Red Cross Says "We Were Kept From Superdome By State"

Published on September 8, 2005 By Island Dog In Politics

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A report on Fox News from correspondent Major Garrett Wednesday night reveals a major break into what exactly went wrong at the Louisiana Superdome in the days after Hurricane Katrina struck the city.

An American Red Cross representative tells Fox News that the Louisiana State Homeland Security Department refused the relief organization permission to take food and water to the Superdome because they did not want to "encourage people to go there."

They State office of Homeland Security wanted to get people out and were afraid that providing support would be a "magnet" attracting more displaced citizens of New Orleans.

Link

Comments

bakerstreet

on Sep 08, 2005

I read the same thing. It even makes sense, in a way, but only if there weren't people already there. Starving people so that more people won't show up seems idiotic.

latour999

on Sep 08, 2005

Okay, I'm no expert on evacuations and such, but wouldn't it logically be easier to get supplies to people and save lives if they all went to the Superdome and clustered there, as opposed to being spread out all around the city?

These people are completely incompetent and borderline evil

Rightwinger

on Sep 08, 2005

Thank You! I been lookin' for this, and somebody finally found it. Maybe I shoulda tried Fox earlier, huh?
Man, no good deed goes unpunished, does it?

drmiler

on Sep 08, 2005

Not really. The facilities in and around the superdome can only handle so much.

Rightwinger

on Sep 08, 2005

Not really. The facilities in and around the superdome can only handle so much.

Perhaps, but it would probably have been possible to augment those facilities with Red Cross aid. It would have been easier to get the supplies to those who needed it most if more of them had been in one place, as opposed to scattered around the city.

Baub

on Sep 08, 2005

You're probably right about that, but for that to happen would have required someone to leadership to make that decision and make it stick. As of now, it looks like NO had the plan and it had the resources to make that plan work, but the Mayor was completely incompetent on the implementation of that plan. Even stupidity can be overcome through charisma and leadership, but NO had chosen someone who didn't possess the right combination of skills to get them through the crisis.

ParaTed2k

on Sep 09, 2005

Ironic, New Orleans goverment didn't follow their protocols during the evacuation, but when they had the chance to actually help people in the Superdome, all of the sudden their protocols became important.

The "New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Plan" designates the Superdome as a "Special Needs Shelter of Last Resort". Basically it means that the Superdome would be a place for people who have some kind of medical need that they can treat on their own (or with 1 caregiver).

Somehow, instead of being a secondary type shelter, the general public started showing up. Since the people were there, and the emergency plan was toilet paper any way, why they would refuse to let the Red Cross provide assistance is beyond me. Especially since they weren't redirecting anyone to an official shelter either.

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