A day before massive storm Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, I read the report that NOAA had issued about how dangerous Katrina would be to the United States. It was the scariest weather report I had ever seen:
000
WWUS74 KLIX 281550
NPWLIX
URGENT — WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28, 2005
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED…
HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTEDSTRENGTH... RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. ATLEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALLFAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELYDAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOODFRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOMEWALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...AFEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCHAS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLESAND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THEWINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWNAND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING
INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLYTHE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW
CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE
KILLED.
AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEARHURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARECERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.
ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTUREOUTSIDE!
That warning was issued on Sunday, August 28, 2005, at 10:11 AM. Katrina hit New Orleans at 6:10 A.M the next day, Monday, August 29. The world had watched the gigantic Katrina gathering power for days before in the Gulf of Mexico. I remember looking at a satellite image of the storm days before it hit New Orleans and thinking that it was the biggest storm that I had ever seen.
The night after Katrina hit, the Governor of Lousiana, Kathleen Blanco, called President Bush for help. According to Blanco, the conversation went something like this:
“What do you need?” Bush asked.
“I need everything—all the help you can give me. Send in the military”,
“How many troops do you need?” asked Bush.
“Maybe 10,000”, Blanco replied.
After the storm hit, President George W Bush spent the first couple of days fooling around on the West coast, doing things like playing air guitar and attending John McCain’s Birthday Party. It would be a full four days after the storm hit that the military got to Katrina to help, but they did get there eventually. On Friday, four days after the storm hit, 10,000 troops arrived at New Orleans. Bush’s response was terrible and terribly slow, but at least he did eventually call the military in for help, and they did eventually arrive.
The U.S. has known about the Coronavirus since at least January. This virus is not just a threat to millions of U.S. lives but also to lives around the world. It is not just a health threat, but it is slowly grinding the entire world economy to a halt. So, where is the President and the Federal Government this time? Keep in mind that when the governor of Louisiana called President George W. Bush for help the Monday night after Katrina hit, it took 4 days for the troops to get to Louisiana, but Bush at least did call the troops out, and they did get there that week. After the Governors of states like Washington State and New York called Washington for help, what has been the latest response from Washington been?
It’s Not Our Job
George W. Bush’s terribly slow response to Katrina looks like lightning speed compared to today’s Commander in Chief who thinks that a terrible virus that threatens the entire world’s health and economy is simply not the job of the federal government. I quite simply do not know how to scream as loud as this horrible response deserves.