Today is September 2, 2005. Hurricane Katrina struck on Monday, August 29, 2005. I have read and watched news reports from the comfort of my home and firehouse only to become increasingly incensed by the lack of response by the great FEMA giant.
Immediate response was made by the California teams for swiftwater rescue, but that has been slowed or even halted because of civil unrest. On Day 5 of this horrific disaster, the City of New Orleans remains under the protection of only 1,500 police, 250 National Guard members, and several hundred state troopers. The fire department is drafting out of sewage and corpse-infested water to fight the many fires around town, provided they can get to them. Both law enforcement and fire departments have been working for five plus days without relief. Police officers have said they have seen drowned colleagues in uniform floating by in the street.
They have been reassured the cavalry is on the way. Poor choice of words. Cavalry is traditionally on horseback and, ironically, could have made it from about 20 surrounding states to New Orleans by now if given five days to ride. Now FEMA has made a plea to career departments to send 1,000 two-person teams to Atlanta for a possible 30-day-plus deployment to the stricken areas. What about activating the remaining FEMA and state teams first before hitting the “Y’all come” panic button?
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