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Friday
November 20, 2009 Since 1922 |
Aid didn’t come too late for New Orleans
By Ryan Culver
Baytown Sun Published September 18, 2005 BAYTOWN — Personal accounts from two local men shed a different light on the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.
Russell White, a Baytown police officer by day, is a member of Texas Task Force 1 and was dispatched to the search and rescue effort outside New Orleans for 12 days. Bob Hoskins, who sits on the Goose Creek school board, is on Enterprise Products’ relief team and went to the areas around New Orleans to access damage and assist employee recovery.
Both men disagree with reports that federal aid came too little too late.
“I have a hard time swallowing (the accusations against Bush) because we were deployed two days before the storm hit,” White said. “And we weren’t the only ones (deployed).” He added, “Comparing (the response) to that of 9/11 (is hard) — this disaster spread across three states.”
White said this is the first time in history that all of the Urban Search and Rescue Teams were activated at the same time.
“People just do not realize what a logistical task it is to support an operation like this,” White said.
Part of the problem was that the governing infrastructure broke down with the arrival of the storm. Looting and lawlessness were all over New Orleans, and hampered relief efforts.
“People were just taking over,” White said. “They had to suspend operations for a day, and from then on, we went everywhere with heavily armed security.”
White said the response of some of the people needing to be rescued was “unnerving.”
Some were cheering, and some were flipping us off,” he said. “It was weird; we were there to help, and people were flipping us off.”
White said he thought the local and state government probably could have done more to prepare for Katrina.
“I think a lot of people thought this was going to be just another storm,” White said. “They had weathered all the others.” He added, “How do you evacuate 1.3 million people in 48 hours?”
Working in boats the 12 days he was out there, White said the water was the grossest he had ever seen. The oil and fuel, which likely came from submerged cars instead of leaks at refineries, mixed with bodies and human waste. Not to mention that floodwater is usually not the cleanest water to begin with.
“We couldn’t recover all the bodies,” White said. “If we had done that, there wouldn’t be any room for live people.”
Instead of picking them up, they tried to secure the bodies to a tree or a roof (the water was that high), and record its Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) position.
Hoskins didn’t go to the disaster area as a government official, but he did go to help in the rescue effort. Enterprise Products has facilities there, and he needed to help employees in the St. Bernard Parish area southeast of the Big Easy. His reasoning for why this wasn’t necessarily a federal response failure brings forth an interesting point.
“You don’t hear about problems outside of New Orleans.” Hoskins said. “That is because the relief systems are working there.”
Hoskins said the city of New Orleans itself wasn’t even the hardest hit area in Louisiana.
“There was a lot more damage outside New Orleans,” Hoskins, who viewed the damage from a helicopter, said. “Ninety-five percent of our employees in St. Bernard Parish lost their homes.”
The group from Enterprise Products stayed in nearby Gonzales, La. Hoskins said they were in the flight path of the federal relief planes headed to New Orleans. He said he saw many United States cargo planes full of supplies and equipment for the relief effort.
Both men agreed that the things going on in the disaster area should not affect people’s view of the evacuees who are staying here. They both agreed that it is a stressful situation and the actions of a few should not be applied to everyone. However, they both agree that blaming this problem on Bush and the federal response is not the right idea.
Hoskins concluded, “Despite everything on the news (blaming Bush), this is a localized problem.”
Baytown Sun Published September 18, 2005 BAYTOWN — Personal accounts from two local men shed a different light on the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.
Russell White, a Baytown police officer by day, is a member of Texas Task Force 1 and was dispatched to the search and rescue effort outside New Orleans for 12 days. Bob Hoskins, who sits on the Goose Creek school board, is on Enterprise Products’ relief team and went to the areas around New Orleans to access damage and assist employee recovery.
Both men disagree with reports that federal aid came too little too late.
“I have a hard time swallowing (the accusations against Bush) because we were deployed two days before the storm hit,” White said. “And we weren’t the only ones (deployed).” He added, “Comparing (the response) to that of 9/11 (is hard) — this disaster spread across three states.”
White said this is the first time in history that all of the Urban Search and Rescue Teams were activated at the same time.
“People just do not realize what a logistical task it is to support an operation like this,” White said.
Part of the problem was that the governing infrastructure broke down with the arrival of the storm. Looting and lawlessness were all over New Orleans, and hampered relief efforts.
“People were just taking over,” White said. “They had to suspend operations for a day, and from then on, we went everywhere with heavily armed security.”
White said the response of some of the people needing to be rescued was “unnerving.”
Some were cheering, and some were flipping us off,” he said. “It was weird; we were there to help, and people were flipping us off.”
White said he thought the local and state government probably could have done more to prepare for Katrina.
“I think a lot of people thought this was going to be just another storm,” White said. “They had weathered all the others.” He added, “How do you evacuate 1.3 million people in 48 hours?”
Working in boats the 12 days he was out there, White said the water was the grossest he had ever seen. The oil and fuel, which likely came from submerged cars instead of leaks at refineries, mixed with bodies and human waste. Not to mention that floodwater is usually not the cleanest water to begin with.
“We couldn’t recover all the bodies,” White said. “If we had done that, there wouldn’t be any room for live people.”
Instead of picking them up, they tried to secure the bodies to a tree or a roof (the water was that high), and record its Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) position.
Hoskins didn’t go to the disaster area as a government official, but he did go to help in the rescue effort. Enterprise Products has facilities there, and he needed to help employees in the St. Bernard Parish area southeast of the Big Easy. His reasoning for why this wasn’t necessarily a federal response failure brings forth an interesting point.
“You don’t hear about problems outside of New Orleans.” Hoskins said. “That is because the relief systems are working there.”
Hoskins said the city of New Orleans itself wasn’t even the hardest hit area in Louisiana.
“There was a lot more damage outside New Orleans,” Hoskins, who viewed the damage from a helicopter, said. “Ninety-five percent of our employees in St. Bernard Parish lost their homes.”
The group from Enterprise Products stayed in nearby Gonzales, La. Hoskins said they were in the flight path of the federal relief planes headed to New Orleans. He said he saw many United States cargo planes full of supplies and equipment for the relief effort.
Both men agreed that the things going on in the disaster area should not affect people’s view of the evacuees who are staying here. They both agreed that it is a stressful situation and the actions of a few should not be applied to everyone. However, they both agree that blaming this problem on Bush and the federal response is not the right idea.
Hoskins concluded, “Despite everything on the news (blaming Bush), this is a localized problem.”