FEMA Messes Up, Lets One Get Out Alive
Attytood relates the story of Mr. Edgar Hollingsworth, age 74, who was recently rescued from his flooded home in New Orleans despite FEMA's best efforts:
In the past few days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has ordered searchers not to break into homes. They are supposed to look in through a window and knock on the door. If no one cries out for help, they are supposed to move on. If they see a body, they are supposed to log the address and move on...
...But Fell broke the rules and ordered his men to bash open the door, launching a series of events that would save a man's life and revitalize California Task Force 5 from Orange County. In the past two days, the 80-member task force had identified seven dead bodies in the same neighborhood, and they had rescued no one...
The rescue pumped up the spirits of Task Force 5, which has been mostly marking the locations of bodies for the last week. Earlier, they had been frustrated when FEMA delayed their deployment for four days, housing them in the Hyatt Regency in Dallas.
And that's the good news today - top-down incompetence claims one fewer innocent victim than it could have.
posted by Management at 6:49 PM
1 Comments:
And he has a name -- Edgar Hollingsworth. Remember it. Mr. Hollingsworth is 74 years old, and although he was found by California National Guardsmen at death's door inside his house in the flooded Broadmoor section of New Orleans, the wonderful news is that he is expected to live.
But he would almost certainly be dead, if troopers hadn't violated the orders they received from FEMA. Here's some of the amazing and infuriating story from the Orange County Register (registration required). (You can read some more excerpts and some commentary here):
NEW ORLEANS – This was just another body in the growing number of bodies that they encounter every day.
A human foot arching at an odd angle was visible through the front window of a locked and dark home.
The National Guard team of searchers was about to call in a "DB," or dead body, at 1927 Lopez St. in the Broadmoor district when Lt. Frederick Fell decided to investigate.
In the past few days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has ordered searchers not to break into homes. They are supposed to look in through a window and knock on the door. If no one cries out for help, they are supposed to move on. If they see a body, they are supposed to log the address and move on.
The morticians will remove the deceased later.
But Fell broke the rules and ordered his men to bash open the door, launching a series of events that would save a man's life and revitalize California Task Force 5 from Orange County. In the past two days, the 80-member task force had identified seven dead bodies in the same neighborhood, and they had rescued no one.
But Tuesday, 16 days after Hurricane Katrina smacked this aging community in the face, an unconscious and emaciated man identified as Edgar Hollingsworth, 74, was rescued. The man is expected to survive.
We can't say enough about these Guardsman and their life-or-death decision. Here's what they found in the house:
Hollingsworth had been lying naked on his blue-green couch. It was unclear if he had eaten or drunk anything for several days. He was not surrounded by food or water containers. His house was still in disarray from the storm. A chair had landed on top of the kitchen table. Medical vials with the name Lillian Hollingsworth were lying on an easy chair on the other side of the room.
A pit-bull puppy was also pulled from the house. It appeared to be healthy and was transported to the hospital along with Edgar Hollingsworth.
And you have to wonder how many more men these troops would have saved, were it not for FEMA's ineptitude. Read this:
The rescue pumped up the spirits of Task Force 5, which has been mostly marking the locations of bodies for the last week. Earlier, they had been frustrated when FEMA delayed their deployment for four days, housing them in the Hyatt Regency in Dallas.
They were frustrated further when they were given the FEMA order that they weren't allowed to force their way into houses to search them. They hope Hollingsworth's rescue will coax FEMA to rethink its directive.
Think about that the next time some right-wing schlock-radio host tries to spin all the blame away from FEMA and away from Bush and back onto the mayor and the governor.
And when George W. Bush says that he accepts full responsibility for what happened, don't forget this picture and that this is exactly what he and his clueless political hacks at FEMA are responsible for: The near lethal starvation over 16 agonizing days of a 74-year man in New Orleans.
God bless the California National Guard, and God bless Edgar Hollingsworth. We suspect the Almighty already has other plans for the people at FEMA.
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