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Last updated on August 3rd, 2017 at 01:04 pm
“After Katrina, the national mood might alter,” declared the Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland in 2005. “Americans have seen where small government leads.” Well, let’s see how well Jonathan’s big UK government is coping with some summer floods:
Amid concerns that the government-run Environment Agency acted far too slowly in responding to serious flood alerts from the Met Office, parts of the West Country woke up this morning to another day under water and the Thames Valley now faces being inundated …
The Times has learnt that the Ministry of Defence was unwilling to supply lorries and drivers without being guaranteed payment for their services. As a result there appear to have been delays in securing the use of high-sided vehicles that could deliver sleeping bags and flood parcels to the stricken communities.
In the area worst affected by the floodwater from the Severn and the Avon over the weekend, some homes were left without running water and supermarkets reported panic buying of bottled water and food, which is expected to create serious shortages for several days.
Other survivors huddle in the Worcestershire Saucedome, waiting to be rescued by Sean Penn.
- This just in: the Isle of Wight is completely surrounded by water.Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2007 07 23 at 11:51 AM • permalink
- How Wright you are Paul.
Small government! Did I blink and miss something. Maybe that coma lasted longer than I was led to believe.
FEMA did what all gov’t agencies do in those situations-deliver below the bare minimum despite having the maximum amount of resources at their disposal.
Bleeping up is what government agencies do. It must be in their “mission statement”.
- How big does government need to be to solve a problem?
We had terrible flash floods in Newcastle NSW on June 8 that drowned 5000 cars in an hour (ours was one), 12,000 houses (ours was one), and a bulk carrier thrown up on one of our beaches.
Volunteer services dealt with most of the energency. Ambulance, fire and police services were good, but the best were local citizens with workplace emergency training who saved many people from drowning. Our son who is a maritime worker swam people out of stranded cars and got them to safety, also organising them against hypothermia. He had a team of friends who did the same.
Governments can’t duplicate the services that volunteers provide. We had a rotten time in our floods, with 16 inches in three hours, we really do sympathise with the disaster in England, but let’s see who is actually pulling the weight.
My bet would be on ordinary Brits.
- Disaster plan teams state and retailers
When the next hurricane hits Texas, the Gulf region’s recovery time may depend less on the Federal Emergency Management Agency and much more on Wal-Mart, H-E-B, Home Depot and other large retailers.
“If FEMA shows up, good,” said Jack Colley, chief of the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management. ‘‘But we’re not waiting.”
The lesson we got out of that is not to wait around for big government to come save our ass which is a lesson everybody should know.
Posted by SwampWoman on 2007 07 23 at 12:06 PM • permalink
- #6 Lonetown:
Yeah, not to mention the extensive wind damage for miles further inland, too.
Posted by SwampWoman on 2007 07 23 at 12:08 PM • permalink
- Let me be the first to say “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” 😎Posted by Nova Scotia Mike on 2007 07 23 at 12:19 PM • permalink
- In Florida it’s long been known that you’re an idiot if you wait for someone to fly down from Washington to help you after a hurricane. Sure, they came by later with loans for homeowners, but that’s their function—to show up later with money and plans for rebuilding, NOT to rescue people from rising floodwaters. That’s what people have local organizations for.
I swear, sometimes I think that if these nanny-staters had a grease fire on their stove they’d call the White House and demand that the president fly over with a bucket of water.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2007 07 23 at 12:20 PM • permalink
- Red staters have contingency plans that involves actual action. Blue staters plans are to go on CNN and whine about how everybody else should come help them.Posted by SwampWoman on 2007 07 23 at 12:26 PM • permalink
Bleeping up is what government agencies do. It must be in their “mission statement”.
It is, yojimbo. But it’s written with invisible ink. ;-P
And I second all of the comments here about not waiting for the Federal government. Speaking from professional experience, the worst possible disaster plan is to expect Washington DC to send troops and money instantly to hold your hand while boatloads of contractors arrive to rebuild everything overnight. Ain’t gonna happen.
I actively discourage this line of thought whenever I encounter it. I encounter it all too frequently, and depressingly so.
Too bad the Brits didn’t take the right lesson from Katrina.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 07 23 at 12:40 PM • permalink
- #2: Governments the world over are primarily comprised of assholes
That’s true. I work for the government, and let me tell you, I . . . Hmmmm . . . Hey, even assholes gotta eat!
No, seriously, it’s true. While striving mightily not to be one myself, I have to fend ‘em off so frequently that it’s like a proctologist’s nightmare. Particularly government legal personnel; the worst of the worst.
- Official: Worst Floods In Modern History
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1276465,00.htmlOh, c’mon. Worse than those chinese floods that killed hundreds of thousands? I think not.
What’s this guy’s title, “Under-secretary for Hyperbole”?
