On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 08:46:20 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo" <alt-atheism@org.webmaster>
wrote:

It was one of the top four *expected disasters.

No, it became that post fact. Camille and Betsy were also there, and the city
didn't die.

On Thu, 08 Sep 2005 09:59:22 GMT, Dubh Ghall <puck@pooks.hill.fey> wrote:

But day one, should have been Friday, Saturday at the latest.

Day 1 for what?

An ordinary hurricane, hitting a city, is a disaster. Katrina, was a fifth
magnitude/order/whatever, hurricane, and it's size and power were known, days
before it hit N.O.

Ok, now stupid, on Friday it was firstly a tropical storm aimed at western
Florida.

Down 1.

Here in the UK, we knew the size of Katrina, and British charities were making
preparation to help.

Not a bright statement.

But where was your country's great commander in chief?
Why, he was taking it easy, probably having another children's read to him just
like 9/11.

Working in Crawford, Tx.

Down 3.

Other states offered to send aid. Other states KNEW what was coming, and even
assuming that nothing could be done to improve the levees, much of the death,
and suffering could have been avoided.
But your ***** witted government, dragged its feet, and permission was delayed,
until it was too late.

Those offers came after the hurricane.

Down 4.

The aid, and offers of aid, were there, but your disorganised government, made
sure that it didn't arrive.
So Earl, the blame is all down to your team.

No, it's the mayors for parking the busses. It's the Governor's for playing
games with the Feds.

Down 5.

Blame your god, for Katrina, and your incompetent government, for the rest.

It's man's fault, including yours.

Sometimes you run into people that just have no concept of life as
it really exists, and what it takes to get things done in a natural
disaster. So how long should it have taken to reach the inner city of New
Orleans? There was an unexpected natural ***disaster*** throughout the
day on
Monday which only began to reveal itself early Tuesday morning.

It was not unexpected. It was expected for four years.

Four years? How about 283 years.

As recently as Sept. 27, 1998, Hurricane Georges threatened the city,
prompting a large scale evacuation of the Big Easy and the first use of the
Louisiana Superdome as a last-resort shelter. That evacuation effort was the
largest such effort in U.S. history to that time.

And as early as 1722, when the city was only a few years old, its first
great hurricane arrived, on Sept. 12.

"Toward 10 o'clock in the evening there sprang up the most terrible
hurricane which has been seen in these quarters," Diron D'Artaguiette wrote
in his journal. "At New Orleans 34 houses were destroyed as well as the
sheds, including the parsonage and hospital."

Again in 1779 a mighty storm swept into the city, prompting the then Spanish
governor Bernardo de Galvez to report: "The village presents the most
pitiful sight. There are but few houses which have not been destroyed, and
there are so many wrecked to pieces."

William Dunbar, a longtime American resident of the region, reported on
storms in 1779 and 1780.

"I was in New Orleans during the first of those two. More than half of the
town was stript of its covering, many houses thrown down in town and
country," Dunbar wrote, "no ship of vessel of any kind was seen on the river
next morning.

The reports from D'Artaguiette, de Galvez and Dunbar are published in the
book "Early American Hurricanes" by David M. Ludlum, which also notes major
storms striking the region in 1794 and 1812.

Under the headline "Awful and Distressing," the New Orleans Gazette reported
that the 1812 storm "continued with most dreadful violence for upwards of
four hours."

An 1831 hurricane produced heavy damage when an overflow from Lake
Pontchartrain swamped parts of the city. This was reported as the strongest
since 1812 at New Orleans.

No less than three hurricanes battered the city in 1860.

"Another Terrific Storm," the New Orleans Picayune lamented in October,
adding a new chapter to batterings in August and September.

More recent hurricanes blasting the Crescent City, according to the
National Weather Service, have included:

_Sept. 29, 1915: A devastating hurricane moved over Grand Isle and into the
Greater New Orleans area. Winds were measured at 140 mph at Grand Isle. Some
275 people were killed across Southeast Louisiana. In Leeville, LA, only one
building out of 100 survived the storm.

_Sept. 19, 1947: Hurricane crossed the Mississippi and Louisiana coast
moving into Lake Borgne and over downtown New Orleans. Tides rose to 12 feet
at Biloxi, Bay Saint Louis and Gulfport, Miss. A total of 51 lives were
lost, 17 in Florida, 12 in Louisiana and 22 in Mississippi.

_Sept. 24, 1956: Hurricane Flossy completely submerged Grand Isle and bore
down on the Greater New Orleans area. Residents evacuated to shelters with
fear of the 1947 hurricane on their minds.

_Oct. 3, 1964: Hurricane Hilda reached maximum strength about 350 miles
south of New Orleans and headed into Southeast Louisiana. Winds to 135 mph
were recorded at Franklin, La. There were 38 fatalities.

_Sept. 9, 1965: Hurricane Betsy struck while the city was still recovering
from Hilda. A storm surge of 10 feet caused New Orleans' worst flooding
since the hurricane of 1947. Betsy claimed 81 lives and was the first U.S.
hurricane to produce over $1 billion damage.

_Aug. 17, 1969: Hurricane Camille, a category 5 storm, the most powerful,
came ashore just east of the mouth of the Mississippi, making landfall at
Pass Christian, Miss. Winds sustained over 200 mph at peak and a 25-foot
storm surge crashed into the coast. There were 258 deaths including nine in
Louisiana.

. Aug. 26, 1992: Hurricane Andrew, after battering South Florida, moved into
south Louisiana. Andrew spawned a deadly tornado in Laplace, La., killing 2
people and causing $1.5 million damage several hours prior to Andrew's
landfall

I won't fault them for not knowing Friday. Nobody did. But Sunday morning,
the NHC believed this was "the big one" and was saying so. That was the
time to start moving resources.