Katrina Response Failures and Homeland Security

By Ilana Freedman / Local Columnist

Friday, September 9, 2005

The onslaught of Hurricane Katrina and its horrific aftermath, watched by a shocked nation in real time, seems to have taken many by surprise.

Throughout the process of watching the storm grow in the Gulf of Mexico, unleash her fury on the coastline communities of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, and leave a swath of devastation behind her, there were inescapable conclusions that we were forced to draw regarding our failure to react appropriately.

We had all the warnings, we knew the dangers, and yet we failed to put the resources in place that ultimately resulted in the death of untold thousands and increased the suffering of many thousands more.

Throughout the news coverage of the advancing storm, references were made to Hurricanes Andrew and Camille, terrible storms that caused widespread damage and left many dead. I was surprised that almost no one thought to mention the only storm that was really comparable -- the hurricane called "Isaac's Storm" that hit Galveston on September 8, 1900. Had more people remembered, maybe we would have taken Katrina more seriously and been better prepared.

Still referred to by old-timers simply as "The Storm," it hit Galveston on a day that began with clear blue skies and a warm sun. Then the monster hurricane came roaring in and the city was assaulted by driving rains and a storm surge that virtually covered the town with water, destroying everything in its wake.

It was before the days of recording storms and wind speeds, so we have few statistics on actual storm conditions. We do know that urgent warnings from the weather station in Cuba were sent to Washington, but were disregarded and not passed on. Unlike New Orleans, Galveston was unwarned and totally unprepared.

Six thousand people died that day, in a city whose population was barely 37,000. When the waters finally receded, the city was gone -- what was left was rubble, thousands of corpses, and the ruins of a vibrant, growing city that had everything to live for and was destroyed in a single day.

Like millions of others, I watched the satellite images of the threatening Katrina move relentlessly up through the Gulf of Mexico. The real-life drama was gripping and gut wrenching. As I watched, the story of Isaac's Storm kept coming back to me, bringing with it a dark dread of what was about to happen.

By Friday, we knew that the storm was headed towards the coast. By early Saturday, we knew it had reached category five conditions. The broad boundaries of the storm, with a well-defined eye 35 miles wide, reached out hundreds of miles in every direction and filled the Gulf with the terrible winds and rains of a terrifying and dangerous storm.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called for a voluntary evacuation. Some people heeded the warning and left the city early. On Sunday morning, the President declared a state of emergency, nearly 24 hours before landfall, so that the relevant agencies could begin to mobilize. Nagin declared a mandatory evacuation and the long lines of private cars leaving the city were featured prominently in the day's news.

What troubles me most is that with all this activity, no accommodations were made available to those who did not have the means to evacuate on their own. Where were the buses, trucks, vans, and trailers that could have carried them to safety? How many, I wonder, died during the storm, because they had no way to leave?

And, when the rain was over, how was it possible that hundreds of school buses, which according to the city's own emergency management plan were supposed to evacuate residents unable to transport themselves, were now under water. How is it possible that truckloads of food, drinking water, and essential supplies were still not in place to help those who had remained? How is it possible that no single command and control center was ever in put in place? How many, I wonder, died after the storm was over, because help was too poorly organized, too slow, too meager, and too late?

The failure of leadership at every level resulted in a disaster of biblical proportions. Emergency management must be, by definition, efficient and immediate, and must be available to all who need it, regardless of age, economic or social status, or ethnic or religious origin.

Emergency organizations like FEMA, LHLS & EP, and NOLA had three full days to put the necessary resources into place before the storm was over. It is inexcusable that the shipments of food, water, medical equipment, and evacuation capabilities, were not in position and ready to be deployed as soon as the rain stopped. But even as we watched the images of the following five days -- of thousands of people waiting under a brutal sun for food, water, and an evacuation from the hell that New Orleans had become -- help did not come.

Many died of dehydration or from the cruel by-products of society breaking down, before rescue teams finally arrived. For them, all the belated efforts were too late.

There is another lesson that we must also learn -- a lesson that has received far too little attention. If this is the best we can do in a catastrophic storm that gave us several days' warning, how on earth will we ever be able to respond to a large scale terrorist attack that gives us no warning at all?

It is not enough to say that the government failed its citizens by not rising to the challenge of a disaster the magnitude of Katrina. The government also failed by demonstrating that four years after 9/11, they are not even close to being prepared to deal with the aftermath of a major terrorist attack.

The rapid response systems are not in place. The decision-making protocols, that are supposed to support nearly automatic response systems in emergency situations, failed for Katrina and will fail again when the need for them may be even greater that it was this time.

The cumbersome wheels of our inflated bureaucracy grind exceedingly slow. But if remedies are not soon found and put into place, we will be facing a disaster far greater than what we are still witnessing today in the wake of Katrina.

(Ilana Freedman is a specialist in counter-terrorism preparedness. She welcomes your comments and questions at ilana@gerardgroup.com.)

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