A Soldier's Perspective

Off Topic: Katrina

It seems that no matter what political topic I cover, the comments are guided into the realm of Bush's "incompetence" with relation to Katrina. I guess I can argue that this is a subject I can talk about here since soldiers were used in the rescue operation. After reading so many sides of the argument, I decided to sit down the past few days and do some REAL research and ignore all the partisanship on the issue. You can argue my success in doing that all day long, but here are the FACTS:

Computer simulations of a Katrina-strength hurricane had estimated a worst-case-scenario death toll of more than 60,000 people in Louisiana. The actual number was 1077 in that state, not exactly the "1400 Katrina dead" espoused in the comments. Any fatalities are too many. Improvements hinge on bulding more robust commnications networks and stepping up predisaster planning to better coordinate local and national resources.

One of the biggest reminders from Katrina is that FEMA is not a first responder. No matter how much people want to blame the agency for their failures, and their was bumbling by top disaster-management officials, it's just not their fault. Funds sent to LA to upgrade the levees were diverted by the city and state (to those politically driven by this crisis, those people are Democrats) to other projects.

Aaron Broussard, President of Jefferson Parish, LA, said, "The aftermath of Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history."

This perception was fueled by overzealous media who wanted to get the story out FAST, not accurately. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down in the history books as the largest and fastest rescue effort ever on American soil. Nearly 100,000 emergency personnel arrived to the area within three days of landfall. Many National Guard helicopters were already running rescue sorties just two hours after the hurricane hit the coast. Many of these guys didn't even have the right equipment, but had to improvise their rescues, carefully hovering on rooftops to pick up survivors. By the end of the week, 50,000 National Guard troops had saved 17,000 people; 4,000 Coast Guard personnel saved more than 33,000.

The Red Cross confirmed that it had prepositioned water, food, blankets and hygiene products for delivery to the Superdome and the Convention Center in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, but were blocked from delivering those supplies by orders of the Louisiana state government, which did not want to attract people to the Superdome and/or Convention Center.

1.2 million of the 1.5 million metro population were evacuated in just 38 hours, contrary to estimates that it would take 72 hours to evacuate that many people. Investigations since the hurricane have discovered that the majority of people who stayed did so by choice. Col. Joe Spraggins, director of emerigency management in Harrison County, MS, said, "Most people had transportation. Many didn't want to leave." The only exception to that, tragically enough, were hospital and nursing home residents, though this was exclusive to Louisiana and not the other states affected. Popular Mechanics says that "all states should adopt a Florida-style registry, which enables people who will need evacuation assistance to notify their city or state officials.

Florida gets just as many hurricanes as Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The difference is that Florida leadership isn't as incompetent when it comes to local disasters as the STATE of Louisiana is. Ray Nagin, the idiot, himself tried to hype up American opinion by claiming that people in the Superdome were being "killing people, raping people". He complained that they had to sit in there and just stare at dead bodies when, in fact, that wasn't the case.

Even I got caught up in the hype when it was reported that people were shooting at rescue helicopters. I wanted to strap on my boots and hitchhike to N.O. myself. However, this incorrect information made rescue efforts even more difficult because more resources were being spent to protect rescuers from an imagined threat that were diverted from actually helping those that needed it. No bullet holes were ever found in the fusilage of any rescue helicopter. It was later discovered that only one attempted rape had occurred that was stopped by N.O. police. The only confirmed weapons discharge was of the National Guard soldier who was jumped by an assailant and accidently shot himself in the leg during the chaotic arrest. Of the six bodies found in the SuperDome, four died of natural causess (problably from the heat associated with the power outage in the Dome), one was ruled a suicide and another a drug overdose. Of the four bodies found in the convention center, three had died of natural causes and one of stab wounds. Truth it seemed was the first casualty of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

While reading about what has happened in New Orleans and the surrounding areas of Alabama and Mississippi, I found out something that completely disgusts me. It's called the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Premiums for this coverage rarely go up and they are seldom denied coverage – even after Katrina almost completely demolished the barrier island at the entrance to Mobile Bay, near the island community of Dauphin Island, Ala, where residents have collected more than $21 million in taxpayer money to pay for their damaged homes over the years. The program was instituted in 1968 for homeowners who live in flood-prone areas considered too great a risk by private insurers. It used to be that this insurance program was able to sustain itself through the premiums, but following Katrina and Rita, claims could exceed $22 billion, more than the total amount paid in premiums in the program's entire history. In mid-November, NFIP ran out of money to pay claims and will have to borrow more taxpayer money to pay any more.

Why does this bug me? Well, I'm prone to speeding and getting tickets for it. Though I haven't been found guilty in a long time, if I were I'd be paying more for insurance. I'm a risk. No taxpayers underwrite my ability to speed. People in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and other tornado prone areas pay for insurance that covers them in the event of a tornado. If they make a claim, their premiums go up. They aren't underwritten by my tax money. People who live on the San Andreas fault pay high premiums for earthquake insurance because it is a risky place to live. They aren't covered by taxpayer money to prevent their premiums from rising. Why am I paying to allow people to live in places where another hurricane WILL occur? That's no different than an insurance company refusing to raise rates on a guy who is constantly smashing his Porsche each time he drinks and drives. It's insane. These people know they live in a risky area. If they can't afford to keep insurance within affordable means, they should move. I don't want to pay for their $800,000 beach front properties. Do you?

"With the number of homes destroyed in Mississippi, 68,000, the evacuation orders were followed by the majority of people, otherwise the death toll would have been far greater than the 236 in Mississippi. There is another lesser known problem, the flood maps that are used to determine who needs flood insurance proved to be very inaccurate for Missiissippi. Half of the homes destroyed in Mississippi were not even on the 100 year flood plain maps. Some beach front property was not even on the maps." (courtesy of Seawitch) Thanks for setting me straight.

I've already addressed that all the trailers waiting in Arkansas are only there because the Louisiana government will NOT allow them into the state. This is a selfish, one-sided, partisan effort by the politicians in New Orleans to smear the current administration.

“It’s infuriating,� said FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews about reports of the more than 10,770 trailers sitting empty. The land lease fees to let the trailers sit in Arkansas have so far cost taxpayers $600,000. The trailers cost $367 million. “To insinuate they would be going to waste is flat out wrong,� she said.

Andrews said a number of issues are holding up the transfer of the mobile homes to people who still need a permanent place to live. Among them, federal, state and local regulations limit the placement of temporary housing in a flood plain. On top of that, only eight of 64 parishes in Louisiana — not all of which are in the flood plain — have accepted the mobile homes into their communities.

“We were under the assumption that in Louisiana, they would need substantial housing support and would be willing to receive manufactured housing,� Andrews said. “It’s not a big mistake. We’ve been trying to give these away for six months.� SIX MONTHS!!

All the questions in this post are rhetorical. My email is open if you want to comment on this, but I'm not going to allow comments because this isn't a political issue as many people want to make it. Democrats AND Republicans were affected. Blacks and whites were affected. Men and women, young and old were affected. The bottom line is that FEMA and the federal government are not first responders. I've said my last bit on this issue. Thanks to all those people that answered my emails and sent me links while researching this, on BOTH sides of the issue.