FEMA

[Penguin]

I guess currently, Houston area folks are giving them a grade of B. But, they sure got off to a rough start.

#1. FEMA promised 40 pods in the Houston area. (POD=point of distribution, where they hand out food, water, and ice) They only delivered enough for 17.

#2. FEMA pre-positioned supplies to be delivered. I guess they haven't realized that robot truck drivers have not been invented yet and they never made any plans to actually deliver the supplies. The City of Houston had to scramble and hire their own truck drivers to go out and drive the 18 wheelers to town.

#3. The trucks were being sent to Reliant Stadium, which was decided to be the central staging area for delivering the goods. FEMA employees were sending too many trucks to some pods and not enough to others. Some trucks were actually being turned away at some pod locations because of misunderstandings. Some pods were closing 2 hours before they were supposed to. The FEMA people were essentially "fired" by the mayor of Houston, and the city took over the distribution.

#4. **** poor choices for pod locations. They opened one location in a remote area and they sent 3 18-wheelers full of water, ice, and food there. Only 4 people showed up to pick up stuff. Also, on the first day, they opened 5 pods in The Woodlands, an unincorporated town of 50,000, and they opened a grand total of 3 pods in the city limits of Houston, America's fourth largest city, a city of 2.2 million. The Woodlands people there were allowed to take over and they made everybody looking for food and ice to show ID to prove that they live in The Woodlands. Nobody from Houston was allowed there. They are not the only ones who did this. Baytown did that, too.

#5. Bad deliveries. Yesterday, a bunch of starving people showed up in Pear Land looking for food and water. A truck showed up full of "snack packs." Instead of MRE's, they were handing out bags of chips to good, tax paying people who hadn't eaten in 2 days. Some pods never got food. Some never got ice. I don't care how rich you are, after 2-3 days of no power, your ice is gone. Bye bye food. Everybody needs ice.

#6. FEMA hotel vouchers. Just a joke. Hotels don't have to take them. Take a hike, folks.


Now, things are getting a lot better now that the local folks have just about completely taken over FEMA's job. I know that the mayor, Bill White, is really trying to sugarcoat the whole thing. The last thing he needs is angry people. People have their food and ice now, and nobody is too worked up over FEMA's fumbles.


Sure, FEMA is better than nothing, but, emergencies are their job. Sure, you can never prepare for every catastrophe, but they need to have some sort of general plan. Pre-position, pick a central distribution center, and communicate (there are satellite phones in existence, you know). Get some smart people together and figure out the logistics for each type of disaster. Let's not do this on the fly again.

[Whet]

According to the National Response Framework, the local agencies are responsible for developing a plan for addressing disasters. Houston is supposed to have a complete plan for this type of disaster, including addressing distribution of pre-positioned supplies. So, if citizens want to complain about the plan - complain to the city's Emergency Response Coordinator....

[OK2LA]

I was surprised that we (Sacramento) supplied many of those trailers that went to San Antonio. We sent 50 trailers down there a couple of weeks ago, and they just picked up 8 more today. I guess they go over to Reno - fill up, and then head down to Texas.

[Penguin]

According to the National Response Framework, the local agencies are responsible for developing a plan for addressing disasters. Houston is supposed to have a complete plan for this type of disaster, including addressing distribution of pre-positioned supplies. So, if citizens want to complain about the plan - complain to the city's Emergency Response Coordinator....


I never complained about Houston's plan. They took over and things are running efficiently now.

[Rogue]

OKC is the model most places strive toward for their local plan.

This hurricane season, we (other federal agencies) deployed healthcare workers a few days ahead of the expected landfall through DEMPS. Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Since when the hell is ice a necessity?

[royalfan5]

Since when the hell is ice a necessity?

Probably since food spoils and old people struggle when it is warm.

