Well, y’all, I was working on putting some info together on what the Clinton Admin and the NC State government did after Floyd. Newsmax beat me to it.
New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida were hit hard when Floyd slammed the coast on Sept. 16, 1999. It was the worst storm to hit the U.S. in 25 years – yet it killed only 61 people. That death toll expected to be dwarfed by Katrina.
Clinton FEMA Director James Lee Witt won high marks for hurricane preparation, but the flood that followed swamped his agency.
A full three weeks after the storm had passed, Rev. Jesse Jackson interviewed Witt on his CNN show "Both Sides Now" – and complained that flood victims were still suffering from a "misery index."
"It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood Floyd," Jackson began. "Bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole town’s under water . . . [it’s] an awesome scene of tragedy. So there’s a great misery index in North Carolina."
Floyd was initially a cat 5, but came on shore as a cat 3. TS Dennis had previously come on shore, gone out, came back, then finally left, dropping lots of rain, saturating North Carolina from Raleigh east. When Floyd hit, he dropped tons more rain, causing rivers, such as the Tar and the Neuse, to overflow from Rocky Mount east. The State and local governments did a decent job of getting folks out using school buses (hint, hint), but it came on quickly. I remember a photo from the front page of the USA Today, showing a street sign for Willow and Oak. The water was almost to the top of that sign. I actually lived on that block for awhile in Greenville, NC.
Here is an old post with a photo from that area.
Now, here’s the thing. You plan, you prepare, and, hopefully, what you got ready for goes the way you think it will. And, rather then folks complaining, you do what you can to help. But this article shows that this is not the first time government has come under fire. We need to stay with reality when look for problems, rather then blaming because we hate somebody. If you expect government to respond really well, you will almost always be sorely disappointed.
I was there. Not in Greenville but just east of there in Beaufort Co. working as a law enforcement officer. I remember hearing some of the same complaints about FEMA and other federal response. But what I remember most is everyone coming together. Neighbors helping neighbors to get through a very difficult time. That is the initial response you have to have. Federal response is slow and always will be. They eventually get there and get things right but you have to circle the wagons and help each other survive until that happens.
Amen!