Current News
- Tuesday May 16, 2006 - The Times-Picayune
- State's new evacuation plan looks like old one
- But it's still working to find shelters for people who are bused out
- By Meghan Gordon
- West Bank bureau
"Crediting last year's contraflow system with keeping 1.3 million people safe from Hurricane Katrina, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Monday that residents of metropolitan New Orleans will see few changes in the state's phased evacuation plan this hurricane season."
No mention of evacuating animals. Also the article says: "Blanco's announcement also made no reference to the compromised levee system protecting New Orleans, which caused Mayor Ray Nagin on May 2 to tell residents to expect to evacuate much more frequently than they have in previous years. He said he would order evacuations for hurricanes as weak as Category 2."
Evacuation Guide (PDF files: Both of them are very graphic-heavy and takes a long time to download)
Meghan Gordon can be reached at <mgordon @ timespicayune .com> or (504) 826 -3785.
- May 2006 - Report of The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Title: Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared [1] (http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Links.KatAdd)
- Document size: 749 pages
- Document file format: PDF [2] (http://hsgac.senate.gov/_files/Katrina/FullReport.pdf)
- Document file size: 61MB
- Five Additional Views are provided by Republicans.
- Six Additional Views are provided by Democrats.
- Committee Recommendations
- Hurricane Katrina exposed flaws in the structure of FEMA and DHS that are too substantial to mend. Our first foundational recommendation is to abolish FEMA and replace it with a stronger, more capable structure, to be known as the National Preparedness and Response Authority (NPRA).
- Our second foundational recommendation is to endow the new organization with the full range of responsibilities that are core to preparing for and responding to disasters. These include the four central functions of comprehensive emergency management – mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery – which need to be integrated.
- Our third foundational recommendation is to enhance regional operations to provide better coordination between federal agencies and the states and establish regional strike teams. Regional offices should be adequately staffed, with representation from federal agencies outside DHS that are likely to be called on to respond to a significant disaster in the region.
- Our fourth foundational recommendation is to build a true, government-wide operations center to provide enhanced situational awareness and manage interagency coordination in a disaster. Currently, there is a multiplicity of interagency coordinating structures, with overlapping missions, that attempt to facilitate an integrated federal response. Three of these structures – the Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC), the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC), and the Interagency Incident Management Group (IIMG) – should be consolidated into a single, integrated entity – a new National Operations Center (NOC).
- Our fifth foundational recommendation is to renew and sustain commitments at all levels of government to the nation’s emergency management system. FEMA emergency response teams have been reduced substantially in size, are inadequately equipped, and training for these teams has been all but eliminated. If the federal government is to improve its performance and be prepared to respond effectively to the next disaster, we must give NPRA – and the other federal agencies with central responsibilities under the NRP – the necessary resources to accomplish this.
- Our sixth foundational recommendation is to strengthen the underpinning of the nation’s response to disasters and catastrophes. Despite their shortcomings and imperfections, the NRP and National Incident Management System (NIMS), including the Emergency Support Function (ESF) structure currently represent the best approach available to respond to multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional emergencies. Federal, state, and local officials and other responders must commit to supporting the NRP and NIMS and working together to improve the performance of the national emergency management system.
- Our seventh foundational recommendation is to improve the nation’s capacity to respond to catastrophic events. DHS should ensure that the Catastrophic Incident Annex (CIA) is fully understood by the federal departments and agencies with responsibilities associated with it. The Catastrophic Incident Supplement should be completed and published, and the supporting operational plans for departments and agencies with responsibilities under the CIA should be completed. These plans should be reviewed and coordinated with the states, and on a regional basis, to ensure they are understood, trained and exercised prior to an emergency.
- Table of Contents
PART ONE Preliminaries
Title page
List of HSGAC Members
HSGAC Staff for investigation and report
Note from Chairman and Ranking Member
Executive Summary
PART TWO Narrative
Chapter 1 Introduction: The Katrina disaster
Chapter 2 Indicators of impact
Chapter 3 Hurricanes and the Gulf Coast
Chapter 4 Katrina strikes
Chapter 5 Timeline of key events
PART THREE Analysis and Findings
Chapter 6 Emergency Management: Louisiana
Chapter 7 Emergency Management: Mississippi
Chapter 8 ‘Hurricane Pam’: warning flag for Katrina
Chapter 9 Effects of environmental and engineering changes
Chapter 10 Levees – Who’s in charge?
