From today’s committee hearing
DAVIS: We want to give you an opportunity first. Then we are going to go through the timeline and a number of other questions.
BROWN: Let me start out by addressing the premise of the question, which I don’t entirely agree with — that what could FEMA have done in terms of the evacuation? What could FEMA have done in terms of communications, law enforcement?
Those are not FEMA roles. FEMA doesn’t evacuate communities.
BROWN: FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications. But having said that, I have got to tell you in hindsight there are things that I, as the former director of FEMA, wish that I had done that maybe would address those particular areas.
First and foremost, when we started the SVTS, the video teleconferences that we do with the state and locals, I should have pushed harder to both Louisiana — particularly to Louisiana, because I, with all due respect, I do not want to make this partisan, so I can’t help it that Alabama and Mississippi are governed by Republican governors and Louisiana is governed by a Democratic governor.
That’s not an issue with me. We go to every state regardless of who the governor is and do what we can, but I didn’t have a problem with evacuations in Mississippi or Alabama. They were doing it. Jeb Bush had already ordered evacuations through the Keys as Katrina was making its way through that area.
My mistake was in recognizing that for whatever reason that we might want to discuss later, but for whatever reason, Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco were reticent to order a mandatory evacuation. And if I, Mike Brown individual, could have done something to convince them that this was the big one, and they needed to order a mandatory evacuation, I would have done it. Maybe I could have gotten on the telephone with General Landreneau in the emergency operations center and said: General, get some of those National Guard troops out there and start driving buses and pick people up and take them out of there. Maybe we could have done something like that. That’s all speculation.
The problem with this, as I’ve stated previously, is FEMA was part of the Hurricane Pam process and knew that the plan was to get the people out after the hurricane passed–there simply wasn’t enough transportation to move everyone and everyone would not have left.
But worse than that, on the 28th, if he knew there was a problem, he could have called up the contractor FEMA had hired to provide buses for as soon as the hurricane passed.
Landstar didn’t order buses until August 30th.
Though it was well-known that New Orleans, much of it below sea level, would flood in a major hurricane, Landstar, the Jacksonville company that held a federal contract that at the time was worth up to $100 million annually for disaster transportation, did not ask its subcontractor, Carey Limousine, to order buses until the early hours of Aug. 30, roughly 18 hours after the storm hit, according to Sally Snead, a Carey senior vice president who headed the bus roundup.
Landstar made inquiries about the availability of buses on Sunday, Aug. 28, and earlier Monday, but placed no orders, Snead said.
She said Landstar turned to her company for buses Sunday after learning from Carey’s Internet site that it had a meetings and events division that touted its ability to move large groups of people. “They really found us on the Web site,” Snead said.
A Landstar spokeswoman declined comment on how the company responded to the hurricane.
Yep, the FEMA contractor called on Sunday to even find a subcontractor for buses and didn’t actually ask for them until 18 hours after the storm hit.
But Mike Brown blames the state and locals for not getting along. They certainly need to be accountable for their mistakes, but Brown needs a big dose of reality.
The Punchline: Landstar has a bigger contract now.
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