re: Was FEMA response during Katrina worse or better than Helene?

IMO worse for those of us that lived through it. It was all about NO, which was what most in a pre social media world focused on. Nobody cared about the Mississippi Gulf Coast or the NorthShore. The thing about going through a natural disaster like that is especially after Katrina is you don’t know how bad it really is. Back in those days I worked for a tree company that was contracted with WST and even with Katrina exploding in The Gulf and suddenly coming our way, a local co-op was more prepared than local, state and the Federal Governments.

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Not sure how anyone could really say unless they were in the shite for both. And I’d be surprised if that person posts here.

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That person posts here,,,,I brought the first medical helos to NOLA on the Tuesday morning and stayed there for weeks,,,,,I arrived in SC last Friday and made it to Asheville on Saturday. I will say both sucked equally. You would think with all he disaster we have, this agency can figure it out,,,too much bureaucracy,,,during Katina FEMA made us stop flying patients out of hospitals for hours,,,this time we had ambulances sit for days waiting on paperwork and details. And don’t get me started about organization, right hand vs left hand. We had ambulances finish task and sit and wait for 10-12hrs before anyone could figure out to do with them next. Pathetic.

In South Alabama after Hurricane Ivan in 2004:

I've often thought that listening to every single person you talked to complain constantly about FEMA and why can't the government do this or that was almost as bad as the 4 weeks without power.

I think social media and the current politicized environment is the only difference.

Katrina was much worse. Those that caused the Katrina disaster were in charge of the response (feds). Pre-Katrina levee system construction was a criminal act. But the long term investment after Katrina was excellent with levee construction, making New Orleans probably the singular coastal city in all of North America that can handle a typical hurricane storm surge.

If Katrina happens today with the current risk reduction system, we all go back to work and go about our lives when the power comes back on.

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Idk what it was like in New Orleans, but there’s a lot of self sufficiency on display in WNC.

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New Orleans got fricked because of the lazy, I don’t give a frick attitude. That’s what happens when you don’t keep up man made levees or waste the money that should’ve went towards those man made levees. A lot of self sufficiency was happening north of the lake and in Mississippi. You want the truth? A lot of the people that stayed in NO had been relying on the government for generations, the same government that provided just enough to them to be better than a 3rd World country. Then those same people were surprised when the government left them for dead.

FEMA is a governmental bureaucracy. It's actually impossible for them to be effective at anything other than creating fake jobs for losers.

Katrina showed how unprepared fema was in responding to a natural disaster

On top of that blanco and nagin were no help at the state and local level

It’s ashame all levels of govt still don’t have a clue on how to manage a natural disaster

It took grassroots organizations to organize and provide the assistance that desperate citizens need in desperate times

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This was proven false years ago.

You are fake news.

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They absolutely shot at everything flying, floating or fricking doing whatever in NOLA the day after Katrina hit.

I dunno. The “landmass” affected by Katrina didn’t get much attention. We know the story.