[Lott's Bandana]

#4. **** poor choices for pod locations. They opened one location in a remote area and they sent 3 18-wheelers full of water, ice, and food there. Only 4 people showed up to pick up stuff. Also, on the first day, they opened 5 pods in The Woodlands, an unincorporated town of 50,000, and they opened a grand total of 3 pods in the city limits of Houston, America's fourth largest city, a city of 2.2 million. The Woodlands people there were allowed to take over and they made everybody looking for food and ice to show ID to prove that they live in The Woodlands. Nobody from Houston was allowed there. They are not the only ones who did this. Baytown did that, too.




.

This bugs me. Upper middle class bedroom community gets priority over the city inhabitants. Then, the SUV-drivin, mall rat clones refuse to share.

It is good to see the community governments and agencies taking charge. The mayor sounds like he is doing his best...all things that worked well after Hugo.

Oh, and ice is really important in situations like this...or at least can be. Every home has a refrigerator/freezer that is storing rotting food. Big BBQ grill parties occur where the neighbors all get together and cook their meat before it rots...then it needs to be kept in ice. Breast milk, medicines, etc.


Thanks for the post, Penquin. Spek seems incredibly unimportant right now, but spek it is.
:)

[sooner_born_1960]

Since when the hell is ice a necessity?
Just because you like your liquor straight out of the bottle doesn't mean the rest of us shouldn't be able to enjoy a refreshing cocktail.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

It's because I'm hard.

But seriously. Ice!? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Yeah, food spoils. Newsflash, that's a new one on me. Good thing you guys got me back up to speed. *foreheadslap*

Frozen goods are a loss. Unless you step up with the neighbors and have a big ol' cookout, like was mentioned. Don't like the concept? Throw it away. You're without power. You're no longer in a pattern where you can live the way you once did. Now is the time where the ant looks at the grasshopper and starts laughing his *** off. Now's the time that the canning and pre-planning wins. Not the guvmint firing up an ice trailer because you got a london broil in the frickin' freezer. Waste. Of. Money. Waste. Of. Time.

When the necessity of refrigeration comes into play, such as with medicines, communities step up (or at least they should). Prioritizing distribution of equipment to must-have areas. Communal equipment. Hell, neighbor A has a generator. Neighbor B is a diabetic. Neighbor A lets Neighbor B put their insulin in the fridge. Neighbor B stays at a shelter. Neighbor B lives within a stone's throw from the Gulf, so they 1) get their own dang generator, 2) petition the municipality for one, 3) petition FEMA, or 4) go somewhere that has one.

But instead, the answer is to post up an ice truck and delay the inevitable, or at least try and stave it off until power crews get their equipment back online. That's not emergency management. That's stop-gap BS.

[achiro]

This bugs me. Upper middle class bedroom community gets priority over the city inhabitants. Then, the SUV-drivin, mall rat clones refuse to share.

It is good to see the community governments and agencies taking charge. The mayor sounds like he is doing his best...all things that worked well after Hugo.

Oh, and ice is really important in situations like this...or at least can be. Every home has a refrigerator/freezer that is storing rotting food. Big BBQ grill parties occur where the neighbors all get together and cook their meat before it rots...then it needs to be kept in ice. Breast milk, medicines, etc.


Thanks for the post, Penquin. Spek seems incredibly unimportant right now, but spek it is.
:)
I kind of wondered about the woodlands too. Did they really have much damage up there? My cousin lives in League City pretty close to the bay and they had their power on by Monday.

[Penguin]

Like I said, FEMA got off to a rough start. Everything seems to be running fine now. I'm sorry if it seems that I'm dwelling on the negative. I just wanted to report some things that I doubt that the national media will report.

[Miko]

I kind of wondered about the woodlands too. Did they really have much damage up there? My cousin lives in League City pretty close to the bay and they had their power on by Monday.

I don't know the extent of the damage but they are or were without power. My daughter lives there and is without power. I am taking her some ice after work today. I also have a cousin that lives in the Woodlands, they suffered a tree through the roof, but got power back last night.

[StoopTroup]

Just because you like your liquor straight out of the bottle doesn't mean the rest of us shouldn't be able to enjoy a refreshing cocktail.



heh

[Penguin]

I don't know the extent of the damage but they are or were without power. My daughter lives there and is without power. I am taking her some ice after work today. I also have a cousin that lives in the Woodlands, they suffered a tree through the roof, but got power back last night.


