I remember it well, I got sent to Houston to help my agency process people, the lines just never ended.


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New Orleans is just now, IMHO, getting back to “normal” (normal by New Orleans standards, of course).

I remember it well. I was sent down as part of a BellSouth crew. I spent almost 6 weeks up and down the coast from Gulfport to Biloxi to Hattiesburg and dozens of little towns in between. It was a sobering experience seeing nothing but slabs and foundations as far down the highway as you could see where beautiful old homes had once sat in Biloxi, an entire barge lifted and deposited on the opposite side of 90, blocks and blocks of detritus deposited in trees, buildings blown out and blown apart like a bomb had gone off. Some of those Mississippi towns got slammed hard. Crazy...

(08-29-2018 07:38 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  I remember it well. I was sent down as part of a BellSouth crew. I spent almost 6 weeks up and down the coast from Gulfport to Biloxi to Hattiesburg and dozens of little towns in between. It was a sobering experience seeing nothing but slabs and foundations as far down the highway as you could see where beautiful old homes had once sat in Biloxi, an entire barge lifted and deposited on the opposite side of 90, blocks and blocks of detritus deposited in trees, buildings blown out and blown apart like a bomb had gone off. Some of those Mississippi towns got slammed hard. Crazy...

Let me take the opportunity to thank you and all of the other people that came down here to help return us to a sense of normalcy. I only got to personally thank one electrical crew in my area, but the sight of telephone and electricals working in your neighborhood after something like this does wonders for the people living there. Having electricity and the ability to call friends and family after nearly a month of being cut off sure lifted my spirits and others were without service for much longer. Thanks again.

I'm glad Nawlins is getting back on its feet. I just wish the political back and forth between Dem Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Dem New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and GWB never happened.

Got a place in Ft. Walton Beach and while we were relieved our place was spared, we were horrified and deeply saddened for those less fortunate in the impact zone. Just a tragedy.
Such a weird, troubled and conflicted feeling watching a storm like that come in, hoping and praying it goes elsewhere yet knowing it's going to devastate lives.

Many came as refugees to El Paso and some stayed, I just wonder how many.

(08-30-2018 01:26 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  I'm glad Nawlins is getting back on its feet. I just wish the political back and forth between Dem Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Dem New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and GWB never happened.

GWB should have federalized the national guard and used it to get everyone out of town ahead of time. "Shelter in place," might have been the dumbest idea in the history of earth.

(08-30-2018 07:39 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 01:26 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  I'm glad Nawlins is getting back on its feet. I just wish the political back and forth between Dem Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Dem New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and GWB never happened.

GWB should have federalized the national guard and used it to get everyone out of town ahead of time. "Shelter in place," might have been the dumbest idea in the history of earth.

Mayor Nagin was a total idiot, screws things up royally, then tries to blame Bush.


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(08-30-2018 10:01 PM)Jjoey52 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 07:39 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 01:26 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  I'm glad Nawlins is getting back on its feet. I just wish the political back and forth between Dem Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Dem New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and GWB never happened.

GWB should have federalized the national guard and used it to get everyone out of town ahead of time. "Shelter in place," might have been the dumbest idea in the history of earth.

Mayor Nagin was a total idiot, screws things up royally, then tries to blame Bush.
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I think Blanco screwed things up more than Nagin, based upon comments of some New Orleans friends, but neither performed admirably or even capably.

(08-30-2018 10:50 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 10:01 PM)Jjoey52 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 07:39 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 01:26 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  I'm glad Nawlins is getting back on its feet. I just wish the political back and forth between Dem Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Dem New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and GWB never happened.

GWB should have federalized the national guard and used it to get everyone out of town ahead of time. "Shelter in place," might have been the dumbest idea in the history of earth.

Mayor Nagin was a total idiot, screws things up royally, then tries to blame Bush.
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I think Blanco screwed things up more than Nagin, based upon comments of some New Orleans friends, but neither performed admirably or even capably.

Nobody did, really. Not even GWB, and I liked the guy a hell of a lot during his presidency. (Well, most of his presidency, anyway.)

