Katrina

[Creighton]

Thoughts and prayers for all those in the area of this storm.
Creighton

[jasmine64]

Pray we dont get any of the bad stuff.
As long as it stay east of the MS river our rice and soybean crops will be ok.

Soy beans do ok, but it's awflu hard for the combines to get to & cut the rice when it's laying flat on the ground from the high winds.

Not to mention hubby will be hard to live with from the extra work.

[Jim]

I had enough last year!
This storm tracked south of us so we didn't experience much in the way of bad conditions, loss of power, phones etc, etc...

[Kevin C]

Hello

All of us that live on or near the coast understand what each of you is going through.

Our thoughts will be with everyone in the storms path.

Kevin  (Charleston SC)

[jasmine64]

My cousin lost everything to Katrina.
She and her family left Biloxi the day before it hit
and could only take a couple suitcases with them.

They are lucky to be a young couple, so starting over
will be easier for them.

The emotional attachment to their belongings will be hard
to get over, their small childern are having a tough time
being away from their home, toys, beds and
friends.

[sodaworks]

Wow what a mess Katrina left for the people of the area.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the people devistated by the storm. After watching the news it totally blows me away by the scum bags looting the area. I know how the people of our small town would handle this situation!!!

[jasmine64]

Yes, from what I can see on the news, the looting is bad, like what
 in the world are they going to do with tv's and appliances?
I can understand bottles of water, canned food and baby formula
to survive but appliances?'>

My daughters friend is stranded in hattiesburg ms at the frat house at
Univ. Southern ms.

He cant leave because there is only 3 roads usable for emergency vehicles (maybe tomorrow), no gas and he says
if you have money you cant spend it on gas there is none and water is
like gold.

His cell phone has a charger in his car so he is keeping it going. His bill will
be in the hundreds since Cellular south is the only cell coverage that is working.
he has let people call home with it.

[BrianB]

Yep...The worst part about the looting is of course the loss of property, but, local law enforcement is pretty helpless to really do anything to discourage it except by being there projecting "officer presence".

Other contributing factors: no place to lock-up looters, vehicles have no gas to transport....Pretty much sucks for the police.

My prayers go to all those affected by Katrina.

[jasmine64]

I've been watching the jackson ms news all morning.
There has already been a killing over a bag of ice in hattiesburg,
my daughter is freaking out because her friend cant get out until later today.

We still have family in Jones county that hasnt contacted anyone.
I'm going to try again later to make calls.

We may see gas rationing here in the next few days already talks
of increasing price to 3.10 gallon tomorrow. Hotels are full here
grocery store full. Hope it get better soon people are  so home sick.

Please pass along prayers to you own church family for those
outside New orleans that hasnt gotten help yet.
Now thunderstorms are moving in.

[davethebirdman]

The Katrina Incident is the major news in the UK. The sights that are being transmitted are terrible.
They interviewed a man who told the camera crew that he had hold of his wife's hand all night in the water. Se looked at him and said "Look after the kids" then broke his grip and was carried away. How do you deal with that???

As for the looting. What the #### can you do with a TV in a city with no electricity. As they say "One man's loss is another's gain."

Did you see the pictures of the jail?? No point locking people up if you have no facilities to do so.

Knowing how quick you guys can turn an event like this around. I'm sure that the South will be up on its feet in next to no time. Possesions can always be replaced. Life on the other hand is precious.

New Oreleans is the most fabulous place in the world I can't believe that it will just be left to rot.

Dave (From across a not so calm sea)

[halehouse]

It is just amazing how bad it got and how fast it developed. It only gets worse as I watch the news today. Think you'll hear any stories of foreign aid assistance?  For the most part the US will be on her own.

[dr galaga]

Plus now everyone is freaking out about gas.  This morning I saw the price jump up 15 cents a gallon on the way to work and people were lining up (45 minute trip and usually the same price around the whole are).  What started as $2.85 a gallon (regular) has now jumped to $3.25!

[halehouse]

On our way to work gas was $2.59 so my wife and I stopped to fill up. This afternoon it is up in the $2.80's.

[Pat Pixley]

Do we have any members that live in any of
state's were the hurricane hit ??
  The price of gas has jumped to to $3.13 for regular
   and $3.39 for premium for right now.

