On September 1, Rachel Maddow did an extensive interview with the first Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge. The total interview was 31 minutes long and discussed Mr. Ridge’s newly published book, The Test of Our Times.

The second segment of the interview focused on the Department of Homeland Security and how much blame it took over the Hurricane Katrina disaster response in New Orleans. It’s an excellent, frank discussion. Here is the 6 minute segment:

Where did so much go so wrong? Mr. Ridge says failure of government at all levels: local, state, and federal. I have to agree, except for one point. When the disaster area was declared before Katrina hit, the Stafford Act went into effect (and was retroactive 24 hours), and the feds were in charge of everything, including evacuations and taking care of those stranded. All levels of government failed, but the federal government was responsible for it.

Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico headed our way the entire week before it hit, and Louisiana government was mostly ignoring it. Then all of a sudden on the night of August 27, 2005 Governor Blanco ordered an emergency evacuation of New Orleans, and much of the central Gulf coast was also evacuated. Katrina made landfall in the early morning of August 29, 2005. That was about a 36 hour window, not nearly enough time. Evacuations should have been ordered and handled at least by Thursday, August 26.

Even though a catastrophic hurricane simulation (Hurricane Pam) had been done prior to Katrina, effective plans to handle such a situation better were not learned or were not made into concrete procedures to follow when such a disaster happened. There was such a long list of things that went wrong that I hope we are still going over it and making better plans with better procedures for the future.

Baton Rouge is recovering from Hurricane Gustav faster, and there was less suffering in the direct aftermath of the storm because of many lessons learned from Katrina by Governor Bobby Jindal. One of Governor Jindal’s first tasks in office was to study the failed Katrina response and coordinate state and local agencies to work in full cooperation with each other and with FEMA to respond to a major hurricane or other natural disaster.

We found that the people in charge of the local response need to be persons from state and local government. FEMA is a support agency, not the leader. The state and local government officials must lead all response efforts and bring in federal help as needed. Ike’s response was poor in Texas because the state and local governments didn’t take the reigns to lead.

There is still a lot to do after Gustav, a year later, as is evidenced by the large number of blue roofs that are still everywhere. But far fewer people were homeless, only a few people were killed, and ice, food and supplies were distributed extremely effectively after the storm until most grocery stores were open again, about 10 days after the storm.

In Baton Rouge, we also didn’t have to deal with storm surge, though we were hammered with wind and rain. Southern Parishes that suffered storm surge are taking much longer to recover completely. Initial response was faster, however. Their water, sewer and electrical systems were restored far faster than New Orleans, even though their systems are much farther apart and with fewer centralized stations that could bring a lot of people back online quickly.

The emergency food stamp program was a major problem after Gustav, but improvements are being made with it as well. Now you can pre-register for benefits when hurricane season begins so obtaining benefits will be faster and less complicated for those who will qualify in the event of a storm. The emergency program is for those who don’t normally qualify for food stamps but will need them if their income is interrupted or they lose a lot of food due to power outages.

The discussion on what went wrong after Katrina will continue for a very long time, and will be a big history lesson after our lifetime. It needs to continue with the people who can effect the changes that will save lives and reduce or eliminate suffering, especially in New Orleans. New Orleans is an unusual city because it is below sea level and water that goes into it must be pumped out. Levees hold back the water as well. When any of those systems fail, New Orleans suffers a catastrophe of Biblical proportions.

Mr. Ridge’s proposal of regional centers for FEMA is a good one that could coordinate with state and local governments far more effectively than at present. Even though lessons were and are being learned after Katrina, when will everyone in the country be prepared for emergencies that effect large populations? Snow storms in winter are serious as well, and our infrastructure is failing in such a way that many people go without power for weeks. On top of natural disasters are the looming threats of large terrorist attacks.

Is the biggest lesson of Katrina that our country’s infrastructure has been neglected far too long in all areas? Is the way our government is organized and how it communicates with its sovereign states a major roadblock to mitigating disasters? Are there really ways to keep a society together and organized in the face of a horrific disruption of normal life? If there are, what are they and how do we make sure everyone is properly informed and prepared? I think all were significant contributors to the disastrous aftermath of Katrina.

