Airboaters Stalled By FEMA

[rick]

The pilots stand ready to go help hurricane victims but have not been allowed to do so.

Nancy Imperiale | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 2, 2005

As a flooded New Orleans sinks further into despair, up to 500 Florida airboat pilots have volunteered to rescue Hurricane Katrina victims, transport relief workers and ferry supplies.

But they aren't being allowed in. And they're growing frustrated.

"We cannot get deployed to save our behinds," said Robert Dummett, state coordinator of the Florida Airboat Association. He said the pilots, who range from commercial airboat operators to weekend pleasure boaters, "are physically sick, watching the New Orleans coverage and knowing that the resources to help these poor people is sitting right in our driveways."

On standby since Monday, the pilots -- many from Central Florida -- have spent thousands of their own dollars stocking their boats and swamp buggies with food, water, medical supplies and fuel.

Here's the rest: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-caneboats0205sep02,0,5932477.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

 

[HighRoller]

Maybe there is a good reason they are keeping people out of the area. We dont need even more injuries and lives lost with all the chaos and havoc in the area.

 

[BigBoom]

New Orleans is only a small area of the overall problem. I'm sure there are plenty of people living in the bayous that will not recieve help for weeks if not months. They are in remote areas that are only accessible by boat. FEMA should being allowing help for them in. According to the news, New Orleans is the only warzone.

I contacted the writer of the article in the Orlando Sentinel, She wrote back stating she have hoped for a bigger story in the paper,

 

[Aces over 8s]

Mike Brown "The Head of FEMA" Should be fired! The only problem with that is, Some how he's got Mr. Bush in his back pocket. That guy has no clue to what the big picture is now or back when the Southeast got slammed and he set Millions to people in Miami Dade to buy big screen TV's or was that Votes.

 

[basketcase0302]

Aces over 8's,

Agreed with the fact that FEMA's director should be "tarred and feathered" and displayed all over TV as a martyr at this point for his poor decision making process! What was that man thinkin!

I also disagree with the Orlando FEMA's Francis Marine who stated that the private sector's airboats would be a hindrance to rescue efforts.

It's a no brainer when every day CNN is showing the few volunteer airboats that have been allowed in pulling hundreds of victims from the destruction, (last night rescue operation from the hospital in N.O. with airboat).

I WILL NO LONGEER TRUST IN MY GOVERNMENT FOR HELP IN ANY CRISIS FROM THIS POINT ON!

Gotta go to get more Spam and ammo!

Basketcase

 

[Aces over 8s]

Agreed with the fact that FEMA's director should be "tarred and feathered"

That would be the easy way out of the pickle he's in now. The other night he was live on CNN and said we just learned of the people in the Civic Center. 2 Day after the storm and they just got wind of this. This is a true disgrace to America when incompetent people make life-changing dissensions.
:roll:

 

[basketcase0302]

I saw a "quickie" special on NBC last night about the FEMA director.

He was formerly the director of the Arabian Horse board here in the U.S. before being given the position at FEMA. He resigned his position there from a reliable source because the pressure was too much!

Oh yeah! He got the FEMA position by being offered it by a close friend in the government!

I think we got a few wolves in the hen house that need to be shot!

Basketcase

 

[Aces over 8s]

Now that Mr. Brown has stepped "down" :roll: how is Mr. Bush going to spin this so he looks like he was right all along. :?: You know with the Repulican party never making a mistake an all. :twisted:

 

[Waterthunder]

I hope this ain’t too political and more factual. See I was brought up and still believe the government is not suppose to take of us. It is ultimately my responsibility to take care of family and myself you will never see me waiting for the government to save me. I haven’t researched this a 100% but what I have found so far is truth. Most Federal and state legal issues revolve around the bill of rights and what James Madison wrote. It is illegal for the government to take control of a state and it’s needs with out the request of the state.


Politics over duty
This is a post from a fellow over in Merritt Is, FL, a reporter who's been researching what went on before the storm hit

I think all of Nagin's pomp and posturing is going to bite him hard in the near future as the lies and distortions of his interviews are coming to light.

On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans and they said they'd take it under consideration. This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.

President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act).


Just before midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign the request papers so the federal government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call up.


He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet. After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited in.

Saturday before the storm hit the President again called Blanco and Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation.

After a personal plea from the President, Mayor Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal action.


In frustration the President declared the area a national disaster area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations. Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using the insurgency act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal government can move into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use before the disaster.

Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships.


Toss in the investigation that will look into why the emergency preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding and published on the city's website was never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding as we now learn that the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they were.!

The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard questions as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states.


Or maybe ask why Nagin keeps harping that the President should have commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at his disposal to use between the local school busses and the city transportation busses - but he never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them.

This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but been destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to be pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that they can start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the mistakes to avoid them in the future.

 

[cntry141iq]

Amen to all of that. and just think they are going to re-build right there. Just imagine if they would have taken a direct hit instead of just the levee breaking. They still have not been hit for a very long time and one report I saw in the beginning covered them saying they had dodged the bullet again but a richochet hit them in the butt.

 

[cowboy]

Not too political Thunder. Not when this thread got taken in that direction.

Thanks for typing what I'd been wanting to say in this thread, but could not seem to find the time. You knew alot more of the facts than I did, and I'm glad you shared them with us.

Most people do not understand that States have rights, that may not be violated at the Federal level. All the main stream meadia are going to continue to paint Washington as the culprit for the response effort problems, and I'm sick of hearing it.

Bottom Line is that the State and local officials placed road blocks in the way. Not for just Bush, but Brown as well.

 

[SwampMatt]

ccasion5:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stan]

Being a plublic servant for the last 26 years ,having been through a few disasters being trained in incident command and having spent time in maryland being trained by fema in hurricane prepardness. in my honest opinion the mayor and govenor dropped the ball big time and are trying to blame the feds. fema has no first responders. they have money and contractors for restoration .it is the responsability of cities,counties and states to have plans and be willing and able to effectivaly carry them out.

 

[blackpowderscout]

Good call Stan...I think FEMA's name is what throws many people...Federal EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT Agency. Maybe CERT aren't the only ones needing a slight name change huh?

Adam

 

[Aces over 8s]

Waterthunder wrote..I hope this ain’t too political and more factual. See I was brought up and still believe the government is not suppose to take of us. It is ultimately my responsibility to take care of family and myself you will never see me waiting for the government to save me.

I can't agree more, but as long as we the people pay taxes then the government will always be working for us the people. One thing I will never forget," Question authority at all cost"

cowboy wrote..Bottom Line is that the State and local officials placed roadblocks in the way. Not for just Bush, but Brown as well.

There where not road blocks in the way of Michael Brown, he was just not qualified nor did he have a Plan
What he did have was a falsified résumé and a great way to raise money for the Republican Party. Those are facts and really the way I thought this thread was going. Michael Brown should have been fired last year when Central Florida went through 2 hurricanes and he did not have a plan of attack then. Unless you call giving Miami Dade a couple of Millions of yours and mine money for the simple punching of votes.

moodfoodwrote..I'd get him in a room and ask (beat out of) Smile him why he did not get all those busses to higher ground

His answer would have been. "The people that drive the buses are the smart people, and smart people see a "Cat 4 or Cat 5 whoever you believe" coming there way they get out of Dodge.

And a last I would just like to say " I thought I would never see the day a Bush boy stand up and admit he was wrong and take full responsibility."
Yes it happen today 9/13/05.....Mark it down it your calenders.
That took class and balls.
8)