http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/we...l?pagewanted=1
interesting read here ...accounts of the 1927 floods in the same areas and govt reaction then vs now...
then read these quotes from Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard
"We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.
"It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support. It needs to be a Cabinet-level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like New Orleans, with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's got to be able to come in and save lives.
"We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA ...."
Broussard then revealed unbelievable, clearly treasonous acts -- committed against his administration's valient efforts to save Katrina victims in Jefferson Parish, and to provide them with crucial relief in those first few desperate hours:
"... We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water ... trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago .....
"FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my
Parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday!--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines! They cut them without notice.
"Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--[the] American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis [emphasis added] ...."
http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/weblog.htm