N.O. Evacuates?

[Karried]

With three more Hurricanes approaching the states, it makes me wonder...

How many more times are they going to do this?

Federally funded transportation to federally funded shelters with federally funded food, medical care and supplies ....

What am I missing? Shouldn't they find a better way?

Maybe they should prevent people from building in these flood prone areas.

Are they doing all of this just because the levees still aren't repaired adequately enough to stop the flow of water?

Or is this something that will happen everytime a Hurricane looks like it might hit N.O.?

What about Florida and Mississippi and all the other coastal states and towns.. why aren't they going in to all these towns with busses to evacuate?

And why are we paying for all of this?

I'm trying to be compassionate because I do feel for those displaced, but I'm also trying to figure out if this is a patterned behavior we can expect everytime a hurricane is headed that way?

It's probably not even really an issue because I highly doubt after this 'cry wolf' forced evacuation, that many people will hop on the busses next time.

[FFLady]

And if they do come here, how many more "police" press conference's will we have to sit thru....I mean, on Monday, did I really need to know the Red Cross served an OKC version of Gumbo???? ::sarcasm::

[westsidesooner]

Tropical Storm IKE

Some friends and I discussed this issue last night. One of them had gone out to the Lucent plant yesterday and said how sad it was seeing all those people just wandering around the Reno and Council area.

There will always be hurricanes hitting the gulf coast. And I'm sure several will hit or be near misses in New Orleans in the next couple of decades. Ike will soon be a hurricane and from the latest forcast from the National Hurricane Center it doesn't take much imagination to see it heading into the Gulf of Mexico next week. Maybe towards New Orleans. It doesn't make since to bus people 500 or 700 miles from home every year....or more.

It would be nice if they could have LARGE stadium like disaster shelters built in the gulf states inland enough not to worry about flooding and large enough to shelter thousands. It might seem expensive to build a row of stadiums along the gulf coast, but how much did all those trailers cost? The ones that are rotting away now. Not to mention the stress of those people having to travel so far away. And the danger involoved like the bus disaster fleeing Rita.

I know if something ever happened in central Oklahoma I'd be much happier going to Enid or Tulsa for shelter than Phoenix or St Louis. If Boone Pickens can build a football stadium the Federal Government should be able to as well.

It is a complex problem without a lot of good answers.

[Luke]

How about people just take care of themselves?

[FritterGirl]

How about people just take care of themselves?

It's a lot harder when you are one of the underserved to begin with. I agree people should do everything in their power to take care of themselves, but in some situations, they just don't have the resources to do such. Poverty is a real b!tch.

[Karried]

No, I'm not talking about not helping the truly poverty stricken or those in need.

I'm just wondering if there is another option instead of bussing all these people across the country.

I'm still trying to figure out why they just keep building over and over in the same areas. duh.

At least a tornado is hit and miss, a hurricane is just hit, usually pretty close to the same area a few times a decade at least.

Why not have move them to higher areas or build huge shelters closer to where they live or something other than what they are doing right now, it doesn't seem very cost effective.

[Luke]

It’s not compassionate simply to throw money at a problem, especially when that money is wasted and does not help the very people who need it most. It’s not compassionate for politicians to spend money that doesn’t belong to them. It’s not compassionate to instill false hope that Washington can solve every problem and respond to every emergency. It’s certainly not compassionate to create huge deficits that hurt poor people the most through inflation, as government prints more and more money to pay its bills.

-Ron Paul - Six months after hurricane Katrina

[traxx]

I hear ya, Karried.

I think there are a few things at work here. When Katrina was about to hit, the feds said "hey, I'd evacuate if I were you." And the powers that be as well as the people of N.O. and La. said "We'll be alright. We've been through hurricanes before." Then you see what happened. So now they're being overly cautious.

They thought they were ready and safe but found out they weren't. They thought their levees were built to withstand category 5 hurricane but what hit New Orleans was only category 3. So just things like that.

Plus, much of N.O. was built below sea level. They "claimed" land that was at one time under water in order to build parts of N.O. So N.O. is unique from the rest of the gulf cities and towns.

But I'm like you, after Katrina hit and they said that we were going to rebuild N.O. and I didn't like the idea of using our federal money to rebuild a city that would be right back in the same boat the next time a significant hurricane hit. You're just throwing good money after bad. There are better places and better ways to spend our money. If N.O. were above sea level, I'd probably feel differently. But it's not.