Yeah, they have a ton of trees up there. The funny thing is that most of the power lines in The Woodlands are underground, just like downtown Houston. Downtown never lost power, but The Woodlands sure did. Weird. I guess uprooted trees pulled up some power lines?

[Tulsa_Fireman]

My niehgborhood is like that.

All underground. But the secondaries that feed the neighborhood are aerial. Lose them, blammo. You lose the whole enchilada.

[Half a Hundred]

Yeah, they have a ton of trees up there. The funny thing is that most of the power lines in The Woodlands are underground, just like downtown Houston. Downtown never lost power, but The Woodlands sure did. Weird. I guess uprooted trees pulled up some power lines?

The Woodlands is covered by Entergy, Houston and Harris County by CenterPoint. CenterPoint's transmission lines downtown are very well protected, and have the added benefit of going directly from the South Texas plant across open coast south of town, without too many tall trees. It's not surprising that the lines weren't affected too badly.

Entergy's lines, on the other hand, have to go through parts of the Sam Houston National Forest. Needless to say, this caused much damage, and a major failure at their primary power plant/distribution center means that Montgomery County's going to be without power for quite some time.

My house in Spring will be one of the last to be repowered, due to a pine tree sitting on top of the power lines branching off a low-priority main line. Yay for us.

[Penguin]

Since when the hell is ice a necessity?

Hell, forget ice. What about booze? I drove to 4 different pod sites and nobody had any booze! FEMA can at least ship in some crappy Taaka vodka or something! We need our liquor! Do you know how boring it is to go looting while being stone cold sober? :mad:

[Half a Hundred]

Hell, forget ice. What about booze? I drove to 4 different pod sites and nobody had any booze! FEMA can at least ship in some crappy Taaka vodka or something! We need our liquor! Do you know how boring it is to go looting while being stone cold sober? :mad:

I was volunteering downtown, and they brought around cans with that wonderful Anheuser-Busch logo on it. I thought "at least they know how to keep the people happy."

Then I saw it was just water. Jerks.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Yeah!

We got those in Tulsa with the ice storm. Beer water, hold the beer.

[Half a Hundred]

Yeah!

We got those in Tulsa with the ice storm. Beer water, hold the beer.

Wait, there's a difference between Oklahoma beer and water? :confused:

[Whet]

It looks like some have a misconception of what FEMA does, how it does it, and what role the local government plays in disaster relief. I'm pretty sure Tulsa Fireman is knowledgeable of the ICS and the roles associated with the system.

If you really want to learn the how's and why's - go to the following site and if you feel like learning something take the independent study course: IS-102, that will give you a flavor of what's involved in these actions.....

http://training.fema.gov/index.asp

[StoopTroup]

Don't go getting the facts involved in this.

I want to be mad about what I think FEMA should do. :D

[Penguin]

It looks like some have a misconception of what FEMA does, how it does it, and what role the local government plays in disaster relief. I'm pretty sure Tulsa Fireman is knowledgeable of the ICS and the roles associated with the system.

If you really want to learn the how's and why's - go to the following site and if you feel like learning something take the independent study course: IS-102, that will give you a flavor of what's involved in these actions.....

http://training.fema.gov/index.asp

Do you work for FEMA? You sure are quick to defend them.

In your version, FEMA would only have 2 employees. One dude to make phone calls and "arrange" supplies, and one dude to high-five the president in front of the cameras. :texan:

[Whet]

Do you work for FEMA? You sure are quick to defend them.

In your version, FEMA would only have 2 employees. One dude to make phone calls and "arrange" supplies, and one dude to high-five the president in front of the cameras. :texan:
and your point is?

[Penguin]

and your point is?


Have you ever read any of my posts? It should be extremely clear that I never have a point.

If you ever get into a long discussion with me, you will wind up with 20 fewer IQ points and you will wonder where your afternoon went.

[StoopTroup]

and your point is?

Do not ruffle his feathers. :D