Wednesday, September 07, 2005

The Blame Game

The finger pointing has started. It looks like everyone is trying to blame Governor Kathleen Blanco. I think when the dust settles there will be more than one person at fault. I'm getting a lot of emails from people out of state thinking Mayor Ray Nagin shares the blame. Facts - He asked for voluntary evacuation the Friday before. On Saturday he announced that they would be using the contra-flow for evacuation. Contra-flow is something that they did not do for the Ivan evacuation and people never made it out of the city. Contra-flow is where all of the lanes inbound and outbound on all highways are set to outbound only. On Sunday morning he ordered a mandatory evacuation. I know he could have done more but surely you can't argue he didn't try. It looks like they managed to get 60-70% (unconfirmed) of the city out. He did open the Super Dome as a "shelter of last resort". They had the National Guard there and did not allow any weapons, illegal drugs or legal drugs without a prescription. They learned from Ivan what happens if you do not do that much on screening. He made some mistakes, but it isn’t like he didn’t warn people.

Joke - Some people from New Orleans are suing NOAA. The basis of the case is that if they had named the hurricane Kathleen instead of Katrina it would be wandering around aimlessly in the Gulf.

Ugly - I am getting more and more reports from St. Bernard. Lots of bodies in cars trying to get out and the levee has become a makeshift mortuary. There are also reports that they started tying the bodies to trees so they wouldn't float off. Still lots of water.

Rescues still ongoing - they are still rescuing people today 9/7/2005. More than a week and people are still not out. Can you believe that?

More reports from Metairie that things are getting cleaned up. Still many houses without water. Let's hope it isn't as contaminated as the New Orleans water which people are being warned not to bath in let alone drink.

Traffic is better today in Baton Rouge. The Mayor stated FEMA is going to help Baton Rouge with its traffic issues. We are doomed for sure.

I'm adding Hebert Guns in Prairieville to the list of good merchants still selling guns and ammo. Plenty of stock on everything including the elusive dove loads. $4.00/box.

Gas seems to be dropping slightly in price. I actually filled up for $2.49/gallon and didn't have to wait. There are many places where it is $2.59. Still some higher prices in Baton Rouge but the trend is good.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The whole blame game diversion tactic that the bush admin is using is the lamest thing I can imagine! If we don't get down to the root of what is going on quick, who is to blame, the spin will take us to never, never, land again. Then they will try to blame Osama Bin Laden for the Hurricane and 50% of americans will believe it. According to the phony polls.
Sorry just a little rant for you. Nice Site

Paul said...

Contra Flow - several people have emailed me pointing out that contra flow was used for Ivan. True - but not nearly as long before and not for as many miles. For Ivan I-55 stopped at Hammond, LA for Katrina I-55 went all the way to the MS border. For Ivan I-10 West was to Laplace, LA for Katrina it went to Airline Hwy. Ivan didn't start contra flow until the day before and by then they didn't want you to go east. Katrina contra flow had every road out of New Orleans taken into account.