I have seen several reports that FEMA has done a much better job with the midwest flooding:
When floodwaters knocked out the water treatment plant in Mason City, Iowa, FEMA rolled into town and promptly set up an account with a Pepsi bottler to supply bottled water. Then the agency moved into a vacant store and began handing it out.
“We saw different FEMA people in and out,” City Administrator Brent Trout said. “We really started seeing FEMA people showing up to see what was going on in town and putting out the word on flood assistance.”
Nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina turned the Federal Emergency Management Agency into a punchline, many homeowners, politicians and community leaders in the flood-stricken Midwest say that so far, the agency is doing a heckuva job — and they mean it.
Up and down the Mississippi River, FEMA is being commended for responding quickly and surely.
“The lessons we learned from Katrina we’ve taken very seriously,” said Glenn Cannon, FEMA’s assistant administrator for disaster operations. “We’ve changed the way we do business. We don’t wait to react.”
I think the nature of the flooding makes this easier- this was slow, easier to anticipate, easier to access the afflicted areas (the devastation of the gulf coast was unimaginable in Katrina), etc., but it is nice to know that they are doing a better job than several years ago.
Crusty Dem
Or, as Kanye West might say, the Bush administration is good at helping white people…
ccham44
Mostly agree, but I take issues with the statement:
The research that one of my engineering professors worked on was modeling a Cat-5 hurricane hitting New Orleans. He showed us an animation of water levels as the storm rolled in… in the fall of 2004. The model wasn’t too far off.
We knew exactly what would happen.
Don
Sure ccham44, all you pointy-headed academics knew. But what does science and facts have to do with anything? We make our own reality now!
Ninerdave
Well they could dump steaming piles of shit all over the affected areas and do a better job this time around.
nightjar
WordPress ate my comment. I have nothing else to say. Carry on.
ccham44
True, and I don’t think the model accounted for all teh gays living in New Orleans that made the storm happen in the first place.
Dave
A bunch of white Midwestern voters in key states for the GOP? Of course FEMA got there quickly!
scott
Just like in Florida in 02 or 03. FEMA was there quick and fairly efficiently.
In memory of George Carlin, what are the seven words you can’t say on television?
“George Bush does not like black people.”
Steve T.
For ccham44, from yesterday’s Times-Picayune letters section:
rawshark
You can’t be serious.
grandpajohn
Well since most of inhabitants of the flooded areas are white heterosexuals,I’m sure the thinking among the cleregy is that there is not much wickedness there to require retribution
binzinerator
Oooo, snap!
Josh
Dave beat me to the punch.
NOLA – A city full of poor black people in a flaming red state.
Iowa – Rural, white swing state.
There’s your reason for the difference.
Joshua
When New Orleans was flooded, who was the guy Bush turned to to “coordinate” the recovery?
Karl Rove. There is your answer.
They saw the disaster and recognized it as an opportunity to reorder the political balance in Louisiana. And already it is bearing fruit. Think Bobby fucking Jindal would be governor of the state had FEMA done Louisiana right?
nadine
Regarding flooding in NO. Back in the late 90s there was a study done to assess the impact of NO being hit head on by an Andrew-force hurricane. It was published in the Times Picayune. It gave flood estimates for the suburbs amongst other places
How do I know this? My mom read it and decided to move her and my father to NM where i was living. As a result i moved to Denver…where i met the man who is now my husband…who worked on said study while pursuing a doctorate at Tulane.
How could the Feds not have known?