Thursday, August 31, 2006

Katrina… is anyone willing to accept the reality?

Tonight New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will be interviewed on 60 Minutes. During the interview, a correspondent pointing out flood-damaged cars still on the streets of New Orleans devastated Ninth Ward will receive this reply from Mayor Nagin. “You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and its five years later. So let’s be fair”. Between this and the “Chocolate City” remarks, I would be embarrassed beyond words to have to call this man my mayor.

This has prompted me to disseminate a little information regarding the Katrina Disaster in New Orleans… Oh yeah and also Mississippi and Alabama. Yep as you may recall New Orleans is not the only place that caught a little wind and water.


1. The levees (no bombs… just physics)

The Army Corps of Engineers designed the levees but the New Orleans government changed the designs to increase the sellable property near a select few of the levees (specifically near the 17th street and London Ave. levees). The areas with the amended designs are the places where the levees failed. The levee amendments were instituted in an effort to increase sellable property. The design amendments were submitted by New Orleans civil engineers and approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps of Engineers have since accepted responsibility for these amended levee designs, called “I” levees, but in reality only bear a portion of the blame. Had their original design not been altered in an effort to make the city money, had the bottom line not been more important to the city of New Orleans than the safety of its people, we would not likely be where we are today. Also of note, construction of flood gates similar to those that protect the Netherlands was halted and eventually scrapped due to a 10 year legal battle brought about by the environmental organization, Save Our Wetlands. Below are cross sections of the original levee design and the “I” design. Note that the failure of the “I” design was a result of the lack of weight and counter pressure due to the shortened earth berm. The failures were in the end caused by the pressure of the water against an insufficient levee at the top and by water getting under the levee system causing it to become unstable.





*** See notes below ***

Had all levees been built according to the original specs (pre-New Orleans civil engineer amendments, and pre-Save Our Wetlands lawsuit) the damage to New Orleans would have been far less severe.


2. Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco’s too little too late

Many people have made reference to a “delayed” or “sluggish” federal response. This must be a reference to the National Guard's delayed deployment. You should know that it is unlawful to send American military into a state without the state requesting the resources. In this case, granting permission for entry of those resources. It is widely known but often overlooked, that the federal government offered a multitude of personnel to assist in the rescue efforts but the governor of Louisiana did not respond to these offers until 3 days after Katrina made landfall. Governor Richardson of New Mexico even went so far as to have 200 National Guard personnel called to duty the day after Katrina made landfall, at which point the Guardsmen sat, awaiting Governor Blanco’s permission to enter as a humanitarian force. This was not a federal shortfall but an error on the part of the state and municipal governments.

3. Congress’ hands too busy pointing fingers to help

Many people have fallen into the typical pattern of anything that goes wrong is G. W. Bush’s fault. Following the initial disaster of Katrina congress showed its true colors, a band of over paid party puppets. The people who consider themselves our leaders, led by spending more time pointing fingers and name calling than getting their hands dirty actually helping. Bush chose to do something that shocked me. Clearly he believes in the idea that the buck stops here. He easily could have pawned this off on those truly responsible but instead he chose to shoulder the blame. Why? Because if the whole world is unified that it's his fault then they can quit all the red tape B.S. and finger pointing and actually try to fix the problem. Think about it. If he wanted this thing to point away from him it would have. Just like if Bush had wanted for WMDs to be found in Iraq, they could have been. So in essence people often blame him for being a poor president for his being willing to take responsibility for problems even when they weren't a result of his actions, and for being honest and not hiding what mistakes he does make.

4. Warnings unheeded

People actually said that they didn’t think they needed to leave because the president hadn’t told them to. The fact that every channel on TV and Radio warned people to leave isn't enough? GW has a country to run, that is why Louisiana has a governor, and New Orleans has a mayor. Maybe some people hadn't seen the news but there is a little WAR going on over seas and the president has that little matter to deal with. As such there are other people who have a responsibility to handle matters such as this. Not the least of which being the local municipalities and the state government. These entities did nothing. New Orleans didn't need Bush to know, they should already have known, and they did know. Why do you think the levees were there in the first place? Because New Orleans had already been hit by numerous major hurricanes, especially in 1915 and 1965. The arguments that Bush is responsible because he didn't warn people and didn't know of the impending destruction would be like saying that the mayor of Los Angeles is at fault every time that there is a home invasion in Compton. The Mayor has 6 million people to worry about he can't stand guard at your house! In the same manner Bush isn't responsible to govern New Orleans. Again, that is why New Orleans has a mayor and a city council. That is why Louisiana has a governor.
5. Giuliani vs. Nagin…

Mayor Ray Nagin has had the audacity to compare himself to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and sufficient intellectual lack to not even realize how far short he will fall. Following 9-11 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was seen on every television set in America handing water to firemen. Nagin? Nope. Following 9-11 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was seen on every television set in America holding crying widows. Nagin? Nope. Following 9-11 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was seen on every television set in America leading his city back to greatness before the dust had even settled. Nagin? Nope. In point of fact it was DAYS after Katrina had made landfall that Nagin popped his head out from under the rock he had been hiding under and he did so only to point fingers. Nagin actually had New Orleans citizens in need of immediate medical evacuation from the Superdome, and chose instead to use the first available busses to evacuate perfectly healthy businessmen, in New Orleans for a conference. These businessmen were staying in a hotel! No they did not have power and all of the amenities but they were safe and in a much better situation then those in the Superdome. Many people died because of the delay in available busses, while Nagin worked to ensure that the first busses were used for safe passage of wealthy businessmen out of the city. Nagin comparing himself to Giuliani would be like me comparing my sprinting abilities to Carl Lewis.

6. The Rescue effort… flack jackets for firemen?

What? Flack jackets and bullet proof vests? No, couldn’t be. Is it possible that a substantial portion of the delay in response was simply that many of the victims were exploiting the misfortune of others? Indeed, that is very much a part of the delay. The safety of emergency response personnel was paramount and as a result aid was often delayed because of the actions of many of the victims. Spelling out “Help” with rocks and then shooting at rescue personnel is not going to speed things along. Steeling a rescue boat, while being used to try to rescue someone from a partially collapsed house, to make a beer run and then destroying the boat and it’s equipment is only going to slow response. These aren’t isolated incidents. Many of the people who went to serve the people of New Orleans and try to help were assailed on a regular basis. Clearly there is an attitude of self importance and self indulgence that permeates many of the people who failed to heed the warnings to leave. This is further evidenced by the fact that there are still over 110,000 unemployed Katrina evacuees in the Houston area. I would like to make it clear that I in no way am indicating that there aren’t good people from New Orleans, but I think it says something when the murder rate in the city of Houston went up by over 33.3 percent since August of 2005 while the population only increased by only 2.2 percent. You can cut it anyway you want to but that is a clear indication of why there was such a delay even after the mayor and governor got their act together enough to allow aid into Louisiana.



*** NOTES ***
*** Drawings are not to scale and are only intended to illustrate an engineering defect. ***
*** As a side note, it is interesting that the parks and recreation department (responsible for maintaining the levees) spent a great deal more money to enhance Louisiana’s gaming sector (the Casinos) rather than making reparations to known weakened or damaged levees. ***

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