September 08, 2005

Red Cross Prevent from Going to Superdome

Readers know I'm not fond of the blame game. I have been posting a few items that seriously question the response to the Katrina disaster. To FEMA wasting highly-skilled firefighters by making them pamphlet-toting field agents add the Lousiana state government preventing the Red Cross from sending supplies to the Superdome and New Orleans convention center:

Major Garrett: Well, the Red Cross, Hugh, had pre-positioned a literal vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items. They're not really big into medical response items, but those are the three biggies that we saw people at the New Orleans Superdome, and the convention center, needing most accutely. And all of us in America, I think, reasonably asked ourselves, geez. You know, I watch hurricanes all the time. And I see correspondents standing among rubble and refugees and evacuaees. But I always either see that Red Cross or Salvation Army truck nearby. Why don't I see that?

Hugh Hewitt: And the answer is?

Garrett: The answer is the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security, that is the state agency responsible for that state's homeland security, told the Red Cross explicitly, you cannot come.

For those of you suspicious of anything Fox News puts out the Red Cross is backing the story on their website.
According to Garrett's report Louisiana state government didn't want the Superdome and the convention center to be magnets for people who didn't/couldn't leave New Orleans. A magnet might have been the best thing. It would have been a centralized place to evacuate victims without first responders traipsing all over the flooded city. The downside would have been putting more people into an already-lousy space. We need to hear the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security's explanation before we start beating the hell out of them. I just hope in-state political fighting didn't have anything to do with decisions [via The Strata-Sphere]. Also, Louisana did get lots of federal dollars. It just wasn't spent on improving levees. Whether, that would have been an effective use of funds is another question.

"Louisiana State Government Banned Red Cross From Helping Evacuees"

[Added to OTB's Beltway Traffic Jam.]