Chapter 11 The New Orleans Scenario: State and Local Preparation
Chapter 12 Federal preparations
Chapter 13 Department of Homeland Security (DHS): Roles and Responsibilities
Chapter 14 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Chapter 15 White House role
Chapter 16 Pre-storm evacuations
Chapter 17 Why the New Orleans levees failed
Chapter 18 Communication voids
Chapter 19 Lack of situational awareness
Chapter 20 Protecting infrastructure; Communicating with the public and role of the media
Chapter 21 Search and rescue
Chapter 22 Post-landfall evacuations
Chapter 23 Logistics
Chapter 24 Medical assistance
Chapter 25 Public safety and security
Chapter 26 Military operations
Chapter 27 Failures in National Response Plan and unified command
Chapter 28 FEMA waste and fraud
PART FOUR Conclusions and Findings
PART FIVE Recommendations
PART SIX Appendices
Common acronyms
Emergency Support Functions
Public hearing and witness lists
HSGAC Interviews
- March 28, 2006 - Reuters via Yahoo! News
- BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Reuters) - Everyone in New Orleans must evacuate the low-lying city the next time a hurricane threatens and no shelters will be offered for those who stay, officials said on Tuesday.
- Hoping to avoid a repeat of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when thousands struggled to survive after ignoring evacuation orders, they said planes, trains and buses would be used to move people out and the Superdome football stadium would not be open for refuge.
- March 27, 2006 - Press Release
- March 27, 2006: (Baton Rouge, LA)—Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., announced today that his office has opened an inquiry into allegations involving funds raised for pet /owner reunions by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The Attorney General’s Office is asking the HSUS for an accounting of all funds HSUS raised for the purpose of pet rescue and reunion with pet owners in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
- The Attorney General’s office has received numerous complaints from pet owners about problems many are having finding their pets following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Through its association with other animal welfare organizations nationwide, HSUS has documented and placed animals in shelters around the country, often resulting in the displaced pets’ adoption. In some cases, pet owners claim that those who are currently caring for the displaced pets are refusing to reunite the pet with the proper owners.
- “Once again we will be on the lookout to make sure that those who seek to raise money for Hurricane victims in our state, do exactly what they claim to do when soliciting funds,” stated General Foti, “While I commend the work of the many wonderful charitable organizations that have come forward to help us in our time of need, I also want people to know that they cannot take advantage of our situation in any way,” added General Foti.
- The Attorney General is asking anyone with information about questionable fundraising activities by animal groups or any other groups to please contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section at 1-800-351-4889 or visit our website at http://www.ag.state.la.us/ .
- March 24, 2006 - Houston Chronicle
- Amid growing concern about the city's homicide rate and overburdened social services, a new poll finds Houstonians increasingly weary and wary of the 150,000 Louisiana evacuees who landed here after fleeing Hurricane Katrina.
Red Cross Sifting Internal Charges Over Katrina Aid (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/24/national/nationalspecial/24cross.html?ei=5065&en=4f151f958d3c0cae&ex=1143867600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print)
- March 24, 2006 - The New York Times
- The American Red Cross, the largest recipient of donations after Hurricane Katrina, is investigating wide ranging accusations of impropriety among volunteers after the disaster.
Of all the New Orleans Mardi Gras krewes, Zulu organization probably suffered the heaviest losses from the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina. The water drove as many as 400 of the group's 500 or so members from their homes and to refuge in Houston, Baton Rouge and Atlanta. The Zulus will end their Mardi Gras parade in a way they've never done before. In a memorial gesture, they will climb off their floats and join a rhythmic procession back to club headquarters in a flood-washed section of northwest New Orleans.
The "second line" parade is the musical way New Orleans ends a funeral. The horns lead the mourners from grief to a noisy, brassy celebration of life. The krewe is getting a bonus this year it hadn't been able to arrange during better times. Real Zulus from South Africa will march in their parade, demonstrating traditional dances, chants and drumming.
"It's a blast," yelled, Lori Caswell, 34, of Chesapeake, Va., above the screams of children seeking beads. "It's like no other fun I've ever had." Tourists and locals stood side-by-side - in some spots 6 to 8 feet deep - as two of the Carnival season's biggest and glitziest parades rolled through a city struggling to reclaim some of its famous fun. Tourists and locals stood side-by-side - in some spots 6 to 8 feet deep - as two of the Carnival season's biggest and glitziest parades rolled through a city struggling to reclaim some of its famous fun.
The sounds of New Orleans returned to the city Monday as thousands of Carnival revelers packed the French Quarter and riverfront to celebrate Lundi Gras and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. At Spanish Plaza, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield entertained a bobbing mob of partyers under a bright blue sky. Downriver, teen fiddler Amanda Shaw energized a throng of fans at Woldenberg Park.
A few blocks away in the French Quarter, the Original Camellia Jazz Band of New Orleans filled the air with trumpet blasts and banjo licks. Katrina forced the Krewe of Proteus to alter many of its traditional Lundi Gras activities. Only a month ago, Proteus officials were not sure how many members would ride in this year's parade, but he was proud to report Monday that more than 90 percent returned to the city to ride.
