This just TICKS ME OFF!
Everybody knew that if New Orleans took a direct hit from a major hurricane, there was enormous risk to the levees – and thus the city.
So who’s everybody?
The people in New Orleans knew. In the back of everyone’s mind was always that little niggling voice. Time, and many “near-misses” allowed for jokes and complacency, hurricane parties and a totally false sense of security. But those that coulda got out, shoulda.
But by everybody, I mean EVERYBODY KNEW!
In 2004, Homeland Security and the federal Emergency Management Agency ran an exercise called “Hurricane Pam” that provided a dire prediction about a Category 3 hurricane hitting New Orleans. It found, among other things, that flood waters would surge over levees, creating “a catastrophic mass casualty/mass evacuation
They KNEW the citizens in New Orleans were sitting ducks.
How can government at ANY level have watched storm after storm come in – year after year – and just hoped for a miss? What did those conversations look like, I wonder?
“Gosh, here comes another major storm into the Gulf. Sure hope it doesn’t hit New Orleans.”
“Yup, that’d be really bad, hunh, cuz those levees won’t hold, and we won’t be able to get people outta there.”
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said he was not familiar with the documents but that the levees situation was one likely reason the government urged an evacuation of New Orleans before the storm hit.
“I think Katrina’s gonna kick ’em right in the teeth down there this time. Darn. Tomorrow’s lookin’ bad for New Orleans.”
“It’s okay. We told ’em this mornin’. ”
Too late now. Shoulda. Coulda.