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Local, County, State and Federal spending to basically close down most of Southeast LA (the entire New Orleans Metro area) must be in the billions. Who is going to pay? There is also an incredible cost of closing businesses and government for days.
I am a Hurricane Gustav refugee.
As I sit here in a Shelter in Little Rock AR, trying to stay awake after a second night of chaos in the shelter they bused us to. No one seems to be able to sleep in the high school gym they put over one hundred of us in. Most of us do not even have a cot, pillow or blanket- they ran out. People come in and out all day and night and even though it is against the rules there is alot of smoking and drinking. Many people are on drugs and are drinking and look like they are mentally ill.
I never thought I would be in a shelter but I had no car and all regular buses, trains and planes out of New Orleans were booked. So I had to wait in a long line for a FEMA provided bus out of the City. Most of the people in the bus and shelter are "Americans forgotten". Many are on welfare and I have heard some stories.
Now we are trapped unable to get home until they decide to get a bus to us and open the City. I understand it could be a week or so. Getting people out of the City is one thing but back in will be even more challenging. Moving 2 million people back into LA will be quite a task!
The government over reacted and the storm was not large enough to turn two million people into refugees! Do you agree?
Last edited by Refugee56; 09-02-2008 at 07:37 AM..
No. Had the storm tracked 70 mile to the east, you might be dead. Then your relatives whom you have not seen in ten years would be filing lawsuits because the government did not do enough. You live in the hurricane zone. We cannot predict them. Deal with it or move.
New Orleans is just another disaster waiting to happen. One more category 4 or 5, and that place is going to have to start over AGAIN. But that's what kills me.
I live in Los Angeles... earthquake country. I know the big one is coming. I know it. Everyone knows it. But I've chosen to live here. I make my own plans for earthquake preparedness, and I don't expect the government to handle everything perfectly when this unexpected event hits someday... and it will come.
The thing about hurricanes is that we know they're coming. You get a couple days' notice! Be thankful that you are only suffering the effects of being evacuated and not those of being in the disaster itself.
The government is a human institution. In other words, it is flawed. I heard late last week that people were saying something to the effect of "this is going to be the mother of all storms," and it made sense with all the factors I heard: 90 degree temps in the gulf waters, the havoc it created in Cuba, etc. Of COURSE the levels of government are going to react strongly and try to prevent another Katrina (not the storm itself, but the after effects).
Don't blame the government. Be glad that you are safe and that it was only a cat 2 that moved through your city.
The government can only hope to act appropriately given the benefit of foresight. It will only be by chance that they get things just right. In most cases, an under- or over-reaction will occur, with most folks believing that over-reaction is the preferable choice from among the two. As <trapped in NM> said, the New Orleans area is regularly hit by hurricanes. Gustav will not be the last one that ever wafts that way...
Look like Katrina? Nope, that's in the Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Ought to be a lesson in there somewhere...
I work in Regional Government in Florida. When impending Hurricanes are analyzed they are done so utilizing a SLOSH model which calculates anticipated water surge. At the time the decision needed to be made the SLOSH modehad a 16 foot storm surge into downtown New Orleans with major levee failure (i.e., Katrina all over again). As it progressed the storm slid about 35 to 50 miles west of predicted landfall. a 50 miles difference on a storm that is 300 miles wide is not that large a difference but in terms of damage is immeasurable. Be thankful that someone is looking out for you and your community. Furthermore, of course their reaction was drastic, look what happened three years ago....you ALWAYS err on the side of caution in emergency planning.
Never gonna please everybody. If they had done less y'all would be complaining that Bush hates black people again.
he's black because? lol
but anyways the administration was a fairlure, how is it that reporters were able to get in new orleans and not any officials makes no damn sense..
Governments are human. They over-react after they have been burned. Hurricanes are as patient as terrorists. They will wait until our guard is down, and then hit us again.
The government over reacted and the storm was not large enough to turn two million people into refugees! Do you agree?
No. I'd rather the government "over react" to any such storm than to under react and deal with the outcries that went along with Katrina. Frankly, I'm sick of hearing that the government doesn't do enough, the policies are fixed/changed, then the people cry because they do too much!
Though, I am sure that if these evacuated cities looked like a modern day Atlantis, there would be no complaints.
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