   Pat

[dr galaga]

I just put $15 in my beater truck (which I think I'll be driving almost every day now) for $3.29 for regular unleaded (cheapest here which is 45 minutes from Chicago). '>

[Creighton]

Jasmine64 for one is right in the h*ll of it all.
Talked to a friend that lives in Jackson, Miss. He is ok but his brothers house in N.O. is underwater, sisters house in Biloxi is gone. Two elderly relatives in Ford county no word yet.
CNN (web) had a picture of looting in a store and captioned it "Residents assist in the clean up effort". Prayers out to all!! Very bad situation.
Creighton

[davethebirdman]

Foreign Aid - Not sure the US would ask for it. They might ask for specialist aid like searching for bodies etc. After 9/11 the Metropolitan Police sent aid to the NYPD for things like Family liasion.

As for Gas or Petrol we in the UK laready pay about $1.80 a LITRE. That's right a litre which equates I think to about $10.00 a gallon. The news reported last night that this is likely to raise considerably due to the fact that all the refinaries are out of action.

Small price to pay I guess for having my family home and security.

Dave

[jasmine64]

I'm in north MS. Just far enough away north to get Jackson Ms tv news and
far enough south to get memphis news.

Has Josh moved from memphis yet? I know they lost power in memphis.

I'm fortunate we got some wind damage,
still cant locate and speak to family in Jones county Ms.

Some friend are flying out this morning in their plane to
take supplies to their family outside Baton Rouge.  
Matter of fact I think that was them now that buzzed the house.
Either that or I now have a crop duster in the back yard.

Now I've got to go pull the dog out from under the couch she hates the planes.

[loman4ec]

Yes we had a heck of a storm. They said the winds were 60MPH gusting to 70 MPH. WE lost power at home for about 13 hours but after being in 3 hurricanes in Fl last year it was nothing. The wost thing was trying to get ready for work at 7AM in the dark.
Marsha how close are you to Tupulo? How bad did they get it? That is where the free machines are and I haven't heard from the guy yet.

[jasmine64]

I'm 3 hours away. I have friends in Tupelo/Shannon area that had lots of wind damage and lost some of their
roof off their horse barns. They had some electricity and occasional phone service.

Seems like cellular South service is the only cell phone service that has good connections.

Havent heard from the ones in Corinth and Columbus. But I'm sure they came here, being
family is still here. I need to make a call to find out.

[Jim]

There's not much in the way of words that can ease the minds of loved ones in this disaster, but just be sure our thoughts and prayers are with you through this troubling time...
 '>

[jasmine64]

I support the American Red Cross, Blood donations, Operation Blessing (cbn.com) and local k-9 unit.
 
I felt very good yesterday when the operation blessing trucks rolled in to Hattiesburg MS. Knowing my donations I've been giving since the tsunami last year,  was at work.

[MoonDawg]

We need to send a cruise ship to the Gulf to be used as a floating hospital.

[BrianB]

Actually there has been talk of using a few cruise liners as temporary berthing facilities. The Navy has already sent the USNS Comfort which is one of two huge Hospital Ships that we maintain in our fleet.

[Pat Pixley]

Hey jasmine64 , do you need any thing  like some can goods or any supplies,  to help out for a while .Just say so
and I will send it off to you. Ok Thats what this is all about
 to help friends out.

Pat P.

[jasmine64]

I'll get back with you after we go to the shelter today. We are working with my daughters school with the community service club taking donations, clothes and food.

They will know what else is needed. I should know more after lunch.

[joesquid]