Technorati Tags: department of homeland security, FEMA, incompetent response, Katrina lessons, Rachel Maddow, The Test of Our Times, Tom Ridge

Four years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Gulf coast. By the end of the first week after the storm, at least a couple of thousand people lost their lives, 1400 in Louisiana alone.

I thought these anniversaries would get easier, but overall, they haven’t. I used to be depressed, but now I’m depressed, anxious and angry. Gustav last September seems to have added some PTSD to my mental health fight. I’m angry that the end of every summer brings anxiety now on top of a bought of depression.

Emotionally, my life is changed forever. Nature is a far greater force than man can control in any significant way, besides cause its long-term demise very slowly. We experienced first hand what it really means to be insignificant, to be like an ant a man randomly steps on. In the face of such a huge, powerful storm, we were all ants and our civilization nothing more than an ant hill, easily wiped out without a lot of effort. Like surviving ants, we continue to rebuild our ant hills. But in the big picture, we’re still ants, powerless to the whims of nature.

Financially, I’m still not back to where I was before the storm. However, this year should be the turning point. I closed the business I had then and have gone through bankruptcy because of it. After the tutoring business I worked for since 2006 closed this past June 1, I have a lucrative tutoring business of my own that will provide well for my son and myself once it has a few months to grow, and I have a little bit of income from some internet websites. I can build on that as well, but very slowly. Online income is a very long-term goal I have to passively supplement my earnings and retirement for the rest of my life. With most of the debts wiped out, I can get on with things, pay off the debts I couldn’t bankrupt (taxes, co-signed student loans), and rebuild my savings. My financial life has been in shambles since Katrina and it’s taken 4 years to begin to gain some real ground again. The financial situation and lack of health insurance haven’t helped my mental health either.

I’m angry that there was so much corruption in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita and so much money that could have done some real good was stolen. I’m angry that the Bush administration hired out the demolition and reconstruction of New Orleans to government contractors who did not come here to hire local workers and rebuild the city in ways that reflected its past. A big part of the healing process is being able to clean up your own land and rebuild your own homes and city. That was largely taken from many of us, and I still have the nagging feeling of work unfinished and rebuilding incomplete. So much has been rebuilt, but so much remains to be rebuilt. At least we have the reigns locally now.

I’m angry that the New Orleans public school system was scrapped and replaced by privatized charter schools. I don’t know if they are better. But why couldn’t that money have gone into fixing the public schools? New Orleans only has a handful of public schools left. I care because I graduated from a New Orleans public high school, went to college and graduated with a B.S. degree as well. So did a lot of my friends. How can it be right that a major U.S. city doesn’t have a public school system ready to serve its residents? Public schools have problems everywhere. We need to fix the problems and not contract out government’s responsibilities. The charter school owners could shut down and leave if they choose to. Where would that leave New Orleans’ kids?

Contractors and the whole Bush administration’s disaster capitalism complex didn’t and doesn’t work long-term. The contractors aren’t locally invested in the community. Their families and lives aren’t anchored here. Their hearts do not long for this to be their home. Ours do.

I’m really angry that in the 21st century, the American government could fail so miserably to help its own citizens; save their lives, evacuate them efficiently, and bring them home quickly to rebuild. Who is in charge has become clearly important when it comes to good policies and excellent implementation of those policies. The Bush administration failed at policy, personnel choices and policy implementation. A lot has been learned, but the expense was extreme and unacceptably high.

One lesson is their is a clear racial divide between African Americans and whites about why things went so wrong. Many whites chalk it up to extremely poor management and idiots in charge. African Americans agree with that, but also believe had New Orleans’ refugees been non-black, a lot would have been done a lot faster to save lives and evacuate the city before the storm. Living down here, I agree with the African Americans. Had New Orleans not been so heavily populated with African Americans, especially those in extreme poverty, a lot more things would have gone right. And where is all that work on ending poverty President Bush promised? They were just more empty words out of a government who couldn’t care less.

