So we’ve got half a million, I think it is now, people evacuated from their homes. A great many homes do not exist any more. Qualcomm Stadium has been established as a temporary refuge.
And now what? What can FEMA and local government and Ahnuld do to prevent another Superdome? What can the evacueees do? Is there any way this won’t be the same kind of clusterfrak?
Most of the Superdome issues had more to do with the facility being isolated by flood waters with no utilities than with simply caging the people.
California stadia will probably face a lot of problems, but with open access for people to come and go and with water and electricity reliably available, I would not expect California stadium refugees to suffer to the same extent as those in New Orleans.
For starters, don’t threaten to shoot people if they try to leave.
The plumbing went out in the Superdome and I wouldn’t expect such a thing to happen… as long as they don’t try to house too many people there.
Not to make light of their trauma, but people who live in the wooded sections of LA tend to be of a much higher economic status that the people who took shelter in the Dome.
Per this, there are no similarities at all- rock concerts, gourmet food, stress massages, pictures with Ah-nold, etc. And I believe the average income of these people vs. those in NO is much higher, and many have other options, etc.
There are not that many people there. If you want to leave you can get into your car and drive away. Most every thing around the stadium is open for business. There is power in all but a few locations around San Diego.
The fire situation is bad but despite the alarming news reports San Diego is not burning to the ground. Downtown San Diego is fine there is barely a hint of smoke in the air. The roads out of San Diego are open. The airport is functioning fine. It is really not comparable to the gulf coast with a big hurricane where vast swaths of area are down for days and days.
"Friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week … then you could see what it is, friends … !”
– Vladek Spiegelman in Maus
We shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking that the rich and the middle class would behave any better in a Superdome situation. Not enough food, not enough water, no place to sleep, overflowing toilets … cram enough people together under those conditions and the social order WILL break down.
(Hey, look! I’ve Godwinized the thread!)
I think his point was that the rich and middle class have resources that will help them avoid being in a superdome situation in the first place.
Exactly. Someone with some resources (read:money) can just head out of San Diego for a week and stay with friends, or San Francisco or wherever.
“I had the most absurd nightmare. I was poor and no one liked me. I lost my job, I lost my house, Penelope hated me and it was all because of this terrible, awful Negro.” –Louis Winthorpe III
They can take refuge at the dome of the Hale telescope on Mt. Plaomar, as I read today some are already doing:
The Hale dome has a completely different atmosphere than the Superdome.
The hotels are booked solid, but folks at the stadium have food, water, nice facilities, a place to sleep. No problems. Remember, we know a thing or two about natural disasters, and we’re fine in terms of evacuations and relocations.
Really. We’re okay. But I here NO is flooded again… enjoy that.
FEMA? Gov’t? Govenator? Nice to have them wandering around for photo ops, I guess, but the real work is being done by others.
Thank Heaven.
Of course it’s exactly the same situation. People stranded with no source of mobility in a city totally shut off from the rest of the country.
Oh wait! You mean that the people in SandyEgo drove to the stadium in their personal autos and can…gasp…drive to a differerent place if the stadium becomes raucous? Get out of here! That’s JUST LIKE the Katrina situation.
Don’t let class come into play, that’s not even an issue if people (even po’ folk) can just up and leave if the evacuation destination becomes intolerable.
You think the people stuck in the SuperDome wouldn’t have packed up and booked if they had a car in the parking lot and passable roads to travel on?
Yep, exactly like Katrina.
Don’t assume this.
Last report I heard from this afternoon reports 24 major transmission lines in SoCal are offline, with several large lines burned out. The potential remains high that additional lines may be taken offline to reduce fire potential. The critical part is if additional lines are burned out, there could be a cascade effect across the grid where blackouts will occur. It is already critical that more than one million people are under evacuation notices with thousands having lost their homes. It’s quite another if sustained blackouts affect millions more, impacting the entire local economy.
Finally, FEMA is just gearing up. There is plenty of time for the FEMAroids to screw up a system that works quite well without them.
Slightly OT, but good God could the news coverage on this be more overboard? The first 10 headlines on CNN.com right now are about the California wildfires, including such hard hitters as, “Smoke clouds amusement park” and my personal favorite: “Jamie Lee Curtis: Fires are an act of man.” I’m not arguing that this isn’t news, but this isn’t Katrina, it isn’t the Johnstown flood, it isn’t the 2004 tsunami. This is a lot of property damage, a lot of people displaced from their homes, and a grand total (so far, and God hoping it stays there) of two deaths. It’s an undeniable tragedy for those affected, but from the media coverage you would get the impression that California is burning to the ground.
My theory: this is the natural disaster version of Missing White Woman Syndrome.
That is a brilliant comparison. Unless an entire city burns down or something it’s not that big a story. Yeah, there’s a big-ass fire. Lots of big fires happen in the west. I bet if there was a gigantic fire in another state we wouldn’t hear nearly as much about it.
Anyway, California has already avoided a Superdome situation. Qualcomm is open-air.
Let’s not forget that Southern California is the hub of instant vicarious gratification television. How many police chases are there broadcasting live on the local stations? Add in the area being the TV and movie industry mecca, and you have a media salivation saturating everything.
But don’t misunderstand me. What is happening in SoCal is a tragedy on many levels.