CNN.com - Conditions deteriorate in Katrina's wake - Aug 31, 2005

Update from New Orleans

President Bush has decided to cut his vacation short a day to "coordinate rescue efforts". That's leadership. We first learned that New Orleans could be in trouble when - last Thursday? Actually, it has been known for years that New Orleans was perhaps our city most at risk in the case of a major hurricane. In 2002 the Red Cross estimated that 25,000 or 100,000 people could die if a major hurricane hit New Orleans. Think somebody could have told George W. that this was worth leaving the ranch for? Finally we hear from the United States Navy that four ships will leave Virginia TOMORROW. The Navy's amphibious support ships are the best way to move lots of people quickly. Navy transports in the Atlantic fleet have enough capacity to house all of the 30,000 refugees that are now at the Superdome. They could have been on station by now if the federal government had taken its own hurricane predictions seriously.

Interestingly, FEMA was a cabinet level department under Bill Clinton. FEMA was demoted to a subbranch of the department of Homeland Security under George W. Bush.

Now there's talk of moving about 30,000 people from the Superdome to the Houston Astrodome. Here's an alternative: Give each person a number. Have a dozen people with laptop computers register each person. Give each person a $1000 check from FEMA. Have about 10 interim destinations set up as departure points. By Helicopter, bus, or boat, send each person or small group to the departure sites. (Houston, Baton Rouge, etc.) Recruit about 1000 travel agents to each book 30 people from the departure site to a chosen destination: The chosen destination might be a relative's house, a volunteer's house, a long-term shelter, or even a hotel or campground. With this plan everybody is out in 24 hours and you don't have to mess with the Astrodome.

CNN.com - Conditions deteriorate in Katrina's wake - Aug 31, 2005