Ice storm misery and deaths
The governors, mayors, churches, local Red Cross volunteers and friends and neighbors have handled last week's devasting ice storm blamed for 55 deaths and the cold and misery of thousands, to say nothing of the loss to the economy and taxes of those states due to closed businesses. When we were at dinner Friday night we ran into friends from our old neighborhood whose daughter and 3 grandchildren had come "home" from another state that was still without power. A good reason to keep a full gas tank in cold weather since gasoline pumps need electricity.The Democratic governor of Kentucky has, of course, praised President Obama even though I don't think FEMA has come through yet, and I doubt that Obama has visited the devastation. If Bush were still in office, we'd be hearing a different tune--Kyoto failed and therefore the temperature extremes and ice; the Guard was all out of the country, yada yada. Ah, hope and change. You've gotta love it.
Remember, it's up to the locals to ask for help from the federal government and to have their local emergency plan (and busses) in working order. That was the big mistake of Katrina, not a President vacationing in Texas. NOLA had an ineffective mayor and the state a poor governor.
3 comments:
wrong - Tulsa had an ice storm in 2007 that put over 300,000 people out of electricity. Most did not have power restored for almost a week, and some went several weeks without power in freezing temperatures. Price gouging was rampant, crime shot through the roof, people were starving - and guess what? No Bush. No Federal Aid. Not one penny to the people. FEMA? They didn't think it was a big enough problem to warrant their aid.
oh wait - FEMA did supply generators to businesses so they could open up. Nothing for the individuals.
I'm not sure what you're saying here. Your local disaster planning failed, and FEMA didn't show up to rescue them? Now whose fault was that? The president's or your mayors and governor? Or did the cable news shows not send Geraldo to shiver in the cold and lament? I suspect warm weather disasters will always get more coverage than the ice storms.
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