- A nice parallel between Katrina and the UK experience: The disaster folks didn’t own any trucks and the military wouldn’t supply them.
Well, FEMA owned no trucks, either, and the locals left theirs under 8 feet of water. FEMA also owns no helicopters, boats or cargo planes, and must mobilize them from not-so-competent locals.
Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 07 23 at 02:27 PM • permalink
supermarkets reported panic buying of bottled water and food, which is expected to create serious shortages for several days.
We get that sort of behavior every time it’s announced that even a small Gorestorm of no more than a few inches is expected, the difference being that pre-snowstorm panic buying usually involves mass quantities of eggs, milk, and bread. Why people feel they need to prepare for snow by snapping up those three items is beyond me – I must have missed the government decree mandating living on French toast during snow emergencies.
Posted by Blue State Sil on 2007 07 23 at 03:18 PM • permalink
- Bah. I was part of the thundering herd of troops that swarmed New Orleans after Katrina… nobody in the #$%& place and thousands of us stacked on top of each other waiting to help…whom? Good old government overreaction after the fact. The poor old Coast Guard had already finished saving thousands by the time we got there – and they didn’t get as much as a pat on the butt in thanks. Instead, CNN followed the 82nd Airborne around the empty French Quarter.
Maybe the Brits will reconsider all that Defense cutting (particularly the RAF, eh?).
Posted by Major John on 2007 07 23 at 03:23 PM • permalink
- Excuse me, but who the hell told this guy that the U.S. is graced with “small government”! Much of what happened after Katrina in New Orleans was caused by big government engendering childish dependence in adults, who ought to have known better than to wait for (further) paternalism. New Orleans was an anomaly in this country, where most Americans still have enough sense of personal responsibility that they don’t just wait around for Papa—only to cry when he isn’t on time.
- I can tell you – after working in the disaster business for several years – that a centralized organization such as FEMA will never be able to react fast enough to satisfy local politicians bent on covering their butts. Nobody learned a darned thing from Katrina: It is the LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS who need to be ready to respond first.
And what about disaster activity after Katrina? There hasn’t been anything of note, which means tons of the disaster temporary employees and contractors – people who are trained and experienced – have melted back into the workforce (I was talking with a friend still in the business about this not a week ago). What that means is the next big’un will be just as big of a fiasco as Katrina was, which was just as big of a fiasco as the Northridge Earthquake was, and so on back to the beginning of FEMA under… President Jimmy Carter.
Federal level emergency management organizations are PROOF POSITIVE that large, centralized, governmental agencies are unworkable in most instances.
- I’m surprised that Uncle Sam hasn’t yet tried to jam a “disaster relief” tax down our throats. I’m sure it’ll be proposed by some bleeding-heart nanny-stater at some point.Posted by Blue State Sil on 2007 07 23 at 03:38 PM • permalink
- But I thought that hurricanes hardly ever happen in Hartford, Hampton and Herefordshire?Posted by andycanuck on 2007 07 23 at 04:15 PM • permalink
- #18 The govt doesn’t mandate French toast, we all instinctively know that French toast is very useful during blizzards. You can use it for snowshoes, and it provides traction when placed beneath your drive wheels, plus you can stuff your clothing with if for additional insulation.Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 07 23 at 05:00 PM • permalink
- I feel I must defend FEMA. I live in Gulfport Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina damaged main roads, highways, piers, etc. The storm surge came in 10 miles in some places. The winds were fierce and left trees, power lines, and other debris blocking roads.
Governor Haley Barbour, in co-ordination with the National Guard insured that vital supplies of water and ice were in our hands three days after Katrina hit.
Due to the conditions of the roads and damage to the infrastructure, I really wasn’t expecting any supplies to get in for a week.
While FEMA is derided for its response in New Orleans, people fail to understand the heroic rescue efforts of the Coast Guard, National Guard, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the majority of the New Olreans Police and Fire Departments. 50,000 people were rescued and evacuated from a city flooded anywhere from 4 ft to 18ft.
People in both New Olreans and Mississippi didn’t wait for governmental authorities. Cititzens in both places used whatever means were handy to rescue their neighbors who needed help.
I’m so glad that I was without power for 9 days and didn’t have to listen to all the bickering and blame-game going on in the news.
Mistakes were made and no operation on such a large scale can be prefect.
It would not have done any good for FEMA to send in truckloads of water and ice to New Olreans. And far from people being on the verge of dying from thrist or starvation, the National Guard had supplies in the Superdome. The supplies were rationed and people were given one meal and I forget how many bottles of water per day.
- Still don’t understand how both the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans seemed to come out of Hurricane Katrina pretty much smelling like roses, while most of the blame was shifted to Washington, D.C. At least that was the impression I got, viewing the whole business from Australia.
