Ah, so the fact they are holding these protests while Obama is in power holds no sway with you, but the Tea Party, who raged about spending, waited until one of the biggest spenders, George W. Bush..was out of power.
Rich.
No. What would you account to the decline in Bush's support? One lump or two?
Katrina.
Interesting Production, and real good at shifting blame, but no. The Principle blame lied with the Governor of Louisiana, and the Mayor of New Orleans, who, by the way mocked and ignored FEMA's Head, concerning the Evacuation, resulting with scores of People retreating to their Attic's as the water level rose, only to be trapped and die. How many were saved on their roof tops by the Coast Guard?
THE COAST GUARDÂ’S KATRINA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
by Scott Price, Deputy Coast Guard Historian
One of the largest search-and-rescue operations in the history of the United States occurred in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc across a great swath of the nationÂ’s Gulf Coast. The governmentsÂ’ response at the local, city, state and federal levels came under intense media scrutiny and criticism. Certain government officials were vilified while the nation was transfixed by the carnage. Nevertheless, during the chaos, fear, and uncertainty of that time there was one shining light, one government agency that received nothing but accolades for its efforts: the United States Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard and its predecessors, including the Life-Saving Service, the Lighthouse Service and the Revenue Cutter Service, had extensive experience in responding to natural disasters. Cutters have been saving lives in the worst types of weather since the early 1830s. Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service personnel actively participated in relief efforts during the annual flooding of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers since the mid-nineteenth century. Responses to hurricanes began with the terrible hurricane of 1900 that virtually wiped out Galveston. The Revenue Cutter and Life-Saving services also responded during earthquakes, including the one in 1906 that leveled San Francisco. Lighthouse keepers too, including women, rescued those in need during storms near their lighthouses. The men and women of these services were always ready to go to the assistance of their fellow citizens when nature struck, a core value that permeates the Coast Guard today. If every Marine is a rifleman, then every Coast Guardsmen is a lifesaver.
Coast Guard preparations began well before Hurricane Katrina struck the coast of Florida. Aircraft were scattered to safe airports out of harmÂ’s way but close enough to permit them to respond quickly as the hurricane withdrew. Assets in the Gulf region too made preparations. The hurricane came ashore near the Dade-Broward county line on the night of 25 August. The first rescues occurred soon thereafter when aircraft were dispatched to rescue unlucky boaters and fishermen who were at sea as the hurricane passed over them. As Katrina swirled out into the Gulf of Mexico the storm strengthened to frightening proportions, with forecasts calling for a Category 5 hurricane. As it approached the Gulf Coast, the Coast Guard assembled helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and cutters, many brought in from other Coast Guard districts, near the area where the storm was expected to make landfall. Hurricane Katrina came ashore near Buras, Louisiana, on the morning of 29 August as a Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 145 mph.
Rescue operations commenced as the hurricane moved inland. Cutters had trailed the hurricane as closely as they could and began rescuing those offshore while the helicopters, HH-65 Dolphins and HH-60 Jayhawks, were launched as the hurricaneÂ’s eye passed over the city of New Orleans. The tempo increased as everyone realized that the levees protecting the city had given way, creating an urban nightmare. Dispensing with peace-time regulations on the amount of time needed to rest between flights, aircrews worked around the clock to pluck survivors from rooftops while maintenance crews kept the aircraft in service. Communications were problematic, but the Coast Guard is known for and prides itself on its ability to improvise. When rescue swimmers found victims trapped in their attics with no way to escape the rising waters, axes were used to chop through rooftops. When it was found that not enough were available, a trip to Home Depot solved that. Urban search and rescue techniques were developed on the fly, since few aircrews had experience of flying night sorties through a flooded city where high winds and hanging power lines added to the danger. Coast Guard cutters and small craft too entered the fray, rescuing people from small islands of dry land, flooded overpasses, inundated homes and buildings and transported them to safety.
The scale of operations during the Katrina response defies imagination and the statistics generated are almost unbelievable. Search and rescue operations alone saved 24,135 lives from imminent danger, usually off the roofs of the victims’ homes as flood waters lapped at their feet. Coast Guardsmen “evacuated to safety” 9,409 patients from local hospitals. In total, 33,545 souls owed their lives to the men and women of the nation’s oldest continuous-going sea service, nearly equaling the number of persons the Coast Guard saves during a calendar year.
U.S. Coast Guard & Hurricane Katrina: A History of KART