The Navy has deployed an entire Battle Group to the Gulf Region.  USS IWO JIMA (LHD-7) deployed 31 August from Norfolk, VA along with the Amphibious Transport Dock Ship USS SHREVEPORT (LPD-12), the Dock Landing Ship USS TORTUGA (LSD-46) and LCACs (high speed heavy lift hovercraft) from ACU-2.  Also deployed was the Rescue/Salvage Vessel USS GRAPPLE (ARS-53).  The combined capabilities of these ships will provide Helo landing/supply facilities (USS IWO JIMA), transportation of supplies to the beach via helo/LCAC/conventional landing craft (USS SHREVEPORT and TORTUGA), and salvage, heavy tow operations, self support dive platform operations, firefighting, and rescue capabilities (USS GRAPPLE).
Also from Norfolk, the aircraft carrier USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN-75), and Dock Landing Ship USS WHIDBEY ISLAND (LSD-41) deployed yesterday (1 September).  TRUMAN will be the operations center for relief/rescue efforts performed by the battle group.  This battle group will join USS BATTAN (LHD-5) already on station and providing relief support.  USNS ARCTIC (T-AOE-8) is enroute from New Jersey and will provide extra stores supplies for the relief efforts.  This ship alone can supply up to 8 million gallons of fuel and water, 500 long tons of stores and 250 tons of refrigerated stores.  She's a recently designed fast combat oiler using gas turbines (same ones that push DC-10s through the sky) for propulsion and a top speed in excess of 30 knots.  I served onboard her sister ship USNS RAINIER (T-AOE-7) and can guarantee nothing moves that amount of supplies faster!  I've also served in the Rescue/Salvage fleet and can tell you USS GRAPPLE is as capable as they come.  She's small with a shallow draft that allows her to get in close to shore to clear a path for beach support operations and can maneuver easily in tight areas.
From Naval Station Mayport/Jacksonville, FL, four helo squadrons have been mobilized to assist the Amphibious Carriers (USS IWO JIMA and BATTAN).
My crew is awaiting orders to deploy as well in any area of support that can be offered.

I hate disasters but this is one of those times I absolutely love my job!!!
Tell friends and family in the area that help is truly on the way as fast as we can get there!

[jasmine64]

The community here has come out in full force. So I dont think we will be needing immediate supplies. The local blood bank has asked for blood donations that right now is a urgent need.

If anyone does want to help donation wise, donate blood, send money to the red cross and also operation blessing (cbn.com).

Our friends flew back today if anyone wants pictures let me know i'm waiting for them to be emailed to me. when I get them I'll pass them on.

OPeration Blessing is in place now in Hattiesburg Ms , they are taking donations and replenishing the salvation armys food and water.

My cousin made a trip to Pass Christian to view their home and neighborhood she took supplies to the local high school and was amazed
at what they found. NO one has been in there. Only k-9 units searching for bodies. They found their house and not much left. Looters hadnt made it
there yet and she found her wedding pics and china, but not much more. The flood and winds took it all.

There's alot of bad here, like the mouth of the MS is clogged. We cant ship out grain and beans, they load the barges and they are idle in the slack water harbors. So that's messing with the farmers storing crops. The ripple affect will be felt for a long time.

[davethebirdman]

We have had nothing but news of New Oreleans on our TV's for the last four days. I have tried to soak up as much as I can. I think you all know how I feel about the US. Don't know what is being reported your side but over here its all very negative about the relief effort. We are seeing pictures of Annarchy and people literally dying of thirst. Questions are being asked about why it has taken the second greatest nation so long to get the relief effort together.

When disaster hit South Asian it seemed that help was there within hours. Yet a great city in a great country appeared to be left to fend for itself for days before someone said lets help those poor bas***ds out.

Maybe its the slant put on the news here. Thank God help is now there. New Oreleans is the greatest  city I have ever had the pleasure to visit. Please Mr President don't let it be completely washed away.  

If anyone can turn this around the US can. Look back at history. 9/11 Earthquakes in California every type of natural disaster. Thk God we only have the rain to complain about.

Jasmine, when the dust has settled and you are looking around for some rest and recoup you are most welcome at my home anytime.

Dave

[joesquid]

I know there's been lots of anger and resentment on how long it took to get supplies and help into the area but we have to step back and take a look at the big picture.  Katrina took almost the perfect path for most damage inflicted and neatly cut off the gulf coast from internal supply routes.  All major interstates and highways to that area of the gulf coast were either totally wiped out or so badly damaged that the amount of time necessary to clear roads for even rough terrain type travel made it worthless to attempt.  As Jasmine noted, the Mississippi is inaccessible from the Delta as it has been neatly plugged by Katrina's onslaught.  Major bases and FEMA facilities within a day's drive were also badly damaged and/or as already noted, overland routes were made inaccessible.  The nearest full-size Navy base with full capabilities to provide support is Norfolk, VA.  Mayport, Fl supports only Destroyer Squadrons, and they're not what we need in the area.  The Army has finally managed to get roadways open and countless helo support has arrived from all service branches.  The TRUMAN Battle Group is nearly all on station and will be providing relief efforts from the Gulf area.  In a nutshell, this was a worse-case scenario beyond the imagination of most of us.  My own father called last night to rant and rave about the devistation and lack of support (he lives in Missouri) and I calmly asked him had he donated anything......a slight pause then continued ranting.  Rather than complain about how badly this situation was bungled (which I disagree) the loudest proponents would better serve themselves and the victims by harnessing all that wasted energy and go help load supply trucks, give blood, send money...SOMETHING other than complain.  We can complain and point fingers all we want AFTER the victims have all been evacuated and provided for....

