LEFT WING LOONS
See other LEFT WING LOONS Articles
Title: Obama takes charge at hurricane command center
Source:
Yahoo/AFP
URL Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-takes-c ... -command-center-172139005.html
Published: Aug 27, 2011
Author: AFP
Post Date: 2011-08-27 23:20:14 by Hondo68
Keywords: disaster command center, keen to be visibly in charge, Federal Emergency Management A
Views: 1316
Comments: 2
US President Barack Obama warned the US east coast was in for a "long 72 hours" as he led his government's response to Hurricane Irene at a disaster command center in Washington. Obama on Saturday chaired a meeting at the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) set up at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, which is marshaling federal and local hurricane-relief efforts. "This is going to be a tough slog getting through this thing," Obama said during a video teleconference including senior federal officials and local government agencies in the east coast path of Irene. "It's going to be a long 72 hours. Obviously a lot of families are going to be affected ... the biggest concern I'm having right now has to do with flooding and power," Obama said during the videoconference. "(It) sounds like that's going to be an enormous strain on a lot of states" that could last days, or even longer in some cases, he said. Saturday evening Obama convened a conference call with members of his senior emergency response team including Vice President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, among others. "The President was briefed on the current track of the storm, the weather impacts being felt so far and efforts to pre-position response and recovery assets," said a statement released by the White House. "The President asked to be kept apprised of developments throughout the night and said that he wants the group to re-convene tomorrow morning." The White House said Obama heard updates on Saturday from governors and emergency management officials in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. The White House appears to have carefully considered the lesson of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when a botched response effort and confusion between state and federal agencies inflicted a heavy political price on president George W. Bush. Obama returned home one night early on Friday from his island vacation on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and appeared keen to be visibly in charge as the response to Hurricane Irene unfolds. In an earlier conference call on Saturday, Obama held a conference call with Napolitano, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate and other senior emergency management officials. "The president reiterated that we know that this storm's impacts will continue to be felt throughout the weekend and that we still have work ahead of us to support potentially impacted states and communities," the White House said. Sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) an hour lashed coastal areas as Irene made landfall near the southern end of a chain of barrier islands that ring the North Carolina coast, the National Hurricane Center said. Cities along the east coast of the United States -- from Washington to New York to Boston -- braced for the impact, with hundreds of thousands of people ordered to evacuate low-lying areas.
Poster Comment: Are those Santa Claus suits, or Chairman Mao safety vests?
US President Barack Obama (2ndL), with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate (3rdL) and Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (L) visits with emergency workers on duty at the National Response Coordination Center in Washington, DC.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: hondo68 (#0)
I can sleep easy now.
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest"The President asked to be kept apprised of developments throughout the night and said that he wants the group to re-convene tomorrow morning."
Replies to Comment # 1.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]