(08-30-2018 11:55 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 10:50 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 10:01 PM)Jjoey52 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 07:39 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 01:26 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  I'm glad Nawlins is getting back on its feet. I just wish the political back and forth between Dem Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Dem New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, and GWB never happened.

GWB should have federalized the national guard and used it to get everyone out of town ahead of time. "Shelter in place," might have been the dumbest idea in the history of earth.

Mayor Nagin was a total idiot, screws things up royally, then tries to blame Bush.
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I think Blanco screwed things up more than Nagin, based upon comments of some New Orleans friends, but neither performed admirably or even capably.

Nobody did, really. Not even GWB, and I liked the guy a hell of a lot during his presidency. (Well, most of his presidency, anyway.)

I thought all the criticism of GWB on this was way over the top and out of line. I'm not sure what he was really supposed to do except maybe handle the optics better. I suppose he could have stopped and actually visited instead of the flyover. But 1) you can probably get a clearer picture from a flyover than on the ground, and 2) if I'm on-scene commander at a scene like that, the absolute last thing I want is for POTUS to show up and get in the way, and we've got to stop what we are doing to give him a dog and pony show. Bush could have said, "Blanco is screwing this up," and taken the national guard away from her and tried to take over and fix her screw ups. But a) it would have been awfully late in the game before things were screwed up enough for that determination to be made, so no assurances it could or would have worked, b) given all the flak over the federales violating constitutional rights with the patRIOT act, there almost certainly been great yelling and screaming about seizure of power, and c) when federalized, posse comitatus denies the guard some powers that would likely have been needed to respond properly.

Same for the criticism of FEMA. FEMA is not a response agency. They have no people or other assets with which to respond. They are a management agency. The states and local governments respond, they send the bills to FEMA, and FEMA reimburses them. FEMA is far more concerned about, "Do you have the right accounting codes?" than actual response. Same for the criticism over Puerto Rico. I think there's some expectation that we have this thing called FEMA, it's supposed to show up immediately and solve all the problems magically. That's not how it's set up, and that's not how FEMA works. If the states and locals do a good job, FEMA may be late paying some bills; but if the states and locals screw it up, there's really not much FEMA can do to save it.

I think we probably do need an agency to handle emergency response. My candidate would be to make it the primary mission of the national guard, and have federal support go to equipment and training to do that job. They already have people, on standby so they don't cost an arm and a leg, and they already do some training in that area as a collateral mission. But until we make such a move, we will have more Katrinas and Puerto Ricos whenever states and locals aren't prepared and screw it up.

(08-31-2018 06:20 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 11:55 PM)GeminiCoog Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 10:50 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 10:01 PM)Jjoey52 Wrote:  

(08-30-2018 07:39 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  GWB should have federalized the national guard and used it to get everyone out of town ahead of time. "Shelter in place," might have been the dumbest idea in the history of earth.

Mayor Nagin was a total idiot, screws things up royally, then tries to blame Bush.
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I think Blanco screwed things up more than Nagin, based upon comments of some New Orleans friends, but neither performed admirably or even capably.

Nobody did, really. Not even GWB, and I liked the guy a hell of a lot during his presidency. (Well, most of his presidency, anyway.)

I thought all the criticism of GWB on this was way over the top and out of line. I'm not sure what he was really supposed to do except maybe handle the optics better. I suppose he could have stopped and actually visited instead of the flyover. But 1) you can probably get a clearer picture from a flyover than on the ground, and 2) if I'm on-scene commander at a scene like that, the absolute last thing I want is for POTUS to show up and get in the way, and we've got to stop what we are doing to give him a dog and pony show. Bush could have said, "Blanco is screwing this up," and taken the national guard away from her and tried to take over and fix her screw ups. But a) it would have been awfully late in the game before things were screwed up enough for that determination to be made, so no assurances it could or would have worked, b) given all the flak over the federales violating constitutional rights with the patRIOT act, there almost certainly been great yelling and screaming about seizure of power, and c) when federalized, posse comitatus denies the guard some powers that would likely have been needed to respond properly.

