There was a time, just five years ago, that Bush saw the benefit of an effective FEMA. A month before the 2000 presidential election, then-Gov. Bush said, “I’ve got to pay the administration a compliment. James Lee Witt of FEMA has done a really good job of working with governors during times of crisis. But that’s the time when you’re tested, not only — it’s the time you test your mettle. It’s the time to test your heart, when you see people whose lives have been turned upside down.”
Unfortunately, Bush didn’t think to replace Witt with someone of equal caliber.
Mike Brown was an estate planning lawyer in Colorado before taking over the agency. He, of course, has no experience in disaster management. Maybe he’d rise to the occasion? Surprise everyone with his intuitive understanding of what needs to be done in this crisis? Not so much.
Last night on CNN, for example, Brown admitted that FEMA had no idea that the New Orleans Convention Center was a hurricane shelter.
Brown: I will tell you this, though, every person in that convention center, we just learned about that today and so I have directed that we have all the available resources to get to that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water, the medical care that they need.
Paula Zahn: Sir, you’re not telling me — you’re not telling me that you just learned that the folks at the convention center didn’t have food and water until today, are you? You had no idea that they were completely cut off?
Brown: Paula, the federal government did not even know about the convention center people until today.
FEMA, in other words, knows less about this emergency than anyone with access to a television or the internet.
Brown wasn’t done. He later described those stuck in New Orleans as those “who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city.” It apparently never occurred to him that low-income families couldn’t leave — because they couldn’t afford it.
FEMA’s excuses really begin to evaporate when one considers the fact that the agency practiced for precisely this scenario in a simulation just over a year ago.
Hurricane Pam brought sustained winds of 120 mph, up to 20 inches of rain in parts of southeast Louisiana and storm surge that topped levees in the New Orleans area. More than one million residents evacuated and Hurricane Pam destroyed 500,000-600,000 buildings. Emergency officials from 50 parish, state, federal and volunteer organizations faced this scenario during a five-day exercise held this week at the State Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge.
The exercise used realistic weather and damage information developed by the National Weather Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the LSU Hurricane Center and other state and federal agencies to help officials develop joint response plans for a catastrophic hurricane in Louisiana.
“We made great progress this week in our preparedness efforts,” said Ron Castleman, FEMA Regional Director. “Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management. These plans are essential for quick response to a hurricane but will also help in other emergencies.”
“Hurricane planning in Louisiana will continue,” said Colonel Michael L. Brown, Deputy Director for Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. “Over the next 60 days, we will polish the action plans developed during the Hurricane Pam exercise. We have also determined where to focus our efforts in the future.”
If recent patterns hold true, Mike Brown can now expect a promotion.