Katrina Myths

This article should put to rest any rumors that the Bush administration was responsible for the levy failures that flooded New Orleans.

Louisiana's top hurricane experts have rejected the official explanations for the floodwall collapses that inundated much of New Orleans, concluding that Hurricane Katrina's storm surges were much smaller than authorities have suggested and that the city's flood-protection system should have kept most of the city dry.

[...] But with the help of complex computer models and stark visual evidence, scientists and engineers at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center have concluded that Katrina's surges did not come close to overtopping those barriers. That would make faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two the likely cause of the breaching of the floodwalls along the 17th Street and London Avenue canals — and the flooding of most of New Orleans.

Nothing here about inadequate funding. The implication is that corrupt contractors used inferior materials.

Also, the MSM made a lot of jokes about Bush's statement that no one expected the levees to break. Here's confirmation further down the same article:

Former senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) said he remembers numerous briefings from Corps officials about the danger of a hurricane overtopping the New Orleans levees. But he says he never envisioned a scenario like this one. "This came as a surprise," he said.

Another myth is that the federal government was slow or just didn't care about the people still in New Orleans. It has been poorly reported (I think that it was limited to Fox News) but the Red Cross and the Salvation Army were prevented from bringing in food and water. Here is an account.

Given the endless hyping of the 10,000 dead figure and numerous descriptions of bloated corpses floating in the water when both were highly exaggerated it is obvious that the MSM wrote their narative before the storm had lifted. Bush and the federal government were going to be pictured as failing to help the common people. As with any good story, reporters hate to let the facts get in the way.

Bush didn't help matters by waiting so long before being seen being involved. He should have cleared his schedule the day the hurricane hit and he should have made a tour of the destruction before returning to the White House instead of looking down from Air Force One.

With another major hurricane heading for Texas, we will see what happens. The new narative might be how much improved federal response is or how much better Texas authorities handle a disaster than Louisiana authorities.