Same for the criticism of FEMA. FEMA is not a response agency. They have no people or other assets with which to respond. They are a management agency. The states and local governments respond, they send the bills to FEMA, and FEMA reimburses them. FEMA is far more concerned about, "Do you have the right accounting codes?" than actual response. Same for the criticism over Puerto Rico. I think there's some expectation that we have this thing called FEMA, it's supposed to show up immediately and solve all the problems magically. That's not how it's set up, and that's not how FEMA works. If the states and locals do a good job, FEMA may be late paying some bills; but if the states and locals screw it up, there's really not much FEMA can do to save it.

I think we probably do need an agency to handle emergency response. My candidate would be to make it the primary mission of the national guard, and have federal support go to equipment and training to do that job. They already have people, on standby so they don't cost an arm and a leg, and they already do some training in that area as a collateral mission. But until we make such a move, we will have more Katrinas and Puerto Ricos whenever states and locals aren't prepared and screw it up.

Agreed. Too bad it probably won't happen. It makes too much sense.

(08-30-2018 12:06 AM)Zombiewoof Wrote:  

(08-29-2018 07:38 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  I remember it well. I was sent down as part of a BellSouth crew. I spent almost 6 weeks up and down the coast from Gulfport to Biloxi to Hattiesburg and dozens of little towns in between. It was a sobering experience seeing nothing but slabs and foundations as far down the highway as you could see where beautiful old homes had once sat in Biloxi, an entire barge lifted and deposited on the opposite side of 90, blocks and blocks of detritus deposited in trees, buildings blown out and blown apart like a bomb had gone off. Some of those Mississippi towns got slammed hard. Crazy...

Let me take the opportunity to thank you and all of the other people that came down here to help return us to a sense of normalcy. I only got to personally thank one electrical crew in my area, but the sight of telephone and electricals working in your neighborhood after something like this does wonders for the people living there. Having electricity and the ability to call friends and family after nearly a month of being cut off sure lifted my spirits and others were without service for much longer. Thanks again.

well thank YOU!

Three weeks of no electricity. Spending countless hours waiting to get gas, ice, or clearing trees out of roads. Hauling generators between houses. Working on generators. When the church nearby got power days before us, taking a spit bath in the men's bathroom, and sleeping on the floor of the fellowship hall.

When power was restored at the house taking a shower felt like a million bucks.

it makes sense that this thread isn't about the effective firing of bob huggins. i think we got the news when we were in the parking lot of zion canyon or offuv some escalante ramble. we bought newspapers in the morning and read about the destruction. i don't even think i was drinking coffee at this point in my life. i was what, twenty three?

to this day it bothers me that people blame george bush for katrina

(08-31-2018 11:57 AM)gdunn Wrote:  Three weeks of no electricity. Spending countless hours waiting to get gas, ice, or clearing trees out of roads. Hauling generators between houses. Working on generators. When the church nearby got power days before us, taking a spit bath in the men's bathroom, and sleeping on the floor of the fellowship hall.

When power was restored at the house taking a shower felt like a million bucks.

hattiesburg?

(08-31-2018 12:14 PM)Lush Wrote:  

(08-31-2018 11:57 AM)gdunn Wrote:  Three weeks of no electricity. Spending countless hours waiting to get gas, ice, or clearing trees out of roads. Hauling generators between houses. Working on generators. When the church nearby got power days before us, taking a spit bath in the men's bathroom, and sleeping on the floor of the fellowship hall.

When power was restored at the house taking a shower felt like a million bucks.

hattiesburg?

I grew up around Bogue Chitto. A small dot on the map between Brookhaven and McComb. An hour south of Jackson and 80 miles west of Hattiesburg. I was still in school. The house I rented there faired better than those around us.

I remember when it happened, I was in bootcamp for the Marines. Our DI's downplayed it, but then the next day, they came out and apologized, saying that they didnt realize how bad it was. Recruits that were from the area were encouraged to call and try and get a hold of their families.