Governors and Mayors in the USA have much more power than their Australian counterparts but I didn’t see or read about their copping much flak at all.
- By Jove, missred, I think you’ve got it.Posted by andycanuck on 2007 07 23 at 07:19 PM • permalink
- GAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
It WASN’T small government that caused the Katrina problems it was INCOMPETENT and CORRUPT government!
I have lived most of my life in this 3rd world backwater. The military and national guard were double plus supergood. The Louisiana and Federal grandstanding officials and the uncurious rumor-mongering media were the problem. The one of my parish officials had the honor of being the first guy arrested for corruption a week after the storm. He stiffed a guy for half the promised kickback ($50k) and the “victim” reported him to the FBI (federal money at stake).Mississippi managed to cleanup Waveland (my siblings live on the Redneck Riviera) managed to get debris cleared from the roads before New Orleans had let their first fraudulent contract. By-the-way, most of New Orleans still looks as bad as the coast did two months after the storm.
One more thing – WalMart always has hurricane supplies on the way as soon as a storm hits the Gulf. They redirected shipments in route to FL before Katrina (I was securing a worksite near Pensacola) to New Orleans when the track shifted on Fri. The stuff was being unloaded when I went shopping at 3am on Sat morning.
Federal level emergency management organizations are PROOF POSITIVE that large, centralized, governmental agencies are unworkable in most instances.
Hucbald, I’m in the emergency management business myself. I’ll agree in part with you, and in part with seawitch.
Federal level emergency management agencies can and do provide good services…..if there is time for them to spin up their organizations. Most Federal agencies actually have disaster response as a secondary mission. As such, there are very few Federal agencies that I would label as “first responders”. The Coast Guard is one. The Forest Service is another (ever see them mobilize for a fire response?).
So, within the context of the National Response (which remains incomplete to this day, thanks to ….. well, never mind!), Federal agencies are generally a “second responder”. (Nothing enrages me more than hearing some senior executive stating that “So-and-so Agency is a first responder”….when they won’t be on the ground, in force, making a difference, for 3-7 days. If they are well prepared and aggressive about it.
In point of fact and law, first response during a disaster is the responsibility of local and state governments…..not to mention
individuals, families, and businesses.So, never depend on Uncle Sugar for help during the first few days of a disaster. Never. But in today’s media driven political decision making process, Uncle Sugar will soon arrive in force, flying over the disaster area, and kicking out bundles of money* to ease everyone’s pain.
======================
*: Metaphorically speaking, of course. Unless you count cash cards.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 07 23 at 08:03 PM • permalink
- Note to PM Brown. Imams make EXCELLENT sandbags. Especially the loud ones.Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 07 23 at 08:22 PM • permalink
- My heart goes out to the people of Britain-sub-le-Mer. Why, it actually rained here last night! In Los Angeles! In July! Surely such a climate catastrophe has never occured in all recorded history….Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 07 23 at 09:24 PM • permalink
- So people’s misery in a natural disaster is just more grist for your cheap and lousy mill of vendetta. Mill away, small creature; make your kids proud.Posted by Miranda Divide on 2007 07 23 at 10:18 PM • permalink
- #40
You betcher ass, Punkin. Now run along – shoo. You’re tracking troll poo all over our freshly cleaned carpets.
Posted by Blue State Sil on 2007 07 23 at 10:39 PM • permalink
- On a positive note, some people have reportedly had their first bath in years.Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 07 23 at 10:49 PM • permalink
- 40. So people’s misery in a natural disaster is just more grist for your cheap and lousy mill of vendetta.
No, that was how the Left played Katrina.
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2007 07 23 at 11:05 PM • permalink
- It’s Miranda Divide, yojimbo, a living, breathing, walking, talking pile o’ parody. S/he merely has to wake up in the morning, and irony detectors around the globe max out their meters.Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 07 24 at 12:46 AM • permalink
- #32 Come on, Miranda! Move your bloomin’ arse!Posted by andycanuck on 2007 07 24 at 12:48 AM • permalink
- I blame it all on the nanny state and their relentless beating of the collective societal psyche. They intrude upon the very personal bits of our lives and insist on telling us how and when to live. Soon they will be telling us where and who to live with I suspect. After 40 odd years of playing the role of father knows best, it has made society its children. Now what happens when disaster happens? The children naturally look to daddy to bail them out, because daddy has forbidden his children to take responsibility for their own selves.
That is my simple take on this. I am well aware there are many of us who take exception to that oppressive intrusion and refuse to play the game. But as Katrina has revealed, the corrupt politicians and the bloodthirsty media will take the vulnerable psyche of those affected and play a pointless and lying name game.
I am sure its a matter of time before Bush is blamed for the floods in Engerland.
