Posted: 9/2/2008 7:29:25 AM EDT
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Living out here in the desert southwest, I honestly didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the whole hurricane thing until Katrina. And that was because it was such a media circus. Those gulf coast states and cities have been there a long time. Is it common, every year, to have massive evacuations, FEMA activations, etc. ? I just assumed that Katrina was a very severe storm, much worse than normal. A rare event. How did these cities endure hurricanes prior to last year ? Are we going to foot the bill to evacuate these cities, and rebuild these cities every year ? Is this media coverage and the whole hoopla surrounding these recent hurricanes just backlash from the critisism showered on Bush after Katrina ? |
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The severe damage tends to be quite local. It's very easy for one spot on the coast to go decades/centuries without a damaging hit. A city that gets slammed hard can have visible damage for decades, NOLA apparently still has damage from Betsy in the '60s. NOLA is a special case as well, as being below sea level makes them SOL. Gustav missed NOLA by a significant margin, BUT the water was still very close to overtopping the main levies. In our area, Nor'easters do more damage than hurricanes, but they are not as sexy, and don't get the same play. Bottom line: It's called hurricane season for a reason... |
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To answer parts of your question (from a Floridian and former FEMA epmployee's point of view), each county has an EOC which is activated when a hurricane is projected to hit. There are different levels of activation and evacuation. FEMA just recently (after Katrina) started putting the FEMA Agency Representatives (FAR) in EOCs just prior to the storm hitting an area. The FAR's job is to report directly to headquarters what is going on on the ground. This happens with every storm now. As for who foots the bill, the local government initially foots the bill. If the area is declared a disaster area by FEMA, the local government is then eligible for reimbursement of certain things including overtime for employees and other public assistance (PA) items. Evacuees can be eligible to receive reimbursements for evacuation expenses, within reason, but this only happens if an area is declared for Individual Assistance (IA). |
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New Orleans is unique in that it is below sea level. The only reason that it exists is because of the levee's. Hurricanes knock down trees, and these destroy houses and power lines. Flooding is where most deaths occur and because N.O. is below sea level, it is particularly vulnerable. The evacuee's that had to be carried out in buses are pretty much welfare cases and can't/won't do anything for themselves. In the past individual hurricanes would come in and kill thousands on the coast, mostly because of storm surge. Leaving N.O. was the safe/best bet thing to do. P.S. With 50% of the U.S. population living within 50 miles of the coast, hurricane watching is very important. |
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Not normally. I grew up in south Florida and was there through my share of hurricanes including Andrew. Most times it's wind and rain with minor damage and some flooding. Notice how they always show trailer parks in the devastation? It's to generate an emotional response to the devastation. Every network is showing it because it is sensational journalism. If you live there, it is (or should be) considered par for the course. I lived in Oklahoma for a while. I didn't expect hurricanes anymore, but I did tornadoes and hail. Guess what? Tornadoes and hail. No, I don't feel that the cities should be rebuilt over and over but yes we will all be footing the bill. NO is under sea level. Shoot, even Florida is a sand bar on top and that was bad enough. If someone wants to live below sea level they should probably grow some gills, have a plan to get out of town on their own dime (responsibility for their own choices), or just roll the dice and take what comes. One bad storm, sure. Two, maybe. A third? Time to break out the glass bottom boats and start a tourism industry. |
The whole midwest doesn't flood... only the flood plains. The people who live on flood plains are stupid. |
If you play it safe, you use up a lot of good land that is expected to flood every 100, 500 or 1000 years. |
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Florida in particular is 95% transplants. Nearly everyone south of Orlando is either Latino or from up north and retired. In the old days, there were more, quote "local" un-quote, people who were more independent and less likely to file a claim, evacuate, or run scared at every hint of a storm. Also every inch of waterfront property is now built to the hilt and over populated. They will build on sand bars, finger islands, and every inch of beachfront property they can steal. Pre-Hurricane panic has become big, big business, since Katrina. It has opened the doors for more and more useless pork fat programs. All be it, a few are good, but most is just big gov. exploiting the panic and fear from Katrina. It will get worse. In the old days, before the digital media onslaught, you had a few days warning of an impending storm. The storm came, you listened to the radio, you survived on your survival stash, you helped your neighbor clean up, and that was that. Today the natives hunker down and fix what they can themselves and do fine. The transplants panic and clog up the roads, rape the grocery store shelves, blog about gov. conspiracies and drive Insurance companies out of business with frivelous claims to fix their private beach sand which eroded away. Liberals have demanded that someone save them and their pool toys from blowing away. It's the responsibility of the gubment to hold their hand before during and after the storm. It wasn't always this way. Florida native since 1965. Rant off |