|
Gotta protect my source, so I'll just say that this is somewhere in Louisiana. My source is definitely in a position to know. This is direct experience, not hearsay:
FEMA is totally screwed up. Over two months after Katrina nobody's in charge and the rules change daily, sometimes two or three times DURING the day.
"All haulers (debris clean up trucks) MUST have tarps on their loads."
So now they can't pick up any more debris until they have tarps. Everybody stops work and scrambles around trying to find tarps. Most have to go well out of the area to find them. Days are wasted.
Two days later, evidently realizing the chaos they've caused, FEMA rescinds the order.
Next day "All haulers' trucks must have automatic tailgates."
Very few trucks in use are so equipped. The closest facility equipped to do this modification is 200 miles away and can, at best, handle two or three trucks per day. It's a very expensive job.
In the history of disaster clean up, going all the way back to Hurricane Frederick in the 70s, automatic tailgates have not been required. Why now?
A few days later wiser heads prevail and this order is also rescinded.
It goes on and on. You talk to one official and get an answer to a procedural or paperwork question and two days later you get a call from another official telling you you're doing it all wrong and will have to re-do a week's worth of work.
Most of the drivers are independent contractors with their own trucks. We're talking huge 32 cubic yard dump trucks. The are sub-contractors to the big outfit who holds the FEMA clean up contract. Many have become disgusted and left to work in the Florida clean up.
So the LA clean up may take just a teeny bit longer than we've been told.
:-(
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
