Its been five months since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and details continue emerge about the human incompetence that helped make the disaster worse:
WASHINGTON — A ranking Louisiana health official turned down federal offers to help move or evacuate patients as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, a newly released document shows.
(…)
Two days before the Aug. 29 storm, HHS was told by the state’s health emergency preparedness director that the help was not needed, according to an e-mail released Monday by a Senate panel investigating the government’s response to Katrina.
The state official, identified in the Aug. 27 e-mail as Dr. Roseanne Pratts, “responded no, that they do not require anything at this time and they would be in touch if and when they needed assistance,” wrote HHS senior policy analyst Erin Fowler.
This is only one of many examples that have come out in the aftermath of the storm that demostrate the sheer incompetence of state and local officials in Louisiana before, during, and after Katrina’s landfall. One can only hope that the voters of Louisiana will remember this at election time.
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