FEMA and the Galveston West End Cover up

Interesting thread so far. While the level of the air space restrictions seems a bit much, my own experience with SAR / Medical flights do support SOME of the what people are saying;

Civil airspace can be a crowded place. Often when we are flying ATC has neither the time or the ability to alert us to all of the traffic in a given area. We spend a huge amount of time looking out for other aircraft. Unlike a car where its basically 2 dimentional you have to be aware of the 3 dimentional nature of air travel. Keeping out lookiloos is the right move.

However, if they are basically restricting news crews and thier chopters from an area that smacks to me of at the very least media manipulation at worst some sort of coverup.

Why? News chopters would/could/should be much higher than rescue birds. Stabalized optics and zoom lenses make this possible so the interference would be minimal.

Also they can and do help with rescue ops. Why not have every possible avenue open for large scale SAR.

There is more here than meets the eye IMHO

Before and after images from Crystal Beach (I think)

BEFORE


AFTER

I had to attend Incident Command training this summer but on by EPA and FEMA. They told us that the Cell phone system was used hard during Katrina due to all the radios from different agencies not talking to each other. They may have limited the access to responders in the area for the same reason. Does any one know if they disabled 911 service? I would think that that function would be left working.

Here in Nevada when we have range fires they restrict the airspace because of the airtankers. Figures they would do the same there.

Having been with search and rescue all you guys keep safe and hug your kids when you get home. Hard work doing recovery.

They just admitted they expect mass casualties from the West End. They mentioned that they are leaving it to local authorities to make the announcements.

Originally posted by loam

Do you think we should adhere to some "equal time" doctrine where we must discuss the misery occurring elsewhere in the world before we can examine our own???

I'm just pointing out that others have suffered.

Originally posted by Operation AJAX


Why? News chopters would/could/should be much higher than rescue birds. Stabalized optics and zoom lenses make this possible so the interference would be minimal.

Also they can and do help with rescue ops. Why not have every possible avenue open for large scale SAR.

Could/should yes. Do you really think they would? We're talking the media here And the story is everything Don't be naive.

Were I in change I'd certainly ban the media from the area.

Originally posted by loam
They just admitted they expect mass casualties from the West End. They mentioned that they are leaving it to local authorities to make the announcements.

I've been afraid of that. Just doing the numbers straight across:

If 40% of the population lives on the west end and they estimate 20,000 stayed, that puts 8000 past the sea wall. By and large it looks like people could have survived most of the areas to and including Jamaica Beach. I would think that would constitute 80% of the 40% west of the sea wall (at least). That leaves about 1600 people maybe on down the west end in such locations as Sea Isle, Terramar Beach, Bay Harbor, etc.

That's still a lot of people who could have placed themselves in a no-win situation. And it is a heck of a lot of people who have just lost all property.

Originally posted by Valhall
I have one question - of the areas flooded with potentially stranded people in need of rescue, or just to get supplies in, or who just simply need to know if they have a home to go home to - are there enough SAR aircraft to police all of that area?

I dont know - are you suggesting that every good samaritan with an airplane or helicopter should be allowed to fly therir own recon or supply missions without coordination with SAR/FEMA/etc?

Am I to suppose that ATC doesn't work anymore and planes would just be flying willy-nilly into each other without any air traffic controls being issued to them?

You were wrong regarding the "5,000 mile of coastline" restriction. It is a local (SE Texas) restriction and it is for 5,000 feet and below. This is uncontrolled VFR airspace. Under normal circumstances anyone can fly in this area w/o a flight plan and even without a radio. This cant be allowed while official SAR and supply missions are being performed.

Some one said earlier in the thread that we have coast guard footage of the west end. No we don't. We have footage from 16 mile road east...we have no footage of the west end of the island.

And as I said earlier, this is easy to undestand. They dont want pictures of dead bodies floating in the streets being posted on YouTube.

Thanks for the thread Val, I remember on Saturday as I was driving around, that the police in Galveston was getting hundreds of phone calls for help.

It was also a thread in ATS on the issue, I remember that the police chief or whomever was doing the interview said that they could not do anything about it and regretfully it was going to be many casualties as it was many people that decided to ride the storm.

So I wonder if is any news on the casualties or if is any more news on this also.

I also agree that this time something is going on to keep the public from learning more about what is going in the disaster area.

After all it is a election year and bad news are not good for campaign.

[edit on 14-9-2008 by marg6043]

KHOU chopper headed to west end now.

www.khou.com...

