I'll try to leave the politics out of this post because I like it here.

A very close friend of mine has a sister who is world famous photo journalist. You've seen lots of her stuff in Time, Newsweek, et al. She called 2 days ago after getting back from NoLa, Houston and Arkansas. Here is a recap of a small part of her conversation.

She arrived in NoLa on Wednesday (the day after the levy breaks). There were lots of trucks, people, soldiers, etc... on the outskirts of town. Very few were in town. No one was in control, local, state or federal. The Fema officials spent 3 days after she arrived not focusing on helping people or organizing the rescue efforts and different agencies. Rather, they spent their time preventing the media from doing its job and preventing people like her from taking pictures of dead people floating the water. She said it was like a police state similar to Iraq and Somalia (places she has been countless times).

And then, on Saturday, someone said go, and the entire operation changed. Perhaps this had something to do with the lawsuit filed by CNN on Friday to grant media access to do and cover what they wanted to. (CNN won the suit BTW and an injunction was granted.) Or maybe the lawsuit had nothing to do with it. Regardless, how many people were there at the Convention Center? 25,000... 50,000? More? She said they cleared the place out in 5 hours. Yes, 5 hours. The military flew in scores of Chinook helicoptors, people were flown out on government Jets--you name it, they used it (including helos that had been flown in from our bases in Asia). She said it was among the most amazing things she has ever seen, seeing all of the helos in the sky. She also said it makes her more angry to see how fast the place could be cleared and how quickly people were rescued when the entire focus of the government was on saving lives, but it took 5 days for the focus to get there.

Take that for what it is worth, but it is true.

It's a damn shame the 'Go' order wasn't given sooner (my editorializing).

Very well said. :thumbup:

Has anyone stopped to think about what a severe NATURAL DISASTER this is? Even with an evacuation plan in place it would be nearly impossible to get everyone out of the city. Most people knew what was coming, so they had a choice. For the people that didn't know or have the means, imagine the logistics of contacting and locating these thousands and thousands of people who likely do not even have much of a clue or care about the looming disaster? They have likely been through many hurricanes and did not give a damn about Katrina until it got there. I mean there were people boozing it up in the bars like it was a short vacation before the hurricane hit. I seriously doubt that those barflies were the only people doubting the power of Katrina before it hit. How can you expect a disaster this big to hit and have everyone accounted for in a matter of two days? Logistics, logistics, logistics.

So then Katrina hits and everyone is stranded in the Big Easy. Now you've got to organize a rescue team to save 100,000+ people who can only be evacuated by air, boat, or vehicles that can make it through a couple of feet of water without stalling. I imagine it took time to organize a rescue of this magnitude considering alot of the equipment and people capable of handling these situations are in Iraq. Hindsight is 20/20, and I would like to believe that everyone in charge wanted those people to be rescued as much as I did, but it was a task too monumentous to be done in 10 hours.

Ok, off the soapbox now. Flame away; if my opinion is offbase I want to know.

Very well put, SuperH. The thousands of idiots who could have left but thumbed their noses at the storm deserved to get swamped. What part of 175 MPH did they not understand?

I feel sorry for the ones who COULD NOT leave, e.g. elderly, hospitalized, or the poor with no transportation (<--- Hey Mayor: How about a couple hundred buses???). The day prior to impact I heard the Mayor say that the city will probably be under several feet of water for weeks. Then moments later he said he opened the Superdome for the folks who could not leave. Great! Underwater city, 30K people in the Superdome and no food or water to be had. What a leader...