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HURRICANE KATRTNA Q
Greensboro. N.C.
were we prepared ?
Brittany Bumgarner
Staff Writer
Torrential' rain. Ousting
winds. Broken water pumps. A
whole city under water.
Thousands of deaths.
The aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina has obviously affected
the lives of many Americans.
Many wonder if anything else
could have been done to pre
pare New Orleans for this
mass destruction.
Pointing fingers tends to be
the initial reaction. However,
before criticizing what went
wrong, we must take a look at
the steps that were taken to try
to prevent such devastation.
In 2004, several organiza
tions in Louisiana practiced
measures to take if a real dis
aster ever occurred. There
was a simulated "Hurricane
Pam," which caused the hypo
thetical flooding of several
cities.
A plan of action was accept
ed so that the state and local
governments would be pre
pared to react in a timely man
ner. This plan included evacu
ating millions of people and
cleaning up the destruction of
over half-a-million buildings.
Unfortunately, even a simu
lated hurricane could not pre
pare anyone for the severity of
Hurricane Katrina. When the
plan of action didn't seem to be
enough, governmental officials
did the best they could in trying
to save as many lives as pos
sible.
As . Hurricane Katrina
approached landfall. New
Orleans' mayor Ray Nagin
declared a state of emergency
and ordered an evacuation of
the city. Although many heed
ed this warning, others were
skeptical. Those that stayed
behind by choice and ignored
the mayor's orders soon felt
the fury of Hurricane Katrina.
Some of the people who did
not evacuate thought the order
might be a false alarm. In the
past, false alarms have forced
people out of their homes; they
wasted time and money relo
cating for no reason.
On the other hand, some
people were too poor or physi
cally unable to evacuate the
city. Louisiana government
officials were not prepared for
this, but this was because of
the unexpected magnitude of
the storm.
I think we have discovered
over the last few days that with
all the tremendous effort using
the existing resources and the
traditional frameworks of the
National Guard, the unusual
set of challenges of conducting
a massive evacuation in the
context of a still dangerous
flood requires us to basically
break the traditional model and
create a new model ~ one for
what you might call kind of an
ultracatastrophe," said Michael
Chertoff, Secretary of the
Department of Homeland
Security.
Two days before the hurri
cane hit. President Bush
declared Louisiana a disaster
area and sent food and sup
plies to cities outside ^
Orleans. He also stationed tn
local National Guard .
the city so that they would
available for assistance
the hurricane struck.
The government had a i
ma: if the National Guardsmen
and the supplies were
tioned too close to wher
hurricane hit, officers
have been killed and supP'
would have aid
However, if the all of t
was placed too far from
disaster area, help wou
arrive in time. This was a
lose situation. , -e
Placing aid in the right
was impossible because^^^^i^
was no way to ten
where the hurricane g.
Mother Nature is ^
Tori Moffitt
Staff Writer
During an exclusive interview
on ABC's Good Morning
America, President Bush said:
"I don't think anyone anticipated
the breach of the levees." It is
obvious that the President
chose to not hear the many
warnings voiced by leading
experts regarding New Orleans'
levees and their ability to stand
strong when encountered by a
hurricane like Katrina.
According to David Crary of
the Associated Press, marine
scientist Ivor van Heerden of
Louisiana State University was
among those experts.
"We're talking about an incred
ible environmental disaster,"
stated Heerden.
In flood models he developed
for New Orleans in the past,
Heerden predicted flood waters
would overcome the levee sys
tem, fill the low-lying areas of
the city, and remain there, creat
ing a stagnant pool contaminat
ed with sewage and other haz
ardous materials. His prediction
obviously should have been
taken more seriously.
According to Bloomberg.com,
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
was aware of the worst, but
unable to receive the needed
government help to prepare for
Katrina.
"A storm surge will most likely
topple our levee system," stated
Nagin at a press conference on
Aug. 28.
The levee system, which was
designed decades ago, was
only prepared to withstand a
category three hurricane.
Former Senator John Breaux,
a Democrat from Louisiana!
stated in an article of The
Washington Posf that "everyone
has known for years that the
levees wouldn't stop a 'once
every hundred years' storm."
The people of New Orleans
are now looking for. answers.
Their pleas for more govern
ment funding to build up their
levee system went unanswered.
Why? Though many are point
ing fingers at the Bush adminis
tration, the truth is that the fund
ing problems go back to the
Carter administration.
Since 1995 when Congress
authorized the Southeast
Louisiana Urban Flood Control
Project (SELA), the Army Corps
of Engineers has spent millions
of dollars shoring up levees and
pumping stations.
Despite the growing number of
hurricanes hitting the Gulf in the
past years, many crucial levee
projects were unfinished due to
lack of funding.
In 2004, Al Naomi, Army
man-
Sn concerns
about the levee system to The
Signal:
buT^hP^?®"^ is in great shape,
don t get the money fast enough
to raise them, then we can't stay
ahead of the settlement. The
■ n't th^f
problem that we have is
the levee is low, but tha
eral funds have dried up
we can't raise them,
Naomi. ArcordiP^
A debate remains, a^
to Naomi, a full upgra gt
levee system would _gnt
least 20 years. The governm^g,
uses this fact as an
They are now
iney are nuv»
unless improvements
years ago, funding
would
ycaia ayu,
have lessened the devas
brought on by Katrina.
In response to this
mer Mississippi congr®®.
Michael Parker told the
not saying
H butl^^’
wouldn't still be floodea,
feel that if it had P®® jesS
. . .,\r\ DC '
funded, there would P®