- ha! I knew Bush would get named in the floods!
A What is Mr. Broon doing about it? Talking. Where is Tony Blair? Meddling in the Middle East. Where are our highly trained troops? Fighting Bush’s pointless wars in the Middle East. Is Prince Charles running appeals internationally to raise funds and get help? No, he is partying with Camilla. Is Bush sending help? No, of course not. Where are the EU? Nowhere to be seen. What about Cameron? He is off in Africa getting his photo taken while the country sinks!– Concerned British Citizen, London, UK
commenter from the Mail posted:
- Bugger! Just spent ages on a perfectly brilliant post and it disappeared into the ether.
Anyhoo. It was (sorta) like this. I’ve worked on many severe storm, flood and cyclone ops here in WA (SES) but have never come across the sickening sight of people sitting on the footpath screaming “help us, help us, help us” for the news cameras, as witnessed after Katrina. Of course, the media just lapped it up. I admit to yelling back “get off your big fat bums and help yourselves”. Yes, some people can get panicky, stroppy, even demanding if a tree just demolished half of their house, but they are calmly “helped” to realise that there are many others in the same, or a more urgent, situation and we are doing our best. Instant gratification has no place in emergency events. Specially BIG emergency events.
Reminds me of marchers yelling “what do we want? Answer: (whatever)”. When do we want it” Answer: “NOOOOWWW!”
#27 ann j: You’re dead right. The mayor and the governor seemed to be in a state of total confusion and indecision. Pres Bush personally phoned the governor twice, begging her to call in federal assistance. He couldn’t deploy any resources until she did – days later. But, somehow, he’s still to blame.
- Sandi, yes there were. But the wise mayor didn’t call for a mandatory evacuation. I think part of the reason he didn’t was because they couldn’t think of how to evacuate those without the means to do it themselves.
I was there on business in March. The city is depressing, the people are tired, but they have hope.
- A new :big government” study in Canada says that increased rainfall over the past 100 years in the higher lattitudes is proof of global warming as this observation agrees with computer models.
On the radio, the floods in the UK were brought into the discussion.
Amazing, rain in the UK is proof of global warming?
Do these people ever listen to themselves?
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 07 24 at 08:10 AM • permalink
- Yes. Rain in the UK is proof of global warming. There have NEVER been floods in the United Kingdom before. Certainly not in 1953, certainly not in 2000… nope, never. Gotta be that goshdarn climate change…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 07 24 at 10:44 AM • permalink
- #57 And remember, Wimpy, they’re the same morons who have been saying for the past five summers that the lack of rain in the Prairies and the Great Lakes’ water level plummeting, plummeting I tells ya, is because of AGW.
#48 What part of My Fair Lady is that from, missred?
Posted by andycanuck on 2007 07 24 at 11:07 AM • permalink
- While the USCG deservedly gets kudos for doing what they always do best, don’t forget that the Navy was flying helos from an amphib group into Nola within six hours of the storm passing over. We must have quicker channels than the Brits to ensure payment for services rendered by the US military to citizens in crises.
Oh, wait, we don’t charge for services rendered – I think we sort of feel we’re on permanent retainer. Maybe the limeys should consider, oh, I dunno, funding defense from, say, tax revenues or something?
Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 07 24 at 12:05 PM • permalink
- Heh, I was at NAS New Orleans (Belle Chase) and it wasn’t in too great a shape right after the storm. Good thing the Navy had something afloat in the area!Posted by Major John on 2007 07 24 at 01:48 PM • permalink
- Yeah, Major John, and Gulfport was hammered too – full of SeaBees who would have been invaluable but they had to dig themselves out first!
But what were you doing? Taking a leaf from the British, sitting in the motor pool on a stack of DD1149s, refusing to let a single truck out the gate without a cashier’s check in hand? The most amazing part of the quoted story is the Ministry of Defence refusing to provide vehicles – I can’t believe a serving officer or senior NCO did that, it just reeks of civil service timeserving REMFs.
Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 07 24 at 02:15 PM • permalink
- Steve,
A possible contributing factor is that the MOD response quoted is inaccurate, that it is RumInt-level info. That or I overlooked any reference to a MOD response to such questions.Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 07 24 at 08:13 PM • permalink
- Fair enough, JMH, the article simply states “the Times has learned…”
But I’m sure they rigorously fact checked it, right? Like, maybe called some guy at the Ministry of
Silly WalksDefence?Note I used a “c” in spelling Defense? I’m being culturally aware and sensitive and all that crap. Pretty cool, huh?
Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 07 24 at 09:03 PM • permalink
- Crap – now I see I spelled, er, misspelled “cheque.” I am so going to diversity hell.Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2007 07 24 at 09:04 PM • permalink
No Chili Championship Cook-Offs there, I reckon!