no way black and white when it comes to making sure it doesn't happen again.
It just kinda pisses me off that after Katrina happened FEMA lost a bunch of really good leadership, funding, and basically had a bunch of morons stick their heads into their affairs possibly jeopardizing their response capabilities in a disaster after that event. They really didn't do anything wrong... they were experienced... planned to the letter... and got completely screwed by everyone around them... and in spite of that... they still worked their asses off to do right by people.
I dunno, I just hope when it goes to the history books that FEMA gets treated properly.
So, when Katrina first happened there was a lot of ZOMG FEMA, and WTF BUSH ( he doesn't care about black people, or so I've heard.)
But at the time, I actually read into what happened. Engineering failures of that magnitude are actually incredibly interesting to me. They are almost as amazing as engineering marvels such as the Ares rocket program. It's not about the end result as it is about the numbers involved being staggeringly large.
What's interesting about the levee failure is that the failures almost all occurred in areas where much needed repair and strengthening work had already been done. This is likely why the Army Corps of Engineers screwed up. And the simple fact is, on day 2 anyone with half a clue could have told you that. Their dykes failed, they did not inform FEMA of a possible risk to the structural integrity of the dyke system. In fact, they specifically told FEMA when questioned about it that they did not expect problems.
FEMA in spite of this, still issued a mandatory evacuation recommendation to the city of new orleans as well as several other cities in the surrounding region. Neither the governor not mayor did anything to enforce this or even make this information as available as it should have been considering the risk.
The reason it's important that the dykes failed in new construction zones is important. It explains why the Army Corps of Engineers might have screwed up ( apparently repeatedly ). They knew their dyke system, and its tolerances from years of work on site with it. But the new construction had not yet been tested thoroughly, and was in an active state of flux. No one should have expected them to know with any real degree of certainty the status of that system, or it's possible failure points. But, no one could have provided a better estimate than them... so everyone trusted what they said. Maybe they shouldn't have, maybe the army corps of engineers could have been more strenuous in saying just how much they did not know, but I know from experience that in critical situations no one wants to here maybes and don't knows... they want data. They need to do their job and they are relying on YOU to make a choice. The army corps made a choice. It was wrong.
FEMA planned for a response pattern based around the assumption there was no risk to the dykes. This proved fatal. Most of their on site resources were nullified by flooding. Their risk management recommendations to the cities they were charged to respond in had been ignored. And when the shit hit the proverbial fan, the state government effectively ceased to operate. The loss of communications / transportation infrastructure to local law enforcement and emergency responders made them all but blind, and severed them from their command structure.
In short, FEMA was left with no resources, no information, and the people they were screaming for help from were too busy covering their own asses to direct them what they needed to respond.
I say that because federal government attempts to hand off resources to new orleans in the wake of the disaster were largely ignored.
People claim George Bush is in some way responsible for this failure. I mean, reagan was right in his famous "the buck stops here" statement... to a degree. But, Dubya did something amazing during this disaster... something very few people are going to remember him for even though they should. He stuck his neck out. He spent about 8 hours trying to get the new orleans local government to request military assistance... they refused to respond. So he looked for a few assurances from congress he wouldn't be arrested and went ahead and deployed marines anyways. That is a clear violation of posse comitatus. He could have gone directly to jail... do not pass go, do not get to excuse yourself... STRAIGHT to jail. He was only granted an after the fact pardon by congress. But with a somewhat hostile congress at the time, they could have easily played that into an impeachment or permanently crushed the executive offices credibility. But, it was barely even reported on.... and most of congress never even raised it as an issue. Ultimately that was the right call, and I think most people when it comes down to it are unwilling to attempt to profit on that.
Now, you can hate G W Bush, and FEMA for a number of things... but I still say, in Katrina... those two were the good guys. And even the Army Corps of Engineers... with whom the blame lies... ( and there are some civil engineers out there who are no doubt drinking themselves to death right now... and with this ruling could possibly face jail time... ) has some fairly good reasons for why they screwed up, and the situation is in no way black and white when it comes to making sure it doesn't happen again.
It just kinda pisses me off that after Katrina happened FEMA lost a bunch of really good leadership, funding, and basically had a bunch of morons stick their heads into their affairs possibly jeopardizing their response capabilities in a disaster after that event. They really didn't do anything wrong... they were experienced... planned to the letter... and got completely screwed by everyone around them... and in spite of that... they still worked their asses off to do right by people.
I dunno, I just hope when it goes to the history books that FEMA gets treated properly.