....and you can vote for me in November. :'>

having fun sending supplies from Maine!!

[jasmine64]

I finally contacted my family in south Ms. They are fine, alot of roof damages to everyones homes along with severe tree damage that took out the power lines and phone service.
They will be without power for several weeks. Good thing they are fine. Curfew is in affect and gas is rationed to discourage joy riding and sightseers. They have no news getting in only by people that have come from the outside. They were shocked
to know NO was in ruins. Shows how much the outer counties are clueless.

[Pat Pixley]

Well I'm going to go give blood tomorrow( I don't like needle's
to the point were I pasting out) But I'm going to do this to help.
 My wife employeer (Michigan Millers Mutual )  is taking  Cash donations from there employee's  and they are going to match
 it by the end of next Friday I dropped off  our donation today.
Plus we are going to drop off a case of water tomorrow at a drop off point.

I hope that you folk's get all this help soon .
Pat P.

[BryanH]

Other than the gouging at the gas pumps, the tragedy seems so far removed from life in AZ.  We'll be praying and pitching in financially through the Catholic Charities USA.  If we can be of assistance in any specific way just ask and we'll try to help.

[sodaworks]

I was totally amazed today when I got to work this morning. I learned that our company "Lehigh Cement" donated 100K to the Katrina disaster relieve fund. We also had a local donation drive from the employees at our local plant here in Tehachapi. Most of us employees donated 150.00 to 200.00 bucks. Several thousands where raised. It feels good to contribute to these fellow americans in their time of need. '>

[BrianB]

It's great to see everybody coming together. On a more personal note, Jasmine, it's awesome to hear that your relatives are ok.

I myself on stand-by to be mobilized with the United States Naval Reserve. I am a Master-At-Arms, meaning I will more than likely be assisting with security functions at one of the two Naval Bases in New Orleans. So, I sit and wait.

[Pat Pixley]

Well I did the Blood thing and right on cue gone as soon as the needle
 hit .  We did drop off two case's of water, Dan Henry distributing
 is sending 5 semi truck down to you they are leaving tomorrow
  this is from the greater Lansing Mich. Area .
  And prayer go out to every one down there.
Pat

Howdy all,

Just wanted to let my friends at smc know that I returned Friday from serving the past two weeks with my National Guard Unit in New Orleans.  I'm safe and still healthy but will forever remember what I saw there.  This post is a bit long but tells the story of what I saw.  If you have the time, read on.

On the first day of our mission we arrived in Belle Chasse, a suburb south of New Orleans. Our landing point was a Naval Reserve air field that despite suffering heavy damage and having no running water or power had been set up as a makeshift arrival point for most of the National Guard units from out of state who came to help out thier neighbor state of Louisiana.  The airfield was probably the busiest it had ever been as scores of rescue helicopters, C130 cargo planes, air refuelers and nearly every other variety of military transportatoin arrived on the scene to help.  I have never seen such a massive number of military vehicles.  Every inch of available land on the base had troops setting up makeshift camps for the night before embarking on thier missions.  Vast quantities of supplies were arriving with the thousands of troops.  To put it mildly, the infrastucture of the base was unable to cope with the demands put upon it.  Only a handfull of forklifts were still serviceable after the storm and were running 24 hours a day hustling endless pallets of MRE's (meals ready to eat) and bottled drinking water to feed the thousands of troops moving throughout the region. My unit, the 147th fighter wing from Houston, Texas, was forced to sleep under the stars on the flight line for two days as we awaited transportation into the city.  There were simply no vehicles to move us to a position to
begin helping.

Finally, at around noon on day three, two charter busses arrived and carried us to our destination.  We were to set up camp in the devistated New Orleans Convention center.  When we arrived, the building still had not been cleared of the thousands of "displaced citizens" (I call them that because our command believed the term "refugee" to be too degrading and not PC).  As the military police emptied the building we waited in a riverside warehouse for several hours.  Finally, as the last of the "displaced citizens" were cleared out, we began moving in to our new home.

