FEMA learns lesson

By Staff Reports

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Almost exactly three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast, another hurricane followed the same path but with far different results.

Hurricane Gustav, of course, was fundamentally different from Katrina in some key factors. For one, it was a weaker hurricane that veered slightly west of Katrina's trajectory, sparing New Orleans a direct hit. The water surge from Gustav was not as high as Katrina's, and the levees breached in 2005 held when Gustav came ashore Sunday.

The biggest difference this time, however, was that New Orleans and the other cities in Gustav's path were ready. Local, state and national emergency planners coordinated their efforts and made the right choices.

Most significant among those choices was to order nearly 2 million Gulf Coast residents to flee the storm. When Gustav hit, the streets of New Orleans were virtually deserted.

The contrast was stunning: no stranded throngs of desperate people; no stadiums overflowing with exiles from the storm; and no recriminations about failing to foresee the hazards of a major hurricane. With no major flooding, some might second-guess the mandatory exodus, but most, we suspect, will salute officials at all levels for their caution.

This time, emergency officials had a perfect template of what not to do. And by doing the opposite of what occurred before and after Katrina, they succeeded in keeping loss of life and basic inconvenience to residents to a minimum.

Officials should have known better three years ago. They, too, had a perfect example of what not to do after witnessing the federal government's response to Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

Instead, FEMA, which had benefited from new management during President Clinton's administration, was folded into the Department of Homeland Security and staffed with incompetent bureaucrats such as Mike "heckuva job" Brown under President Bush. Fortunately, after Katrina, FEMA got a house-cleaning.

Under David Paulison, a former chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Department, the agency's efficiency has vastly improved. That was evident over the weekend as FEMA had people and supplies on the ground in the strike zone well before Gustav arrived.

Much work remains in fully rehabilitating New Orleans and, for that matter, FEMA. Thousands of residents still are homeless, and the agency still has not devised a complete plan to deal with that problem.

Only about one-fourth of the work required to upgrade levees and sea walls around New Orleans has been completed. If Gustav had been stronger, the city again would have been flooded.

But this time, officials at least were ready to meet basic needs. And FEMA appears to be on track in implementing strategies to deal with natural disasters.

Let's hope so, because the southeast Atlantic Coast may need its services in a few days.