Beyond Katrina

Hurricane EVACUATION now Taxpayers Responsibility

Hmmm...interesting commentary by John Roberts of Tax Payers Union of Louisiana...

Where does it end?  It now appears many of our fellow citizens believe the taxpayers of this State and the rest of the country ought to be paying for ANY expenses they incurred as a result of evacuating ahead of Hurricane Gustav.  Gasoline, hotel rooms, meals, and then the food that spoiled left in a refrigerator and freezer should all be covered by FEMA and thus our tax dollars.  I'm talking about areas where Gustav had minmal impact and everyone suffered some inconveniences, but were back to normal in just days. Folks, personal responsibility has officially received another nail in the coffin. 

This fiscal conservative doesn't quite agree. Mandatory evacs were issued - safety comes first. Supposing this refers to areas who are only "slightly impacted" the thing is people who choose to evacuate don't know whether their area is  going to be "slightly impacted" prior to making evacuation decisions. Who woulda thunk an inland metropolitan area would have been hit so hard by Gustav? Hindsight is 20/20. So how are our leaders going to get people to comply with mandatory evacs and opt in favor of safety in the face of conversations like this? And where are you writing from John? North Louisiana? I can't imagine any south Louisianian who is forced to evacuate multiple times a hurricane season maintaining this perspective. Thoughts are maybe there is a solution that gives everybody what they want. Any of my readers want to take a stab at it?

Sheriff's deputies watch and wait at the St. Tammany EOC

Besides the occasional strong breeze, all is quiet at the St. Tammany Parish Emergency Operations Center in Covington. Continue at nola.com

The Hurricane In Question Is Still Called Katrina

ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 31 -- Three years after it battered New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina upended this convention city Sunday.Continue at WaPo

As Gustav Nears, GOP Changes Course

Landfall Likely West of New Orleans Today

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 31 -- The Gulf Coast braced Sunday for Hurricane Gustav, a storm that officials fear could devastate coastal Louisiana and parts of New Orleans that were largely spared from Hurricane Katrina's onslaught three years ago.Continue at WaPo

Live from Louisiana: A Hurricane Bloggers's Personal Journal - Louisiana Rocks: 8/31/08 10:26 PM CT

I still just can't get over how great everybody did - Louisiana rocks! No matter what happens next,  this storm has  so far brought Louisianians together in a way that Katrina didn't. Everybody rose to the occasion. Everybody. Citizens, local government, and yes the feds too.  I want people across the nation and abroad to to understand that these folks who secured their homes, loaded up their possessions, and evacuated out of Louisiana over the course of the past two days - yet but again -  have had homes and all possessions already destroyed - and just about the time we are all  getting back on our feet we're having to face the real possibility that all of our efforts to date may be for naught. We might have to start over. Yet everybody did what they had to do - We Louisianians have faced this challenge with courage and conviction. I told Paul Greenberg tonight (whose battened down in 'Bama), that we might be more experienced at disaster than anyone else on the planet right now. We have learned from our mistakes. I am so incredibly moved.   That being said, the toughest hours are still ahead of us. La/Gulf Coast citizens, wherever you are tonight just know you're  in my prayers. Come home soon!

Cellular operators say they're ready for Gustav

Carriers advise using text instead of voice if a crisis occurs, to reduce the strain on the networks

August 29, 2008  (Computerworld)  With tropical storm Gustav threatening to clobber the U.S. Gulf Coast, the nation's major cellular network providers say they are prepared, having learned from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina three years ago. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. separately issued statements this week saying they each have spent about $140 million in the Gulf states in the aftermath of Katrina. A spokesman said AT&T Inc. has spent "hundreds of millions" in the region on both wired and wireless infrastructure. Continue>>>

New Orleans IT departments brace for Gustav

These four organizations survived Katrina and explain how they are more prepared this time

August 29, 2008  (Computerworld)  As tropical storm Gustav approaches hurricane strength and heads toward the Gulf Coast, the IT lessons learned from the devastating Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that smashed New Orleans and other areas in 2005 are on the minds of many worried IT managers. Continue at Computer World>>>

Katrina 3-Year Coverage: Building on community driven successes with the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act

The federal government and national organizations have failed to meet the needs of the Gulf Coast 3 years after Katrina hit. How are local communities coming together to build a new vision for resident-led recovery? Almost three years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the breakdown of Louisiana’s federally constructed levee system, the media, Congress, the White House, our Presidential candidates and even, surprisingly, the progressive community have for the most part moved on. Continue at Facing South>>>

Three Years After Hurricane Katrina, Homelessness Looms

"That's President Bush hugging me. See how tightly he's hugging me?" It was the chilly end of 2006 in Baker, Louisiana, when Lena Beard asked me this, proudly waving a newspaper clipping my direction as we talked in her still-temporary home. The fading photo, taken the same day the mother of two took refuge on a mattress in a church after Hurricane Katrina, had served as proof after the levees burst that she was going to be okay. "I'm a veteran who has served my country and put my life on the line. I believed my country would take care of me and my family," she said. Continue at Mother Jones>>>

Astrodome not open for evacuees if Gustav hits

HOUSTON – Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said the Astrodome will not be open for evacuees if Gustav hits New Orleans.  The reason, according to county officials, is common sense. Continue>>>