The scene at the convention center was utter devistation.  This destruction was not caused by the hurricane, but by the thousands of people who where camped there waiting for help.  Words cannot describe what I saw.  Forgive me if this is offensive to anyone, but I believe that if most anyone who believes in creationism were to take a tour of the convention center as we found it, they would give more credence to the theory of evolution and reevaluate whether or not we are descended from animals.  Had I not known otherwise, I would have been sure that the devistation of the lobby had been caused by non-human creatures.  There were piles of human waste (poop to anyone not knowing what I am talking about) occupying nearly every square yard of carpet on all three floors of the mile long building.  It was smeared and thrown on the walls in a fashion reminiscant of what I have seen at zoos in primate cages.

There were a total of four people found dead in the convention center, some murdered by thier fellow man.  One of these I stepped over in the dark not knowing what it was.  I couldn't even detect the smell of a days-old rotting body because the smell in the air from the waste was overpowering even that. I really don't know how I kept my lunch.

My unit quickly set up our living area at the back of Hall G and began cleaning the acres of concrete floor we would be living on.  We shoveled up the piles of debris in our new home and bleached the floors to nullify the biohazardous waste.  We also sealed all the doors around us to help prevent the incredibly strong odor of urine and feces from infiltrating our living area.  A small crew of mechanics, including myself, set out to commandeer fork lifts to move our supplies.  We successfully hot wired about a dozen and began husting supplies into the convention center for the thousands of troops that were about to call it home.

The next week and half were spent on actual missions to secure the city.  Occasionally, I would play "bus driver" and haul crews in a Viet Nam era "deuce and a half" truck to thier posts around the city.  As we drove through the flood waters, I was dumbstruck by the devistation.  The city that I had loved and visited often was a vacant and submerged ruin.  My unit
was tasked basically as a securty guard service with M-16 rifiles.  I spent some days guarding the crews that were busily rebuilding the levees.   I spent others keeping the media away from Memorial Hospital where the staff, in a hurry to save themselves, left 45 people to die.

Spending 12 hours a night guarding that hospital left me a lot of time to contemplate human nature.  I couldn't help but tear up as the thought came to me that our society might be in real trouble.  45 souls perished alone in thier hospital rooms when the people, who were supposed to be care givers, saved thier own skins and forgot thier duty to protect and save life.  Nobody even took the time on thier way out to let rescue workers know that these people needed help.  A helicopeter could easily have reached the landing pad on top of the building and saved many lives - it never arrived.  I can only imagine the last days of the now-dead patients.

I'm not an expert on anything relating to what makes people act the way they do.  I can only observe and form my own opinions.  In driving busses for A&M, I have all been cut off countless times by people who risk the safety of everyone on my bus so that they can get home five seconds sooner.  It's the same "me first" attitude that was seen at the hospital and it is becoming pervasive in socitey today.  Fortunately, in seeing the efforts of
the rescue workers and countless volunteers manning the shelters, I am relieved to know that "me first" isn't the only attitude left in society and I know that kindness and compassion can still exist in the darkest hour.

Friday I was flown back to Houston so that I may try to salvage what's left of this semester.  After spending two weeks without running water I was overjoyed at the simple sight of my own bathroom and enormously glad to have a meal that didn't come from a sealed plastic pouch.  Funny how only two weeks in #### can make you appreciate the simple things in life.  I look forward to returning to New Orleans but I think I'll wait a year or so.  I'm
certain the city will recover and be even better than before.

Thanks to all of you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers while we were down there.

[dr galaga]

Wow AJ, what a great reflection.  Sound like this is something you will remember the rest of your life.  Glad you are home safe.

[Kevin C]

LS Aggie

I was glad to read your first hand account!

thanks brother!

Kevin

[Pat Pixley]

Wow! A J Glad your alright. To read your first hand
experience in this is just unreal. You are a good american
and  some day When we all get together I would like to
shake your hand and say thank you.

