Nothing Has Changed Since Katrina. The Shameful Lack of Response From FEMA.
In the case of disaster management, there will always be natural disasters. Whether it’s tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, or even volcanic activity, the earth is in a constant state of flux.
Hurricane Helene and Milton revealed how little use FEMA was during and after these catastrophic events.
Poor and slow response times, lack of leadership, and essentially all infrastructure was lost in many towns during Helene is a bellwether of how bad things could- and did get. Cut off from food, water, and in some instances, people witnessed loved ones and homes swept away by the raging flood waters that reached over 26 feet in Asheville, NC.
Water and mud are contaminated with overflowing sewers and industrial contaminants. Hundreds of people have perished, and as rescue efforts continue, landslides and rivers are giving up corpses. Roads were completely swept away, and towns were either gone (Village of Chimney Rock, Montreat and Swannanoa) or cut off from help.
As winter sets in the Appalachian Mountains, many are left to fend for themselves. In some areas, snow is already falling. Warm clothing, shelter, food, water, and medication have been cut off from many, according to reports.
Where was/is FEMA?
The lack of response and keeping supplies from going through to people who need them has many wondering what is going on.
Communities have started to pull together, and donations from public and private charities are reaching those they are able to reach. Getting the supplies into the hands of the people who need them is the real problem.
Watch John Leak on Courageous Discourse about FEMA’s poor handling of this catastrophic disaster and how communities are pulling together. He interviews Asheville resident and documentary filmmaker, James Patrick.
He raises such questions as:
- FEMAs obstruction of supply deliveries from neighbors and citizens to disaster-stricken residents
- This raises the suspicion that whoever is running the current administration is deliberately provoking civil unrest. He speculates it may be used for federal crackdowns on dissidents.
Grindstone Ministries, a nonprofit 501-C3, doesn’t take government money(is funded by donations only) and has deployed on 46 missions to aid in the recovery of hurricane and tornado victims, went to North Carolina and reported some disturbing things about FEMA and their tactics.
Where were you, FEMA?
A look back at Katrina-History repeating itself
Hurricane Katrina, a devastating class 3 hurricane did its most damage when the levees broke, flooding homes and streets. In the aftermath, the White House issued a statement on Lessons Learned, 17 key failures of the federal response of Katrina.
According to the paper:
State and local authorities understood the devastation was serious but, due to the destruction of infrastructure and response capabilities, lacked the ability to communicate with each other and coordinate a response. Federal officials struggled to perform responsibilities generally conducted by State and local authorities, such as the rescue of citizens stranded by the rising floodwaters, provision of law enforcement, and evacuation of the remaining population of New Orleans, all without the benefit of prior planning or a functioning State/local incident command structure to guide their efforts.
The paper goes on to highlight the lack of coordination, inability to execute simple rescues, and most importantly:
“The subsequent flooding of New Orleans that imposed catastrophic public health conditions on the people of southern Louisiana and forced an unprecedented mobilization of Federal public health and medical assets. Tens of thousands of people required medical care. Over 200,000 people with chronic medical conditions, displaced by the storm and isolated by the flooding, found themselves without access to their usual medications and sources of medical care. Several large hospitals were totally destroyed, and many others were rendered inoperable. Nearly all smaller health care facilities were shut down.”
“In some cases, significant delays slowed the arrival of Federal assets to critical locations. In other cases, large numbers of Federal assets were deployed, only to be grossly underutilized.”
Mass exodus and nowhere to go
“Hurricane Katrina resulted in the largest national housing crisis since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The impact of this massive displacement was felt throughout the country, with Gulf residents relocating to all fifty States and the District of Columbia.”
Environmental hazard
“The storm impact caused the spill of over seven million gallons of oil into Gulf Coast waterways. Additionally, it flooded three Superfund sites in the New Orleans area and destroyed or compromised numerous drinking water facilities and wastewater treatment plants along the Gulf Coast. The storm’s collective environmental damage, while not creating the “toxic soup” portrayed in the media, nonetheless did create a potentially hazardous environment for emergency responders and the general public.” (Notice how they minimize the damage?)
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Written By Brooke Lounsbury
