The total area of destruction is the size of Great Britain.

We should have dropped leaflets.

“President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.” There had never been a mandatory evacuation of the city before. This action saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. I never once heard that mentioned by the cable news networks.

Immediately after the Superdome became a hellhole (something I feared before landfall) I wondered if the suffering was an indictment of public transportation. I ask this question as someone who doesn’t own a car and relies on public transportation. The failure to evacuate wasn’t the fault of public transportation, it was a systemic failure to utilize local resources which could have evacuated thousands of people before the storm hit. I’ve now seen several satellite photos and found evidence myself with Google Maps that appear to be flooded parking lots full of hundreds of buses:

A full lot of city buses and unused school buses. I can’t tell what these are, they might be more unused buses but maybe not.

New Orleans had a high crime rate, with murder nearly 8 times the national average. I doubt the criminal element packed their families up into the minivan and headed for Shreveport. The best of New Orleans got out, leaving behind a far higher concentration of criminals. When MSNBC found police officers looting shoes from a Wall Mart, it became more clear that local governance had failed and that’s when criminal lawyers from http://mattgould.ca/ have to do their work.

Despite many exploiting this disaster to advance existing prejudices against the president, as the facts come in, Louisana’s local and state officials look worse and worse. There seems to be some assinine political bickering on the part of Lousiana’s governor, even accusations that early federal requests to take over relief efforts were simply a ploy to pass blame. How many people died while that idiotic idea was discussed? The “24 hours to make a decision” story is appalling (video). According to Mayor Nagin, Bush asked the governor to make a decision about transferring relief to federal agencies and she said she needed 24 hours to make a decision. As if she was buying a car or something. Since everyone’s throwing around questions and accusations, I think a fair question to ask is whether Governor Blanco’s politics and dislike of President Bush affected her decision making.

Ultimately it comes down to this: The situation in New Orleans vastly improved the instant federal and military aid arrived.

After the flood of 1900, the city of Galveston was elevated. New Orleans will be rebuilt, I hope out technology is brought to bear and the city’s vulnerabilities are corrected. Really, they have to be, it would be stupid and immoral to rebuild any ruined part of the city below sea level.