Hurricane Irene

[barbk]

NY Times has a lengthy story on lessons that NYC is learning from Irene.

I was particularly struck by, "Margarita López, a Housing Authority commissioner, said future plans would have to include accommodations for pets at shelters. “I will be honest with you,” she said. “It did not occur to us that people would not leave if their pets did not come with them.”

Planning for evacuations was a priority before the storm, with the focus on educating tenants.

Ms. López, a former member of the City Council, had been spearheading the agency’s plan to prepare for the effects of global warming, including the possibility of rising seas and stronger storms flooding low-lying properties.

This year, she met with 700 tenants in the Rockaways and explained how to evacuate quickly and how important it was to do so when the city gave the order."

I am no disaster specialist, but I would have though that anyone who would be spearheading efforts like this would have known that people would not voluntarily leave pets behind from what happened in Katrina. This was extensively reported.

I did find the city's thoughts on the kayakers to be rescued to be pretty funny, "“The lesson of the kayakers may have been ‘We cannot underestimate the stupidity of some people during a storm,’ and our warnings in the future may need to reflect that,” Mr. Browne said." Having seen what some of the kayakers do around here when the creeks are raging, I am not surprised.

They clearly learned a lot from the terrible lessons of Katrina, and a lot of disaster planning was clearly done well in advance of the storm.

Anyway, a good article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/ny...%2Findex.jsonp

[Louis]

I was in Philadelphia during the hurricane, and the mayor kept emphasizing over and over in every news broadcast that pets were welcome at the three shelters the city had opened. Ms. Lopez is clueless if she had not taken into this account.

That said, I wonder what happens to an allergic person at a shelter that's full of pets. Are either the pets or the allergy sufferers quarantined? I hope I never have to find out, but god help me, I'd be running outside into the hurricane just to be able to breathe if I were trapped in a room full of cats for more than a couple hours.

[emason]

I was in Philadelphia during the hurricane, and the mayor kept emphasizing over and over in every news broadcast that pets were welcome at the three shelters the city had opened. Ms. Lopez is clueless if she had not taken into this account.

From what I've heard from others, Lopez is a career politician and not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[milanessa]

I was in Philadelphia during the hurricane, and the mayor kept emphasizing over and over in every news broadcast that pets were welcome at the three shelters the city had opened. Ms. Lopez is clueless if she had not taken into this account.

That said, I wonder what happens to an allergic person at a shelter that's full of pets. Are either the pets or the allergy sufferers quarantined? I hope I never have to find out, but god help me, I'd be running outside into the hurricane just to be able to breathe if I were trapped in a room full of cats for more than a couple hours.

I guess we just have a bit more experience (and need) here but there are a number of shelter types available in the county. Ordinary ones for families and singles that can pretty much take care of themselves, special needs shelters that can care for the elderly, infirm or ill and then there's the fairground that takes pets (of all kinds) whether or not the owners are with them. You choose the shelter that best fits your needs - one of the "good" things about a hurricane is that people have much more warning than they do for floods, tornadoes or (sometimes) fires.