Some people in the right wing-nut media have the gall to go on TV and radio and say the purge (deaths) and diaspora of very poor African Americans from New Orleans was a blessing. And they claim to be Christians. Where is their pro-life stance when it comes to poverty and non-whites? They are hypocrites and they are only pro-life when they can push totalitarian control over populations not as powerful as they are. Non-white lives are clearly not as valuable to them as white lives. Disgusting.

I would love to be in charge at the Pearly Gates of Heaven when these folks make their appearances to be allowed in. I’d send most back to Earth to be reincarnated as snakes. The truly evil and hypocritical can have their places in Hell with no chance of redemption. I’m in no way perfect and I have sinned in my life. The difference is I don’t claim to be any better than anyone else, or claim my moral standing is superior in any way to anyone else. I also don’t claim my race to be superior to any other. I’m white, but I’m often ashamed to be white because of all the hate other whites spew against so many non-whites and non-Christians. WTF do they think they are?

The saddest lesson is most of the extremely disastrous outcomes could have been avoided or significantly reduced if the wetlands had been restored and maintained over the past 50 years instead of allowing them to erode and subside further. Wetland buffer zones and barrier islands are the only way to prevent cataclysmic hurricane damage. Adequate natural barrier islands and wetlands make the other protection measures work as designed. The New Orleans flood protection system worked well when there were several hundred more square miles of wetlands and a significant number of barrier islands that are now all gone. There aren’t clear answers to exactly what needs to be done to rapidly rebuild those natural barriers or how much has been done in the past 4 years. Getting to the details on these issues is my next research project for this blog.

Katrina was a 400 year storm. In the past 50 years we have had six 100 year plus storms, so I think the term needs to be redefined: Betsy (1965), Camille (1969), Andrew (1992), Katrina (2005), Rita (2005), and Gustav (2008). Other areas of the Gulf Coast and U.S. southern Atlantic Coast have also been hit with really bad storms. The ones I listed hit Baton Rouge, LA.

The ultimate question is what will it take to put my life back together completely. For me, it’s the ability to provide well for my family; take care of my house and other physical property; and do a far better job of protecting our lives and property from such disasters in the future. I’d also like my depression to be milder and less frequent, and to even go away completely. I don’t know that that will happen since I’ve suffered depression all my life, but I know it can get better than where I am now. Affordable health insurance and real coverage would help a lot. Sometimes I get worse because I can’t afford all the medication I’m supposed to be taking. I stretch it out, and that causes a downhill slide that takes a few weeks to come back out of when I have all the medication I’m supposed to take and take it every day as prescribed.

Were you hit by Katrina or Rita? Have you survived another major hurricane? Tell us which storm and how you’re doing today. What needs to improve to make your life more whole again?

Technorati Tags: 4th anniversary, another katrina anniversary, Hurricane Katrina Pictures

Update 6/11/09: I’m sorry this film is no longer available. As soon as I can find it I will repost it here.

Filmmaker Matt Faust of Louisiana State University looks at Louisiana Post-Katrina:

For someone who lives in South Louisiana, “Home” is haunting. We have not recovered sufficiently from the devastation of Katrina, physically or emotionally.

I am extremely happy that this film was made, that it is part of the Tribeca Film Festival, and it won in the short film documentary category. One of the jurors for this category was Rachel Maddow of MSNBC. I am grateful that she cares enough to keep talking about Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, and the Gulf Coast. She seems to be the only mainstream TV pundit to keep the story alive outside our area. Thank you, Rachel, for keeping us and our plight in the prime time news.

The feelings I am experiencing seeing the film are “sad” and “surreal” Being reminded of how devastating Katrina was and how much it still affects so many people here in 2009 still brings on the feeling that somehow this is a nightmare, and some morning we will awaken from it. But I know it’s real. It’s not a nightmare. I haven’t figured out why I continue to feel this way even though I have seen, touched and smelled the devastation first-hand, not once, but repeatedly, as I helped my mom get ready to move away from New Orleans after the storm. I will never forget the smell…

I am also extremely angry that one of our senators, David Vitter, is blocking the confirmation of the new head of FEMA under the Obama Administration, and hurricane season is only 21 days from now. WTF is Vitter thinking???

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Katrina Pictures, Hurricane Katrina recovery, Louisiana Post-Katrina, Matt Faust, Tribeca Film Festival Short Film: Home