Go here...

maroonspoon.com...

KTRK is flying over Bolivar peninsula.

Also, they are reporting a number of pipelines and platforms in the Gulf have been destroyed.

Maybe the storm surge washed away the coast line and exposed a buried UFO? Maybe this is why FEMA has locked down the area. Or maybe some buildings from Atlantis were uncovered and they think we can't handle the truth.

These smart ass theories are no worse that mixing up FEMA cover ups, cell phone blockages and airspace restrictions with the terrible fact that 1000's who ignored warnings that they faced "certain death" if they did not evacuate have indeed lost their lives.

Its shameful to inject theories regarding cover-ups and conspiracies, and politics into this human disaster....Shameful.

Originally posted by darkbluesky

I think you should take your condascending ass over to the KHOU damage forums and just rip into all those families who aren't able to find out about their property.

Then you'll have the whole world fixed.

Originally posted by Valhall

Originally posted by loam
They just admitted they expect mass casualties from the West End. They mentioned that they are leaving it to local authorities to make the announcements.

I've been afraid of that. Just doing the numbers straight across:

If 40% of the population lives on the west end and they estimate 20,000 stayed, that puts 8000 past the sea wall. By and large it looks like people could have survived most of the areas to and including Jamaica Beach. I would think that would constitute 80% of the 40% west of the sea wall (at least). That leaves about 1600 people maybe on down the west end in such locations as Sea Isle, Terramar Beach, Bay Harbor, etc.

That's still a lot of people who could have placed themselves in a no-win situation. And it is a heck of a lot of people who have just lost all property.

I think that your estimate is too high for one reason. You use the percentage of people living in the WE X the amount of people that stayed. I would argue that a larger percentage of people left the WE of the island because of the dangers associated with it. If you know that side of the island was more at risk, I am sure those who lived there did. I would guess that most people who chose to stay lived on the more protected areas of the Island.

[edit on 14-9-2008 by WuTang]

Originally posted by WuTang

I think that your estimate is too high for one reason. You use the percentage of people living in the WE X the amount of people that stayed. I would argue that a larger percentage of people left the WE of the island because of the dangers associated with it. If you know that side of the island was more at risk, I am sure those who lived there did. I would guess that most people who chose to stay lived on the more protected areas of the Island.

[edit on 14-9-2008 by WuTang]

I agree. That's why I prefaced them with "straight across"...that would be what I would think to be the maximum possible.

I'm reserving the benefit of the doubt to the citizens of Galveston that MOST of them were intelligent enough to leave.

reply to post by Valhall


They're discussing this very issue now. But they don't sound too confident about it.

Good grief. I hope those people had more sense.

[edit on 14-9-2008 by loam]

Actually as per video link provided by Val, is very important for owners with insurance to be able to access their properties so they can start working in their claims, pictures are always part of the claims.

Also we must remember the insurance fiasco after Katrina.

I still can not imagine why the government, fema or homeland security will be suppressing the media and controlling what areas are for media access.

We are not a communist country so this is unacceptable.

The west end of Galveston Island is mostly vacation homes, one of which I happen to own. The area constitutes 40-50% OF THE TAX BASE. I DEMAND TO KNOW WHY WE AS HOMEOWNERS HAVE RECEIVED NO INFORMATION? It is unacceptable. News is news, and we need some so we can begin making plans for our properties. For me personally, I'd like my FEMA check asap so I can buy my new flat screen......

True... If everyone on the EAST side is fine, then surely the Westsiders went over there ?

After the whole certain death thing. I am worried. That maybe not everyone got out. It seems almost confirmed that the place has been... beaten.

We are NOT asking for pictures of death. We are NOT wanting to confirm this is worse than they are saying.

We just want to know the truth. We don't care about Haiti? Sorry, I don't live there. Bad stuff happens around the world everyday, I want to know about my home country.

EDIT - typo

[edit on 14-9-2008 by LostNemesis]

On the damage forums they are stating that Galveston authorities are making statements that the west end of the island is permanently gone. The whole tip of the island itself.

reply to post by marg6043


I agree it's not a good idea, because it does raise questions about a cover-up or the like.

But, what about the worst case scenario? What if that area of Galveston is total destruction? What if there are hundreds, thousands dead and floating around? No one would want to see that, and I would hope that no one would want to show it.

A total media black-out is not a good thing, but there could be a reason for it right now. If this continues into tomorrow or Tuesday, then I'd really be worried about a cover-up.

But, maybe right now, they are protecting people from the real worst case scenario.