Hurricane Harvey

[GMDino]

First, I hope no hope no one here was damaged personally or property wise.  That looked like a bad scene!

I just started reading about the effects and so far no fatalities!  Lots of flooding though.  And that could cause trouble for quite awhile!

Secondly it seems the POTUS is on top of it and that's a good sign!  Hopefully the agencies being called on do their jobs well too.  Times of tragic events and natural emergencies are no time for politics.


But wait...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/25/president-trump-prepares-hurricane-harvey-says-feds-here-assist-needed/601155001/

Quote:There are obvious political risks to Trump if the federal disaster response is poorly coordinated or late to arrive.

Iowa's senior senator took to Twitter earlier Friday to urge Trump to ensure the response to Harvey did not damage his administration the way Hurricane Katrina brought ridicule on then-president George W. Bush in August 2005.


"Keep on top of Hurricane Harvey," tweeted Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Don't make same mistake Pres Bush made w Katrina."

Quote:[/url]

 Follow
ChuckGrassley 

@ChuckGrassley
@realDonaldTrump #hurricane keep on top of hurricane Harvey dont mke same mistake Pres Bush made w Katrina
8:56 AM - Aug 25, 2017

But Trump's allies were using social media to lay the groundwork for blaming Democrats for any negative consequences.


"Democrats and lib media are no doubt hoping for Hurricane Harvey to make a direct hit on Texas so they can blame @realDonald Trump," wrote Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke. "Bastards." Clarke had been an advocate for Trump during the 2016 campaign season and was expected to take a senior position at the Department of Homeland Security until he withdrew his name in June.
View image on Twitter

Quote:

[url=https://twitter.com/SheriffClarke] Follow
David A. Clarke, Jr. 

@SheriffClarke
Democrats and lib media are no doubt hoping for Hurricane Harvey to make a direct hit on Texas so they can blame @realDonaldTrump. Bastards.
10:32 PM - Aug 24, 2017

While the political leadership at FEMA and the White House has changed with the new administration, many of the federal emergency management professionals being deployed are the same ones who responded to disasters under President Obama.


"These are not political appointees," said Rafael Lemaitre, who was top spokesman for FEMA under Obama. "Their mandate is to check their egos and logos at the door and go in as part of one team responding. It's not about the feds parachuting in, it's about a joint effort."


A post-Katrina law dictates that when an federal emergency is declared — one has not been declared yet for Harvey but could be issued before disaster strikes — the FEMA director reports directly to the president and not through the normal chain of command that puts the secretary of Homeland Security over FEMA. Right now, there is only an acting secretary since Trump tapped the previous secretary, John Kelly, to be his chief of staff.


Hurricane Harvey heads for Texas: What we know now
More: Hurricane Harvey could be a 'flooding disaster' as storm stalls over Texas


So far, the federal role has been to support state preparation while having emergency materials such as blankets, food, water and tarps in place.

“I think the president is allowing me to do my job, and we've been in constant contact with the White House," said FEMA's Long, who served as Alabama's state emergency management director from 2008 to 2011, overseeing the state's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf.


The federal Disaster Relief Fund, which can be tapped after a federal disaster declaration to pay for storm victim assistance and to reimburse the public sector for storm response and infrastructure repair, was projected on July 31 to have nearly $1.5 billion remaining for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.  
Whether that's enough depends on the scale of the damage. Flooding in Louisiana last year has already cost $1.9 billion.

And the President is aware.

.@ChuckGrassley - got your message loud and clear. We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2017

Ticks me off that they can't say "do a good job because American lives are at stake" but have to add in "and you don't want to hurt your image".

So far they ARE doing their jobs with no backlash political or otherwise.

GW put a man in charge who had no idea what he was doing.  Worst case in the Trump admin Kelly is still in the administration to offer advice.

Can't they just let it play out and play politics later?