Congressional Report of Katrina

[Downdraft]

I was up all night reading the 300 plus pages of this report. It filled me with anger, sadness, amazement and sorrow all at the same time. A total breakdown from bottom to top, at every level of government. To think despite all the hoopla of change brought on by 9-11 we are no better off now than before the planes hit the world trade center. Politics and turf wars caused so much loss of life. The one part I did think deserved commendation and received it was the INCREDIBLE forecasting job of the NWS and NHC. How anyone could read about how accurate Max and his people were and still say they should be cut back defies all logic.
What scares me to death is this disaster was predicted for years, exercises and scenarios were developed to model and respond to it and STILL at every level of government from the City of New Orleans to the White House people dropped the ball. The sorry truth is it could happen again in 2006 and I'm not sure we'd do any better.

[Ixolib]

I was up all night reading the 300 plus pages of this report. It filled me with anger, sadness, amazement and sorrow all at the same time. A total breakdown from bottom to top, at every level of government. To think despite all the hoopla of change brought on by 9-11 we are no better off now than before the planes hit the world trade center. Politics and turf wars caused so much loss of life. The one part I did think deserved commendation and received it was the INCREDIBLE forecasting job of the NWS and NHC. How anyone could read about how accurate Max and his people were and still say they should be cut back defies all logic.
What scares me to death is this disaster was predicted for years, exercises and scenarios were developed to model and respond to it and STILL at every level of government from the City of New Orleans to the White House people dropped the ball. The sorry truth is it could happen again in 2006 and I'm not sure we'd do any better.

I'm still not sure that I completely concur with the allegations that the "ball was dropped". IMO, Katrina simply presented a situation that had no comparable precedent here in the U.S.. Even 9/11 cannot truly (or even marginally) compare.

Consequently, a lot of folks - be them official or otherwise - did not immediately know how to deal with the aftermath. In fact, many still don't.

No matter how much we'd like to view our "officials" as all-knowing and absolutely foresightful, they are still human and they will still make mistakes and act on bad judgments. History has proven that time and again.

Now... If '06 brings a similar consequence to any one of our coastlines, we can only hope that the "plan" is better and more realistically workable. But I'd be willing to bet, even with another catastrophe, someone somewhere will do the wrong thing that will end up costing lives, property, and $$$. It's what humans do...

As I've said before, I'm surely glad I'm not in their shoes!!

[Downdraft]

I would agree with you IF we had not predicted this, modeled it, practiced for it and hadn't had the amount of warning we had. Katrina was not a surprise event I'm sorry to say. I also have to believe that those examining the evidence of events before, during and after Katrina have the benefit of hindsight to accurately assess actions. We cannot go back and start over that's true but I'd like to think a positive of Katrina would be better preparation and swift action the next time this scenario presents itself. And, we all know it will.

[ROCK]

Even 9/11 cannot truly (or even marginally) compare.


Would have to disagree with that statement. In both situations, we knew the risks but chose to ignore them. Both had organization issues. We lost 2,838 people in the towers not counting the people in the planes. Pretty comparable if you ask me.

[ROCK]

I think this thread needs to moved to the Aftermath forum......

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

IWhat scares me to death is this disaster was predicted for years, exercises and scenarios were developed to model and respond to it and STILL at every level of government from the City of New Orleans to the White House people dropped the ball. The sorry truth is it could happen again in 2006 and I'm not sure we'd do any better.

That is very true. I saw program after program year after year (for a least 15 years) in regards to the possible effects of a Major Hurricane hitting near New Orleans. There is little excuse for the apparent governmental inaction on this issue. Truly worrying, not to mention sad

[Ixolib]

I would agree with you IF we had not predicted this, modeled it, practiced for it and hadn't had the amount of warning we had. Katrina was not a surprise event I'm sorry to say. I also have to believe that those examining the evidence of events before, during and after Katrina have the benefit of hindsight to accurately assess actions. We cannot go back and start over that's true but I'd like to think a positive of Katrina would be better preparation and swift action the next time this scenario presents itself. And, we all know it will.

Unfortunately... prediction, modeling, and practice are all "non-events". In Katrina's case, the real deal simply proved too much for the officials to immediately react to. And while I'll agree that it was not a surprise event, the impact certainly was greater than many expected. As you stated, hindsight is 20/20 and our best hope remains that future occurences of a similar nature will be handled in a much different way, with positive outcomes becoming the norm as opposed to the exception.

[Ixolib]

Even 9/11 cannot truly (or even marginally) compare.


Would have to disagree with that statement. In both situations, we knew the risks but chose to ignore them. Both had organization issues. We lost 2,838 people in the towers not counting the people in the planes. Pretty comparable if you ask me.

Sadly, the comparison in terms of lost lives is relatively accurate. However, it would be difficult to draw comparison in terms of the scope, size, and breadth of the two disasters and the number of properties and people directly impacted, many of whom - most probably tens of thousands - will continue to suffer the consequences for years to come...

Simply because the risks of a particular action or event are known does not always mean that "people" - official or otherwise - will always react appropriately.

For instance, people know the risks of smoking, not changing the oil in their cars, exceeding the speed limit, not wearing seat belts, driving drunk, using illegal drugs, not eating right, and so on, but they still do these things - oftentimes over and over again.

I just doubt that anyone in an official capacity to react to Katrina actually sat behind their desk and said to themselves, "I'm gonna do the wrong thing here". On the contrary, I believe most officials simply did not know how to react to such an overwhelming situation - no matter how much data they had beforehand. I further believe that the lessons of Katrina will make a huge difference the next time (already did with Rita), but there will still be those who won't know what to do when the stuff hits the fan...

[MGC]

Govt agencies have practiced for a big hurricane that effects New Orleans for years. It is easy to practice on paper. When the real deal hit the fan the scope of Katrina overwhelmed the planners. Had anyone considered a hurricane that would wipe out the coast from Alabama to Grand Isle? I can't recall that.....MGC