Katrina Revisited Part II

It took Hurricane Katrina five days to cross Florida and the Gulf of Mexico before striking Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. We had five days of warning that this was the "big one" experts had been warning about for years. A major hurricane striking New Orleans with a direct hit was one of just a few major disaster scenarios war gamed by the experts. We still weren't ready though.

I remember one poignant moment while watching CNN that week. Meteorologist Chad Myers was trying to convey the seriousness of the threat and the anchor tried to dismiss his concern. He almost lost it right on the air. He became visibly upset trying to stress how deadly the storm was going to be and how important it was to warn people. That's when I knew this wasn't going to be a normal hurricane.

Why weren't we prepared? Mostly it's another case of misplaced priorities. The levees were never properly built or constructed when they were built. That was a bipartisan mistake spanning many Administrations and Congresses. Kanye West's accusation that "Bush doesn't care about Black people" reflects other failures. This Administration has catered only to corporations and the very rich. Programs for the poor have been steadily cut or eliminated.

Having much of the Louisiana National Guard in Iraq was another problem. Not having 500 drivers for those buses has been pointed out as another failure. Perhaps local government should have had a back up plan in place in case FEMA failed to deliver on their promises, which happened repeatedly.

Putting a political hack in a position like FEMA Director was another cause of the failures. Even the Red Cross failed miserably. They refused to go into New Orleans with any supplies for those stranded souls at the convention center. There were arguments between federal, state and local leaders about who was responsible for what while crucial moments lapsed and more people died.

There was much posturing about avoiding "the blame game" but, as yet, no one has studied what went wrong so we can avoid a similar catastrophe. Shouldn't we convene a 9/11 type commission to study all the failures so we can avert making the same mistakes again? Revisiting Katrina is an opportunity. It's an opportunity to remember those we lost, a culture we largely lost, and to remember what we need to do to make sure it never happens again. I don't see that happening.