Gov. Bush admits state underestimated demand for water, ice on South Florida

What Morons What Failures

sun-sentinel.com staff & wires
Posted October 26 2005, 4:45 PM EDT


Gov. Jeb Bush admitted on Wednesday the state underestimated the demand for ice and water in southeast Florida and didn't funnel enough supplies to the area immediately after Hurricane Wilma roared through.

"It didn't work as well as it should have yesterday," said Gov. Jeb Bush, referring to Tuesday's long lines of frustrated residents, many of whom left distribution sites empty-handed.

"My expectation was that within 24 hours we'd have our points of distribution set up. Never has that been done in any hurricane. We didn't meet those expectations and I accept responsibility for that," he said. "Today is going to be better. Tomorrow is going to be better than today."

But Bush also said many residents along the southeast coast did not heed warnings to get ready for the oncoming storm.

"The level of evacuation on the southwest coast was spectacular. On the southeast coast, they think hurricanes are no longer hurricanes after they hit the coast," Bush said.

"I can't understand why people wouldn't relive the last 14 months where we've had eight hurricanes and each one is unique. All local authorities were saying it's important to prepare."

The state has enough water and ice in hand and on order, but is turning to FEMA to bring in more ready-to-eat meals from elsewhere in the country. Previous hurricanes depleted the national supply and more are now being prepared for distribution.

Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison said his agency is working to increase the supply line for the state.

"We had a lot of people standing in line yesterday that we didn't like to see. That's why we tell people to have 72 hours of food and water so you don't have to stand in line," said Paulison, a former Miami-Dade fire chief. "We want to do everything we can to make this a successful outcome."

Bush urged residents to "have patience" and pledged the state will get supplies to the people who need it.

Craig Fugate, the state's division of emergency management, said the state based its first shipment of supplies to southeast Florida on a formula, partly based on previous storms, that didn't take into consideration the area's greater population.

"The demand was going way past what our anticipated model said. We don't have good tools to tell us what the demand will be," Fugate said. "We're going to have to fix it and do it better next time."

The 21st storm in the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record, Wilma killed at least 12 people in Haiti, four in Mexico and one in Jamaica before hitting Florida. State emergency management director Craig Fugate said Wednesday that Florida's death toll was now 10.

Bush spoke at a joint news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, roundly criticized for its response to Hurricane Katrina, was again a focus of frustration Wednesday as Floridians faced long waits for supplies that the mayor of Miami-Dade County warned were running out.

On Tuesday, trucks carrying the first wave of relief -- food, ice and water -- either arrived much later than local officials expected or didn't show up at all.

"I understand there are frustrations here," Chertoff said. "As the governor has acknowledged, we can't always get to people what we hope to get and as quickly as we hope to do it."

At least one distribution site in Miami-Dade was out of supplies, and the other 10 were running low with material from FEMA, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

Alvarez said it could be Wednesday night before the stocks are resupplied. "I cannot give you a timetable because, ladies and gentlemen, quite frankly, we don't control those assets."

Alvarez called the relief process "flawed," called for more control and oversight and said he was "frustrated, disappointed, angered" with the delivery of supplies.

Alvarez didn't blame the Federal Emergency Management Agency for not getting enough of its supplies to distribution centers. But he called the relief process "flawed," called for more control and oversight and said he was "frustrated, disappointed, angered" with the delivery of supplies.

next >>

Jump to page: 1 2 3

Link Here