Editorial: Inaction, Paralysis Worsened Katrina’s Hit On Gulf Coast

For days the world watched as Hurricane Katrina decided its final course, slammed southern Florida as a Category 1, then ambled into the Gulf and gained strength as it kept everyone guessing about its next strike. So we knew Katrina was coming.

We knew decades ago that Katrina was coming! We just didn’t know its name yet, and we didn’t know when to expect its unwelcome visit. Despite all that warning and experience with past hurricanes, we were not ready. Earlier hurricanes served as a warm-up for the big game, but too much of the government team did not show up to play.

The blame game is on, and whether we like it or not, it should be. History is on the side of the critics. Barbs have been directed at everyone from President Bush to the mayor of New Orleans. Yet, let us not forget, New Orleans may have presented the major focus, but a large area of the Gulf Coast was hit and destruction was every bit as bad.

Some say President Bush didn’t respond fast enough. Others are calling for the firing of all FEMA officials. But there is sufficient blame to go around. We could say that criticism can wait; now is the time to pull together. But people all over the nation, even worldwide, are wondering why help did not come sooner. Decades of warning is a lot of warning.

As late as 2002 the Times Picayune in New Orleans published a five-part series covering virtually every aspect of hurricane challenges one could think of. There was plenty of warning.

Appearing on television during the showing of those terrible scenes, former Louisiana congressmen and Corps officials stated flatly that the levee system could handle a Category 2 hurricane with storm surge and up to a Category 3 without a storm surge. Again, they confirmed by their remarks that this situation has been known for decades.

The Waterways Journal, also for decades, has emphasized editorially that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was not being given enough money to handle its congressional mandates. Time and again requests for money to improve the levee system at New Orleans were ignored or reduced. This is not to say that no money has been spent on the levees or on hurricane-related programs. In its 2002 series, the Times Picayune indicated that expenditures over the years had grown to billions. But considering the size of the problem and the value of that port city and surrounding transportation infrastructure, it was far from enough.

After a storm killed six people in May 1995, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, commonly referred to as SELA. Under SELA the Corps spent $430 million to build up levees and to build pumping stations. Local aid added $50 million more. But it is said that $250 million in crucial projects remained and that after 2003, federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. It was commonly accepted that the reason for the reduction in spending was due to the cost of the war in Iraq.

When in 2004, the Corps project manager went before local officials begging for funds because the levees were sinking and they couldn’t keep up with repair, the locals provided $250,000. The levee board reported in October 2004 that the feds were not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.

Writer William Bunch noted recently that the 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades, and in spite of that, "the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history." The Corps had to cut manpower on the SELA project. SELA money dropped from $36.5 million to $10.4 million, Bunch wrote.

Having known the severity of the problem, why the delayed action? Many say it was failure on the part of leadership. When first-responders and military got into action, it became, as some said, organized chaos rather than just chaos. When they arrived, they performed (and are performing) admirably. The nation owes a debt of gratitude to responders we cannot yet even identify. Hearts and wallets across the nation have opened up.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he believes the president wasn’t being given the right information early enough. Louisiana’s Gov. Blanco was accused of what one could best describe as paralysis. New Orleans Mayor Nagin said on August 30 that soon the entire city will be under water. What we learned from Labor Day telecasts was that three of the city’s large pumps were not in working order before the hurricane. Why—especially with all of that warning? Everyone from the president on down was aware of what could happen if the Gulf Coast was hit by a hurricane larger than a Category 3.

For all of the excuses that can be offered about "not knowing how bad things were," we have to ask, "Does no one pay attention to television in Washington, D.C.?" People in Russia and England and Spain and China and multiple dozens of other countries do! Viewers across the United States were glued to their sets from day one. Can we assume that as the world watched the aftermath of Katrina unfold, those in Washington kept their televisions turned off? Can we assume that no one within shouting distance of the president, on vacation or not, could report to him what television networks were showing us? Newsmen were on the scene within hours. Federal officials should have been. Whatever excuses may be conjured up, lack of warning cannot be one of them.

It is said that once during an African safari the guide told his boss that the trackers had spotted an angry lion about to charge. "They want permission to shoot it," he said. "Their rifles are at the ready." But the boss said he had to get permission from higher ups. Because they were otherwise engaged, he didn’t ask immediately. By the time he got back to the guide, two trackers were dead.

Is our bureaucracy so dysfunctional that we no longer can respond to the charging lion?

The principal waterway into the heart of our nation and much of its related infrastructure is out of commission. Unfortunately, Katrina is teaching us the value of water transportation the hard way.

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