A group calling itself Levees.org (http://www.levees.org/main.php) believes that one of the key political and legal issues following Hurricane Katrina is who had control over the levees and floodwalls that caused New Orleans to flood. Sandy Rosenthal, who founded the organization, believes that the blame lies squarely on the federal government, and specifically on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ms. Rosenthal believes that the death and destruction that New Orleaneans have suffered is due to the flagrant design miscalculations by the Corps. Her group is planning rallies and passing petitions in support of the cause.
The first of the major Mardi Gras parades with marching bands, brightly decorated floats and flying plastic beads rolled down New Orleans' streets Saturday, greeted by small but celebratory crowds. Capt. Juan Quinton, a police spokesman, said no major problems were reported along the route and that crowds, though small, were having fun. Five parades rolled back-to-back in New Orleans on Saturday under cloudy damp skies through neighborhoods left mostly unscathed by the Aug. 29 storm. More were scheduled for Sunday and next weekend, leading up to Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) on Feb. 28.
The government squandered millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid, including handing $2,000 debit cards to people who gave phony Social Security numbers and used the money for such items as a $450 tattoo, auditors said Monday. Federal money also paid for $375-a-day beachfront condos and 10,777 trailers that were stuck in mud and unusable. Federal prosecutors have filed fraud, theft and other charges against 212 people accused of scams related to Gulf Coast hurricanes. Forty people have pleaded guilty so far.
New Orleans Elections Scheduled for April 22, 2006
Governor Kathleen Blanco has set New Orleans elections for April 22, 2006. The elections were originally set for February 4, 2006, but were postponed due to Hurrican Katrina. Elections for mayor, City Council, sheriff and tax assessor will be held. The Legislature and the Justice Department still need to sign off on the state's emergency election plan, which includes beefed-up absentee balloting and the creation of "mega-polling" sites to replace those damaged by the hurricane. The NAACP (http://www.naacp.org/) has expressed fears that displaced Afro-American voters may be unable to participate fully in the future of the city
The 150th anniversary of New Orleans’ (http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx) first Mardi Gras will take place with a shortened schedule, and tourists are encouraged (http://www.mardigras.com/) to attend the famous festival. There are still plenty of hotel rooms (http://travel.ian.com/index.jsp?pageName=hotSearch&cid=55817&city=New%20Orleans&stateProvince=LA&country=US&validateCity=true&submitted=true) available, and the schedule of events (http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/mardigras/mgparades.html) will please any tourist. Many of New Orleans' most famous restaurants are open for business. (http://www.neworleansrestaurants.com/restaurants.html)Rex, King of Carnivalcontinues (http://www.rexorganization.com/) his reign. For both New Orleans residents and tourists, the aftermath of the hurricanes may provide new opportunities to become involved. For tourists, offers (http://www.kofpont.com/signup.html) include the chance to join (http://www.napoleonparade.com/join.php) as a rider (http://www.mardigrasunmasked.com/maps/howtoride.htm) in a parade. For residents, the difficulty in joining a highly regarded krewe is legendary. Yet even venerable and famous krewes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krewe) such as the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club (http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/zulu/) report that they have had to advertisefor (http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/113792501064700.xml&coll=3) parade participants, and the Krewe of Tucks (http://www.kreweoftucks.com/join.asp) is soliciting applications on its website.
Dolphin Update: Forward Our Mail to the Bahamas (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2006/01/21/etenewsdolph.xml&sSheet=/travel/2006/01/21/ixtrvhome.html)
Sixteen of the 17 dolphins that lived at the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Mississippi before Hurricane Katrina devastated the area have been moved to the Bahamas. This includes seven of the eight dolphins that were swept out to sea by Hurricane Katrina and miraculously recovered (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9343538/) from the Gulf of Mexico. The dolphins have been reunited at Atlantis, (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060112005332&newsLang=en) a resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The dolphins traveled comfortably on a specially-fitted Stretch DC-8 airplane in transport carriers filled with filtered, temperature controlled water. They all arrived safely and are doing well--eating, interacting and acclimating to their new environment. The dolphins will live in seven interconnected resident pools at Atlantis, with more than 6 million gallons of sea water. The dolphins will each have 250,000 gallons of water - more than 10 times the amount required by U.S. regulations. Another dolphin was left behind because she is ill, said Stacey Coltraine, a former trainer of the dolphins, and will be flown to the Bahamas when she is healthy. An unscientific poll (http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/13552946.htm) conducted by a Gulport newspaper showed that 76% of area residents were opposed to the dolphins' move outside the United States.
Debra Morgan, owner of The Nature Chest in Decatur, Alabama used the Internet to save thousands of abandoned parrots after Hurricane Katrina. Whether saving parrots or humans, said Morgan, the Internet's role in disaster relief is here to stay. Steve Johnson, a long-time Internet guru, compared Internet relief efforts to "this system of 10,000 ants, none of which are actually in charge but somehow they manage to do these very complex engineering tasks and social organization and resource management things that are mesmerizing feats." His point, proved repeatedly as the Internet community responded to recent disasters, is that the Internet is an organizational tool that is transforming the global community into a single organism.
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