re: The retired General who handled the Katrina response just went off on the Feds

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Which reminds me - if Katrina had the rainfall of Harvey and otherwise hit New Orleans 12 years ago this week, we would be speaking of New Orleans in the past tense - as a historical fact.

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If Houston was at the sea level of New Orleans we would be talking about 10k+ dead in Houston.

I was just correcting someone who was saying only a dozen or so deaths. We are going to find a lot when the water drops and there wasn't nearly as much notice with Katrina. The levees broke and lake Pontchartrain poured in.

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You've obviously never watched any of his interviews post Katrina

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Honore is not a bad guy, but always remember, Honore is on Honore's side.

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You've obviously never watched any of his interviews post Katrina

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I'll readily admit to that. Did he vote for Obama?

Anyways, the whole comparison to Katrina is silly. The flood came much faster in Katrina and was less expected. Then there seemed to almost be a 48 hour delay before the response appeared to have the sense of urgency it needed.

That could be the case in Houston as well. We have no idea how many people are dead right now.

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I'll readily admit to that. Did he vote for Obama?

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Don't know for sure, but it's extremely likely that he did.

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I can guess who your scapegoat is,

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I don't have to scapegoat anybody - I was literally there. I was literally part of the operation. I can't tell you every detail, but I can tell you A LOT of the why it was so fricked up.

And, I'm a fair motherfricker, that's for absolute certain.

Another drive by Toddy thread. No link and hasn't posted in 3 hours.

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I don't have to scapegoat anybody - I was literally there. I was literally part of the operation. I can't tell you every detail, but I can tell you A LOT of the why it was so fricked up.

And, I'm a fair motherfricker, that's for absolute certain.

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Fair enough, give me the brief synopsis, and if I want to reply I can start a thread in a few days with you quoted. No response tonight.

I feel we are going to be in for a rough few days starting tomorrow with Harvey.

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I feel we are going to be in for a rough few days starting tomorrow with Harvey.

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you are detached from reality

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Fair enough, give me the brief synopsis

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The State had just had that Hurricane Pam exercise. It was very clusterish and as far as I know, the lessons were either ignored or never fully acted on.

The Governor (with very, very bad advice from senior National Guard officers) decided the state headquarters element and JTF stay in place and ride the storm out at Jackson Barracks. This was disastrous to the response. Those elements had to be evacuated - to the Superdome, which took the better part of the Monday the storm made landfall to accomplish.

Once at the Superdome, the situation was barely controlled chaos. While it was not the Mad Max - Thunderdome the media was selling, the situation was not good and continued to deteriorate through Wednesday night. The State and Local officials, being a different party than the President, were reluctant to ask for maximum federal help and maximum federal involvement. I have nothing but praise for the Coast Guard. FEMA did not acquit themselves very well, but I think they were hampered by having to fight their own plan, rather than support the State's plan.

It was Honore who was sent by the President to just work around the State on Wednesday that got things going back in the right direction. He had every rotary wing aircraft in the Federal fleet placed at his disposal to bring to New Orleans to run rescue missions, if he so chose.

The giant spigot that was finally turned on, continued, but we only really needed until Saturday to clear the Superdome. As September arrived, massive amounts of resources, both other states and Federal continued to pour into Louisiana and there was not really a significant deficit after that - not that I saw. I did get 3 or 4 days off after Labor Day.

First and foremost - the storm was unprecedented in causing levee failures and floods. I think we (State and Local) were prepared for widespread wind damage and localized flooding. I know we weren't prepared for multiple parish innundations that caused us to have to devote resources to evacuate/reposition ourselves at the expense of the rescue/recovery operations.

Secondly, the partisan bickering, which I believe was driven by State party politics - sincerely - caused significant friction with, delay in requesting help from and continued difficulties in coordinating federal resources.

Solid post.