If there’s a thread already on this, I apologize.
There’s been a horrible ice storm in Kentucky and there are still hundreds of thousands of people without power and water. The governor has called out the Kentucky National Guard, but the state emergency management director says there’s been no sign of FEMA and the Red Cross.
You’d think after Katrina FEMA would have learned their lesson. What’s the hold up? And I hope our Bluegrass Dopers are doing okay!
The state emergency management director is wrong.
Strong Partnerships Speed FEMA Response To Kentucky’s Winter Storm
Hey, at least my electricity is finally back on (after 5 days and 13 hours without)!
Great! Any damage?
Barack Obama hates White People.
We didn’t see FEMA or the Red Cross up this way either, despite people having no power or running water for several days. Most power was restored within 6 days, but some places were without for two weeks. All the shelters in our state were town-run that I know of. FEMA’s only role was to tour damages a week after the storm and open a field office just over a month after the storm to help towns apply for federal funds. Do they do anything more concrete than that outside the south?
Thanks for the update, Shayna…I was hoping the emergency management director’s response was out of date.
A lumberyard showed up in my backyard and squished my compost pile, and the tomatoes I was growing in the kitchen window died (the lowest recorded temperature INSIDE the house was 29°F.)
Of course, that doesn’t quite compare to the fire two houses down…
When the same thing happened to us about ten years ago, all the gunk in the pipes slid down into the water pump and refroze into a really nasty plug I had to remove. No broken pipes, though. We heated the house with the kitchen stove until we got a generator I hooked up to the fan and thermostat so that the gas furnace would work. When it ran low on oil it would start to miss, and I would wake up and fill it in the small hours. How did you keep warm?
Funnily enough, I just looked this up as my grandaddy sent me an outraged bit of Repuli-glurg regarding FEMA not being sent to the ice-storm affected areas. I make a hobby of replying all to those, but I’m not sure anybody ever pays attention.
Apparently FEMA wasn’t sent because there’s no black people.
It was as accurate as those things ever are.
Which would explain why FEMA was so successful in New Orleans.
That’s what makes the glurge so dumb, IMO.
Sidetrack: interesting to see “severe winter storm” show up in almost every FEMA region (zoom your browser if it’s too small):
http://www.hazardscaucus.org/presidentialdisasters65-98.JPG
Just saw in a news story tonight, someone (I forget his exact position) said, “FEMA isn’t going to ride in on a white horse. Take care of yourselves.”
… 
It would ride in if there were black horses around, or pintos, or perhaps roans, but that’s a horse of a different color.
Oh, look, you know, I stopped trying to make sense of the glurge Grandaddy sends me a long time ago. I just Snopes it if I’m in the mood or delete it.
He’s old, I love him, he’s always going to be a crotchety old man, so I either poke him with a stick so he gets all Outraged!! or let it go. If it’s genuinely going to hurt his feelings, I don’t bother.
What does “coordinating,” as used in the press release, mean in practical terms?
In my experience, it means filling out forms. 
Who makes this crap up? When the floods hit southern Indiana last summer, FEMA was all over the place. Half the town where I lived was underwater and FEMA was there within the week helping people get relief. I only lost my car to the flood so didn’t have any direct dealings with them, but the impression I got from talking to those who did was a generally positive experience. The local papers never carried anything condemning them either.
I’m glad they did well for y’all in Indiana.
Update: One of the things which FEMA did for people in Kentucky (or maybe Arkansas) was distribute ready-to-eat meals.
Some of which contained peanut butter.
Peanut Butter which MIGHT be contaminated with Salmonella.
Oopsie.
So, if you got meals from FEMA, don’t eat them, bring them back so that they can be traded for uncontaminated food.
While I’m not sure that this is really FEMA’s fault, as opposed to the inevitable ripple effect from the whole peanut butter mess, it doesn’t help FEMA’s image.
Still, I count my blessings that my house never lost heat, electricity or phone service, and my Dad never even missed work. We did lose a few tree branches, but no major chunks of trees.