Someone Talks Like They Bought A Clue
CNN just noticed: Lack of electricity may complicate new evacuations
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The federal government is “working with great urgency” to restore one-third of the households in Louisiana that still have no power days after after Hurricane Gustav, the chief of Homeland Security said Friday.
With Hurricane Ike possibly heading toward the Gulf Coast, the lack of electricity could greatly complicate possible evacuations.
“One of the concerns we had … was making sure we got enough power up, particularly in the gas stations, so that if people did need to leave again, they could gas their car up and they could go,” Chertoff said Friday.
Power has been restored to some gasoline stations in Louisiana, and Chertoff said fuel trucks capable of pumping gas directly into cars may be an alternative for other drivers.
…
The Homeland Security secretary said that more redundancy is needed in the power system so that when a key piece of equipment is damaged or destroyed, there is something to fall back on. That is often not the case, he said.
“We live in a world in which the business model is ‘Just in time.’ … Do just enough in order to provide the service, but don’t do anything extra, because it is considered wasteful.”
We have been discussing the problems of “Just In Time” inventory control when there’s a natural disaster for over three years in the comments on this blog, with a number of people specifically addressing the obvious problems. Badtux made the specific point about the problem of evacuating Louisiana, because of a lack of power, last night. Of course, Chertoff might have more credibility if DHS or FEMA used any kind of inventory control because “buying a lot stuff and sticking it warehouses” isn’t much of a system. I would note that at the start of this season FEMA gave away all kinds of disaster supplies that were needed by victims of Katrina and Rita, because they were taking up space in a warehouse.
FEMA also said this Spring they would no longer supply ice or generators because those weren’t really priorities and people could buy ice at local convenience stores, or some such foolishness.
Before talking about the logistics and inventory control of other people, Chertoff might want to check with Governor Bobby Jindal (R) of Louisiana who has just discovered the lesson learned all too painfully by former Governor Blanco (D) – you can’t depend on FEMA.
8 comments
“Just In Time” (and the heck with the future – let someone else deal with it).
Perfect conservative slogan.
I’m relieved to hear from you, Blogmother. My cousin in Myrtle Beach wasn’t impressed with Hanna, but the problems can be spotty.
Conservative used to mean something a whole lot different than it does today.
Never fear – I still lurk. Can’t type much, but I can still (sort of) click a m0use.
I’ve assumed it was you from the Feedjit list, but I get a bit obsessive about tropical weather.
To put it in “Californianese” – need electricity to evacuate? “Like DUH!”
I didn’t want to bring up the fact that without power you also need cash because the equipment that processes debit and credit cards sort of needs, and you also need phone lines.
I think if we stuck a few of the these people into one of their trailers at one of these disasters, they might figure out that their priorities change.
The GOP scriptwriters have improved somewhat it seems. 🙂 I am sure Chertoff had at least a mild look of confusion as he made the statement. I doubt he understood any of it (I’m sure he simply kept thinking something like “but… this will cost *money*! Out of my budget… Money that can be better spent ensuring nothing ever gets done… Too many of those undesirable American trash STILL use the Airports! It has to be stopped!” etc) LMAO
Good to see you adante! I really hope everything get’s better for you! Best wishes and good luck. 🙂
That can be seen to be the basic program of the Republicans: make the government as worthless as possible so it collapses. Pretend that it can’t do anything because it’s the government, as opposed to the reality that the Republicans are incompetent.
One would think that more people would understand that the economy is the result of the private sector failures, not government failures. The failure of the government under Republicans is not treating corporations like the greedy children they tend to be.
Computers models of business tend to be quite good on computers, not so much in the real world. JIT works wonderfully as a computer simulation or PowerPoint presentation, but one glitch and it’s the “blue screen of death”.