FEMA providing buses and planes to help with evacuation

[Onlooker]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050921/ap_on_re_us/rita

"Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison told reporters that the agency has aircraft and buses available to evacuate residents of areas the hurricane might hit. Rescue teams and truckloads of ice, water and prepared meals were being sent to Texas and Florida."

This seems like a tacit admission that localities will need help with evacuating people. Given that the major right-wing talking point against Nagin of NO is that he didn't do enough to evacuate people, it's interesting that FEMA now appears to acknowledge that local authorities do not have the resources, staffing, and experience to fully deal with a major hurricane.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. Good willing, the response to this storm will prove

to be remarkably better than the response to Katrina.

Even if FEMA did absolutely NOTHING in response to this storm, they wouldn't be sending help AWAY from the people who need it!

[malaise]

5. It will prove only one thing

They messed up big time in NOLA. Too late FEMA. This should have been the response from 9/26. Way too late. Go and pick up the dead in NOLA. History has already condemned Bushco and FEMA. They can't spin this one. It will merely expose their fugg up in NOLA.
Chertoff coming up on CNN.

edit -sp.

[KittyWampus]

8. Bookmarked And Recommended. This Article Is Important. It Indicts FEMA

and the Feds.

Nagin got EIGHTY percent of his people out when only sixty were projected.

And that's after alerting FEMA and requesting help through the Mayor and Governor.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. That makes Nagin's 80% evacuation

even more amazing, considering he did it without much help from FEMA or anyone else.

[TheDebbieDee]

6. Exactly, he got 80% of the population out of NO.......

despite the fact that FEMA underminded and obstructed the evac process by sending away AMTRAK trains and busses.

[KittyWampus]

9. I'm sorry.. did you say FEMA sent away trains and buses??? WHAT?

how did I miss that (rhetorical query).

Are you sure they sent away trains and buses to help evacuate before the storm?

[TheDebbieDee]

10. I read about the AMTRAK on this site, I'll find documentation!

http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/5062.php


Also,

FEMA Refused Amtrak's Offer Of Trains To Evacuate Victims. "Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of 'dragging its feet' when Amtrak offered trains to evacuate victims. 'Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency,' she said." (I tried to go to the FT site, server to the article is overloaded!)

Looking for more documentation!

[pepperlove]

3. And all the credit for fast action

will be grabbed and spotlighted by * !

[whistle]

4. FEMA rescue in the tattered Florida Keys? Are things that bad...

...down there?

[Bridget Burke]

7. Yes, but the evacuations are being done by locals.

City & County officials did the planning. Recent events convinced them that help from DC can't be expected.

People here are watching the news carefully--but not waiting for Bush or Perry to tell them what to do.