Death in streets took a back seat to dinner
By Hope Yen
The Associated Press
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002574244_fema21.html
E-mail excerpts
Marty Bahamonde, regional director for New England, to David Passey, regional director for the Gulf Coast, Aug. 28, 4:46 p.m.
"Issues developing at the Superdome. 2000 already in and more standing in line. ... The medical staff at the dome says they will run out of oxygen in about 2 hours and are looking for alternative oxygen."
Bahamonde to Deborah Wing, FEMA response specialist, Aug 28, 5:28 p.m.
"Everyone is soaked. This is going to get ugly real fast."
Passey to group, Aug 28, 7:16 p.m.
"The current population at the Superdome in New Orleans is 25,000. That's a large crowd during a normal event. Among the shelter population are 400 special needs evacuees and 45-50 sick individuals who require hospitalization. The on-hand oxygen supply will likely run out in the next few hours. According to the ... [health and medical services] folks, the local health officials have struggled to put meaningful resource requests together."
Passey to Bahamonde, Aug. 28, 9:58 p.m.
"Our intel is that neither the ... [Oklahoma medical-disaster team] nor the public health officers staged in Memphis will make it to the Superdome tonight. Oxygen supply issue has not been solved yet either."
Bahamonde to Michael Heath, FEMA official, Aug. 29, 7:33 a.m.
"Some pumping stations failed but no widespread flooding yet. The reall worry will be in the next 3 hours when he storm passes and we get the northerly winds blowing thwe lake into the city
Bahamonde to Nicole Andrews, FEMA spokeswoman, Aug. 30, 7:02 a.m.
"The area around the Superdome is filling up with water, now waist deep."
Bahamonde to Taylor, Sept. 3, 1:06 a.m.
"The leadership from top down in our agency is unprepared and out of touch. ... But while I am horrified at some of the cluelessness and self concern that persists, I try to focus on those that have put their lives on hold to help people that they have never met and never will. And while I sometimes think that I can't work in this arena, I can't get out of my head the visions of children and babies I saw sitting there, helpless, looking at me and hoping I could make a difference and so I will and you must to."
The Associated Press
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On Aug. 31, Bahamonde e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands of evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours."
"Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical," Bahamonde wrote. "The sooner we can get the medical patients out, the sooner we can get them out."
A short time later, Brown's press secretary, Sharon Worthy, wrote to colleagues, in an e-mail containing numerous misspellings, to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that 20 or 30 minutes," Worthy wrote.
"Restaurants are getting busy," she said. "We now have traffic to encounter to get to and from a location of his choise, followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."
"OH MY GOD!!!!!!!" Bahamonde messaged a co-worker. "I just ate an MRE [military rations] and crapped in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern about busy restaurants."
Posted by Hannah at October 22, 2005 04:30 AM