[Luke]

The corps of engineers are rebuilding the levees which by their own admission will not be able to withstand a cat 4 or 5 even after completion.

Billions and billions of federal dollars down the drain.

[venture]

It keeps being mentioned...but we don't do it. Holland has things like this under control. If you keep the surge out, it will be easier to pump out the water falling from the sky - thus keeping NOLA safer.

Modern Holland

[ddavidson8]

I love Oklahoma City and I hate to see what would happen if there was a repeat of the Katrina evacuees that came to Houston. Houston's crimerate has sky-rocketed and the murder rate has doubled. This go round the Houston mayor quietly said thanks but no thanks to housing the refugees.

[dismayed]

You know, sometimes I just don't understand us. We won't spend a billion or two on a heavy-duty levee around New Orleans, but we don't mind forking over $80 billion to rebuild the entire city.

The Netherlands has solved their flooding problems. They have a series of dams and levees that ring the country. If water makes it over the first one there's a second, and a third, and so on. I just can't understand why we don't think more long-term and build something like this.

Edit:

I just saw your post venture. I totally agree.

[dalelakin]

Why doesn't the state of Louisana or the people that decide they have to live there build the Netherlands type of dikes and levees? Why is it up to the rest of the country when a select few choose to live there?

[dismayed]

It honestly should be up to Louisiana, but there is a federal case to be made. The vast majority of the Gulf's oil refineries set off the LA coast.

[dalelakin]

Oil companies can't afford it with the slim margins they are running. I mean one wouldn't expect them to protect their interests or anything eh?

All sarcasm aside I thought of that exact rebuttal once I posted and yes I can agree from that stance. However doesn't make the pill any less bitter to swallow all things considered.

[metro]

I thing the big thing here is the below sea level part. Is Holland below sea level?

[dismayed]

Almost a third of The Netherlands is below sea level. Whenever they need more land they literally just grab more of the sea, drain it, and expand the country. It's really pretty fascinating.

They spend about $1.5 Billion dollars a year on their system, it is rated to withstand at least a Katrina-type hurricane.

The Dutch actually sent several of their engineers to LA after Katrina. The problem is that from the Dutch viewpoint, it is silly to try to do a cost/benefit analysis on the levees when the consequence of not having them up is the death of thousands of people... from their viewpoint you just have to do it. Unfortunately we just don't think like that. Maybe that'll eventually change though. Hope so.

[traxx]

Or maybe we could just let nature have it back and build somewhere else.

[Midtowner]

Almost a third of The Netherlands is below sea level. Whenever they need more land they literally just grab more of the sea, drain it, and expand the country. It's really pretty fascinating.

They spend about $1.5 Billion dollars a year on their system, it is rated to withstand at least a Katrina-type hurricane.

The Dutch actually sent several of their engineers to LA after Katrina. The problem is that from the Dutch viewpoint, it is silly to try to do a cost/benefit analysis on the levees when the consequence of not having them up is the death of thousands of people... from their viewpoint you just have to do it. Unfortunately we just don't think like that. Maybe that'll eventually change though. Hope so.

From my viewpoint, it's silly to put thousands of people below sea level when it would cost billions less to not put thousands of people below sea level.

[kevinpate]

yeah, all we need to do is spend a single billion on high rises in our neighborhoods and move folks in, saving all those other billions for ... [insert a few fav ideas here]

[dismayed]

From my viewpoint, it's silly to put thousands of people below sea level when it would cost billions less to not put thousands of people below sea level.

I have gone back and forth on this. Initially that was exactly my point of view as well. However, someone pointed out to me the huge amount of oil that goes through New Orleans and I got to looking into it... Turns out New Orleans is one of the busiest ports on the planet, and most of that business has to do with all the oil platforms setting off the coast of Louisiana. At least for the moment I'm thinking the area has to be rebuilt to support the infrastructure needed to support that port.

[Toadrax]

6 days exactly until IKE is in the NOLA area.

[Luke]

6 days exactly until IKE is in the NOLA area.

I know. Crazy.

[ddavidson8]

Did anyone see the number of arrests made during the refugees recent visit? Granted they were mostly arrested on outstanding warrents, but I thought the ratio was a bit startling.

[ssandedoc]

You think outstanding warrants were bad, the walmart near the refugee center reported their highest one day shopping lifting rate ever. I know this because I volunteered at the center.