New Orleans school buses: More Blame Game? : Lone Star Times

New Orleans school buses: More Blame Game?

by The Panda Man · 09/04/2005 2:09 pm

As you know, the finger-pointing for the New Orleans flooding and its disturbing aftermath has been going on for days. President Bush has already been accused of indirectly causing the storm and the AP implied he cut budgets which caused the flooding. Unfortunately for Louisiana officials, more information comes to light that questions the handling of the disaster at the local and state levels.

LST reader Russell Jumonville sent us a heads-up about this excerpt from the Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan (Pdf file):

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

This bit of information demonstrates, along with other entries in the document, that Louisiana government was fully aware of the risks and steps to be taken in the event of a powerful hurricane strike in the New Orleans area. While many families heeded evacuation warnings and left the city, school buses were simply left sitting in their lots to be flooded out by rising waters instead of ferrying to safety residents who were otherwise unable to leave. At its face this would appear to be a significant failure of local leaders to care for the persons in their charge who were least able to care for themselves.

How long before President Bush gets the blame for this as well?

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Comments

11 Responses to “New Orleans school buses: More Blame Game?”

Mark P on September 4th, 2005 at 6:48 pm

Maybe Gov. Blanco was doing some disaster planning with President Castreaux of Havana Parish…..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7147701/
Kevin D on September 4th, 2005 at 8:32 pm

You are looking at a document from pre-9/11. The “Department of Homeland Security” with FEMA being under its roof changed all the rules.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=16&content=353
Jerry on September 5th, 2005 at 12:00 am

The responsibility of the New Orleans’ tragedy rests squarely on the shoulders of the local and state governments of Louisiana. It’s not the responsibility of my tax dollars from Texas to shore up the city of another state so the levee system is a Louisiana problem. It’s also the responsibility of the city and state government to evacuate a city in the path of a major storm. They had over 48 hours of warning that Katrina was headed right at New Orleans. Prior to that they had another 72 hours that a hurricane was going to cross over Florida and head into the Gulf of Mexico. It makes me angry that Democrats in Louisiana and elsewhere are blaming FEMA and Pres. Bush. But what really makes me angry is the suffering and loss of life of my fellow Americans due to the non-existant planning of the local and state governments of Lousiana. The whole lot of them should be thrown out of office for derelection of duty.
GreenDog on September 5th, 2005 at 1:20 am

I have e-mailed CNN regarding this very issue.
Of course the Major Media Outlets are more interested in creating a political firestorm for a continuing source of sensational news.
Of course the Federal Government is not totally blameless but I think there is plenty of blame to go around. The astounding lack of preperation on the local level certainly has me thinking more about any risks my family could face here in NYC.
God Bless all that have lived and continue to struggle through this disaster. May those who did not survive find peace in the hereafer.
Ron D on September 5th, 2005 at 9:00 am

President Bush’s administration is being blamed for not moving fast enough. How fast were the local officials moving?

I would like to see a report on what the mayor & governor of LA were doing during the 24 hours prior to the hurricane’s landing. What resources were they putting into action?
Kyle Samuels on September 5th, 2005 at 9:17 am

There is alot of blame to go around, but to absovle Bush Admin. from blame siting other is doesn’t follow. In fact they put Mr. Brown as head of FEMA, who’s “talents” where in running horse shows. This was a political appointment, when we need someone with experience. That lack of experience, hence lack of carring what happens to Americans is what put these people in dire need. Bush doesn’t just not care about Blacks, he doesn’t care about anybody, including his wayward daughters, who do drugs and god knows what else. Go ahead and protect Bush, that is what the Media does. The main stream media has been silenced from telling the truth and the right wing media runs interference. While the left is little more than small magazines. Try doing what is right for America, rather than what helps rightwing idealogues, no matter how much they have screwed up!!!
Bill M on September 5th, 2005 at 10:00 pm

The media is left of center at best.The La. state and local officials did not follow their own disaster plan.The Pres. actually had to urge the Governor to evacuate. You are blind to the fact that the main stream media is definitely left leaning.Case in point we really never hear about Sandy Bergler or is that Berger.
john on September 5th, 2005 at 11:16 pm

Hey, now the school buses not only don’t have any seatbelts (and in Texas they’re designed to count elementary kids, so high school kids can’t all fit and have to sit on each other because sitting on the floor in the aisle would be “unsafe”); but they don’t have life preservers.
Thank goodness the kids weren’t riding the buses to school. At least the buses are all safe in their lot and can easily be worked on once the water is drained.
But all the people who work in the schools and stores and factories and refineries—they don’t and can’t live there, so how will all that stuff be started up again?
Kenneth on September 6th, 2005 at 12:01 am

Doesn’t surprise me that the blame is being shifted to those that can least defend themselves.

Remember who wound up taking the fall for Abu Gharib? The troops. The general in charge got a medal.

To specifically address your post, local and state authorities DID evacuate everyone they could (with their strained resources, and no no FEMA help) to the Superdome (later known as Terrordome, after the cavalry failed to show up). Most local public safety personnel worked on evacuations until the wind got very bad (I was listening to the scanner).

The shift-the-blame-game won’t work this time. Americans witnessed this president’s biggest failure, and were left horrified. Would you trust FEMA to handle a terrorist attack disaster in your city today?
Jim B on September 6th, 2005 at 9:33 am

Kenneth - How can you even say that anybody’s shifting blame to those who can’t help themselves? Nobody’s blaming the individual rescue worker in LA, we’re suggesting that the state and city government in LA didn’t respond properly to the disaster in the first place, and it is, after all, primarily the state and local government’s responsibility to coordinate first response to these situations. That’s how our country is structured. We don’t live in a socialist nation.
LTC on September 6th, 2005 at 1:11 pm

In accordance with the “City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan”….

“D. Regional Transit Authority
* Supply transportation as needed in accordance with the current Standard Operating Procedures.
* Place special vehicles on alert to be utilized if needed.
* Position supervisors and dispatch evacuation buses.
* If warranted by scope of evacuation, implement additional service.”

“Emergency shelter operations are the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Preparedness Shelter Coordinator. Shelters are provided by the Orleans Parish School Board, while manager training and support activities and supplies are provided by the Office of Emergency Preparedness.”

(Note: Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Matthews is also the director of the city’s Office of Emergency Preparedness…
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national…pecial/05vegas.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/national/30orleans.html )

http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26