We’ve all seen on the news what Katrina did to New Orleans. I didn’t follow it too in depth but I did read the occasional news feed on CNN and saw some of the footage shown on the news. I knew it was major but school had just started and was already knee deep in studying. When I first saw that HBO was showing a documentary about the events of Katrina I became interested. I wanted to know more about what happened down there without all of the political editing that frequents the new industry. After I found out that Spike Lee had directed it there was no chance I was going to miss it.
When the Levees Broke was quite a long documentary, definitely not something that can be watched in one sitting. It runs about four hours with some parts dragging a bit making it seem longer. With my busy schedule it took me four sittings to get through it. It was a little propaganda’ish but nothing over the top as a Michael Moore piece would be.
I read and heard how FEMA didn’t respond etc. blah blah blah, but to see it first hand was quite compelling. I couldn’t believe how poorly they responded to the situation. I don’t know if they underestimated the need of the people or what not but their response was abysmal. I can’t believe that our country responded that haphazardly to something as catastrophic as the levees breaking.
How could they have been so stupid to not understand what would happen if the levees were breached, anywhere down there? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what would happen to an area that is 6ft below sea level if their only line of defense was breached. Its scary to think it took them 40 years to build the levees, which were still not completed at the time, but now are claiming they are completely ready to fend off a massive storm. Bullshit to that.
I hope that people aren’t stupid enough to believe that. The government already has come out and said the design of the levees designs were a failure and it was the act of man, not god, that cause them to fail. Now are those people to believe they would be safe if they went back? Are they to believe that 1 years worth of repairs completely corrected the problem that 40 years obviously couldn’t? I know I sure as hell wouldn’t.
To think a country as small as the Netherlands put more effort into protecting their country than we did is frightening. I wonder what else is being half-assed in this country that will cause a catastrophic event like the levees breaking. Lets hope we never find out.
I would highly recommend seeing it. It captures the spirit of the New Orleans people. They braved the largest natural disaster this country has seen and they refuse to let that, and our government’s poor response, break their spirits. HBO will be showing it through out the month and I’m sure it will be on HBO On Demand soon, if not already.
We spent 11 weeks down there after Katrina. We got down there the Tuesday after the storm. Pretty bad. Ultimately it was a lack of communication combined with a lack of belief that caused the most damage. The supplies were available, they just were not deployed in a prompt and expedient time frame until the military got involved and established command and control as well as accurate assesments.
The Feds had a huge response. Coast Guard Station New Orleans was flying rescue missions as soon as the storm passed. At one time 70 helicopters were operating over New Orleans. All heavy lifters pulling people out.
The lessons learned from this event were huge and unfortunately expensive in terms of lives and financial costs.
I think everyone understood what happened but many lived in denial that it ever would happen. Hurricanes had a history of missing the city and the ones that did hit nearby didn’t cause a lot of damage. I don’t think the residents or the government will ever react the same way to Hurricane warnings.
I’ll have to check out the documentary for sure. I’ll be interested to learn if there was any finger pointing towards the state government. As a long time resident of Louisiana I can say that most of us have known that a disaster such as this has been looming for years. Unfortunately, our local government has a tendency to overlook pressing matters while greasing each other’s palms.
There’s also quite a bit of programs airing on Katrina given it’s the 1 year mark, and I suggest you check them out if you can. Things are still ass backwards there and people are still not getting help 1 year after the storm hit.
[quote]bgl500 wrote:
I’ll have to check out the documentary for sure. I’ll be interested to learn if there was any finger pointing towards the state government. As a long time resident of Louisiana I can say that most of us have known that a disaster such as this has been looming for years. Unfortunately, our local government has a tendency to overlook pressing matters while greasing each other’s palms.[/quote]
The levees were the Federal Goverments responsibility. Not the local city’s.
What more could Nagin do? Use S.W.A.T to zerg rush the projects to evacuate everyone?
[quote]TurboSSR wrote:
bgl500 wrote:
I’ll have to check out the documentary for sure. I’ll be interested to learn if there was any finger pointing towards the state government. As a long time resident of Louisiana I can say that most of us have known that a disaster such as this has been looming for years. Unfortunately, our local government has a tendency to overlook pressing matters while greasing each other’s palms.
The levees were the Federal Goverments responsibility. Not the local city’s.
What more could Nagin do? Use S.W.A.T to zerg rush the projects to evacuate everyone?
[/quote]
For decades Louisiana has known that the levees were not designed to withstand greater than a Category 3 hurricane. For decades this state has feared what a large scale hurricane might do if it struck New Orleans directly. It is no secret around here that many long-time residents of New Orleans kepts axes in their attics.
It was Louisiana’s responsibility to push initiative to upgrade the levees long before this storm struck. I’m not pointing a finger directly at Mayor Nagin, rather I’m pointing my finger at a history of local politicians whose hedonistic personalities took precedent over what was best for the community.
Please don’t misunderstand me when I say that the federal response after the levees broke was unacceptable. But you cannot blame the federal government for years of neglect on behalf of local politicians who are busy passing money under the table between one another.
In all fairness, you almost need to live here to get a real understanding of how backwards our politics are. There are a lot of things that I love about this state, New Orleans being one of them, but the politics are dismal.
[quote]TurboSSR wrote:
The levees were the Federal Goverments responsibility. Not the local city’s.
What more could Nagin do? Use S.W.A.T to zerg rush the projects to evacuate everyone?
[/quote]
He could have used all the school buses that were left in the bus yard to flood.
It’s funny how a hurricane requires a year of tit-sucking care, but entire towns can be blown way by a tornado, and FEMA comes and goes without issuing a single credit card.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
TurboSSR wrote:
The levees were the Federal Goverments responsibility. Not the local city’s.
What more could Nagin do? Use S.W.A.T to zerg rush the projects to evacuate everyone?
He could have used all the school buses that were left in the bus yard to flood.
It’s funny how a hurricane requires a year of tit-sucking care, but entire towns can be blown way by a tornado, and FEMA comes and goes without issuing a single credit card.
[/quote]
Interesting story about the buses. They got taken out by the flood almost immediately. None of the utility company vehicles did however. The phone and electric and cable company vehicles were all fine.
The utilities move their vehciles to high ground prior to a storm and man them with employees. They are all unionized and this is written into their agreement. The bus company had no agreement to do this and the employees were not sent “out of town” for that reason. I don’t know how accurate that reasoning is but I remember hearing that explanation given at a press conference regarding the buses.