FEMA refuses hurricane relief from Chicago

Anticipating massive damage, the City of Chicago offered FEMA substantial aid even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Chicago is offering to deploy a huge self-sufficient relief team (including 100 police officers) at a moment's notice . As of yesterday, the Agency had refused all help from Chicago, save a tanker truck:

Daley 'shocked' as feds reject aid

September 3, 2005

BY STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN AND SCOTT FORNEK Staff Reporters

A visibly angry Mayor Daley said the city had offered emergency, medical and technical help to the federal government as early as Sunday to assist people in the areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, but as of Friday, the only things the feds said they wanted was a single tank truck.

That truck, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency requested to support an Illinois-based medical team, was en route Friday.

"We are ready to provide more help than they have requested. We are just waiting for their call," said Daley, adding that he was "shocked" that no one seemed to want the help. [...]

Daley said the city offered 36 members of the firefighters' technical rescue teams, eight emergency medical technicians, search-and-rescue equipment, more than 100 police officers as well as police vehicles and two boats, 29 clinical and 117 non-clinical health workers, a mobile clinic and eight trained personnel, 140 Streets and Sanitation workers and 29 trucks, plus other supplies. City personnel are willing to operate self-sufficiently and would not depend on local authorities for food, water, shelter and other supplies, he said. [Chicago Sun Times]

Hat tip to Maze Rat at DU.

Update: The New York Post reports that New York City's would-be rescuers are in much the same position as their colleagues in Chicago: "City emergency officials were initially contacted by the federal government as early as Tuesday, but the feds have asked for only a fraction of what New York has to offer."

Comments

[mudkitty]

Who want's their stinky old help anyway!

[Thomas]

I blame Clinton

(cough)

[Amanda]

Ugh, I have so many first hand stories to share. But the people who have them want to be mentally settled before they start blabbing. Suffice it say, the national media knows nothing. Read local media for truth. I'm serious. Google Houston's, San Antonio's, Austin's, etc. papers. One thing I can tell you--Lubbock is making beds for refugees. We are taxed to the max and we welcome them with the widest arms imaginable.

I'm in love with my fellow Texans tonight. Good people who bear up under stress without complaint. You have no idea....I have to write about it.....No idea.

[Amanda]

I'm serious--the heroes of this are numerous and they are my friends and family. I am overwhelmed.

[mudkitty]

Yeah, yeah...that's it...it's Clinton's fault. If he only hadn't gotten that blow job...

[Arthur D. Hlavaty]

They can't take help from Chicago because it's got queer cooties, ever since Mayor Daley came out in favor of same-sex marriage.

[larkspur]

I've only had brief time online for the past few days, and damn, do I have some catching up to do. I'm hearing the TV stories about misery and about looters...but I've had to get online to read about the moment-by-moment heroism and kindness, about craigslist and all of the offers of places to stay, about the handful of young men who broke into a hotel kitchen the other day...and proceeded to fix breakfast for everyone who showed up. I knew in my heart that Gulf Coast people (and their neighbors) were doing this, were doing their best for each other. Now I'm beginning to read the details. Thanks to everyone for their accounts.

[Flint]

I'm glad that the MSM has finally run out of video of screaming victims. It was all getting to be too much and that depressed feeling was getting pretty heavy.

Now its the job of helping the survivors in any way possible as President Clinton said in his press conference. There will be time for hearings later, but the issues that this thread raises should be tucked away, but not forgotten.

This is another one:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050903/ap_on_re_us/katrina_national_guard&printer=1

Congress Likely to Probe Guard Response

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press WriterSat Sep 3, 6:38 PM ET

Another 10,000 National Guard troops are being sent to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, raising their number to about 40,000, but questions linger about the speed with which troops were deployed.

Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday."

The first 72 hours of any disaster are critical and according to a General on MSNBC on Sunday morning, whose name I didn't catch unfotunately, the order to move troops in to NOLA didn't come from Washington until 72 hours after the levee broke.

[autorank]

That's not all they turned down. The worlds best "urban rescue team" from Fairfax County, VA, was turned away from NOLA and sent to Mississippi, where they did a great job but they're "urban" catastrophe specialists. They've been working together for nearly 20 years and have helped in over 50 domestic and foreign events (911, Turkey earthquate, LA quake, Tsunami, you name it).

They WANTED to be in NOLA, this is their thing, the biggest, hardest jobs that others fear.

They started without a formal invitation figuring FEMA would be happy they'd showed up (FEMA sponsors them frequently). But they couldn't get in.

Whoever let these folks get away should join FEMA Director Brown, Chertoff, Bush & Cheney in the 9th Circle...immediately.

Very best wishes to LA, NOLA and all the affected parts. The rest of the country is in total support and about to pop a cork by demanding that "the fools" be held accountable.

[Flint]

autorank...

do you have any documentation on that. I'm not challenging what you say but I'm collecting documentation on all of the events and my File of FEMA horror stories that can be documented is growing beyond belief.