Pat  

Yeah. Wow. Thank you for that story, and for your service. Ummm, you might want to take ten-days of antibiotics just as a precaution.
Two comments struck me. yours, that our society might be in real trouble.. and someone else's about how the whole country is coming together to aid in the crisis. Maybe.
Let me clarify- there is a huge, huge outpouring of charity, and I don't mean to demean that in anyway. It is truly amazing to see the length people are going to help.
At the same time, I hear from some friends that as many as a thousand displaced people are being moved to a National Guard base here in New York... and my friends' much less than pc views have been fanned by rumors:
Let me say, I have no intention of debating the veracity of these rumors. It's not the point. I repeat them only as examples of America 'coming together' in a crisis.
"The crime rate in Houston has skyrocketed since 'these people' were moved there and the media isn't reporting it"
"The government is dispersing 'these people' as fast as possible because it's not safe to have them all together,"
"The government is dispersing 'these people' as fast as possible so they won't return to New Orleans"
(Actually, I think the government is dispersing former residents of New Orleans as fast as possible so that when cholera, typhous or whatever else breaks out  it will be an 'isolated incident.'- how's that for paranoid!)
"All their kids are going to overwhelm our schools"
"They're going to be all over our streets with nothing to do"
"They're going to overwhelm our social services"
Ad nasuem. Equally distrubing are the rumors from 'the other side:'
"The government's failure to responed quickly enough was based on racisim"
"The government is trying to enlist as many of these people as possible in the Army"
"FEMA and everyone esle are just trying to shuffle us around because they don't have enough money"
"FEMA and everyone esle are just trying to shuffle us around because they're racist"
"Whites are being given better housing, more money, etc"
"The press called blacks 'looters' and said that whites were 'scavaging' and 'resourcesful.' (Ok, actually I know this is true, the media did. Nice job, guys. Then again, taking food is scavaging; Taking jewelry and TVs, er that would be looting. )
"The word 'refugee' is racist."  Grrr. The word refugee means "one seeking refuge." Why the press let themselves be bullied into using euthanisms instead of proper English by people saying "We ain't no refugees" is beyond me.
" C. Ray Nagin is qualified to be mayor of a major city." There are basically no qualifications for being mayor of a major city. Secondly, this guy is an idiot- witness his invitation to the citizens of his former city to come back to a hazardous waste site on the scale of Bhopal: New Orleans Caution No food. No water. No sewers. No electricity. No 911. No brains.

OH, and my personal favorite, which started as a joke on the Howard Stern radio show: "You don't see any able-bodied men among the displaced because they used special helicopters to pick them up and bring them to Iraq"
You just know that some media outlet is going to pick up and put on the wires as a story.

Again, I won't argue the merit of any of this, there's no point.

I bring them up to demonstrate why I believe that this country has not been this polarized since the Civil War. This is made demonstrably worse by so many of the poor believing that they are entitled to having what the rest of America has or more, and the rest of America believing that it is personal failure that makes people poor, and that any social programs that will actually lift people out of poverty will negatively affect them.

What has me absolutely terrified now, is that President Bush, in his speech the other night. Has promised the moon- basically saying 'Oh crap, we got poor people here- we're going to fix that.'
Um... we've got a lot of poor people here. Granted, the poorest of the poor here are a #### of a lot better off than most everywhere else in the world- Look at everything we have to throw at Katrina, imagine it happening in some under-devloped nation where all the refugees would have nothing to be evacuated to?
Anyway, lots of poor people. Here. Hard to fix But we're the greatest nation on earth. So we're going to fix it.
Um, Mr. Bush, what happens when all the poor angry people get too tired of waiting for the government to fullfill your promises?
/SOAPBOX

[MoonDawg]

New Orleans school bus yard. 211 busses, fuelled up and ready for school Monday morning, could have carried 60 people each out of town..........thats  12,600 people in just this bus yard. What about city transit?
     The mayor was sleeping!

[Pat Pixley]

Plus the local goverment turned down AmTrak. Am Trak  made a offer to come in and get people out two day's before Katrina hit.
 Pat.

I believe that the govermental failures began with their own local government underestimating the storm.

Quote (VMC117BMB @ Aug. 31 2005,12:09)

no place to lock-up looters

This is why it's perfectly valid to shoot them.

Trew
-Radical Liberals for Law and Order.

Quote (spider @ Sep. 19 2005,4:39)

I believe that the govermental failures began with their own local government underestimating the storm.

That's why it's perfectly valid to shoot them, too.  

The damage, the deaths, are sad and tragic.  I believe that we can all agree on that.  As to fault, more than enough to go around.  Did anyone notice when we were relieved of responsibility for being responsible for ourselves?