La. panel grills Red Cross

BY J. JIONI PALMER | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

September 15, 2005

BATON ROUGE, La. - In the days immediately following the flooding of New Orleans, as scenes of anguish and desperation at the Superdome played out on television screens nationwide, the Red Cross was blocked from delivering relief by state emergency management officials because police and military personnel were unable to rein in the chaos on the streets, a senior Red Cross official said yesterday.

"We went into the affected areas as best we could," Vic Howell, head of the Louisiana Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, told a state senate committee. "The only area we were asked not to go into was New Orleans and we were told by Homeland Security they could not set the conditions properly to go in and were asked not to."

As a result, Howell said, his organization's efforts were largely focused on the less populated parishes surrounding the city and on those New Orleanians who were able to make it out.

"Let me ask you, do you need permission to go into an area where people are starving?" asked an incredulous state Sen. Cleo Fields (D-Baton Rouge).

Howell said he did not seek a clarification, instead choosing to defer to military authorities. "This was a military-based search and rescue operation," he said. "The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization. We were asked by them not to go in and we abided by that wish."

A representative from the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness said he did not know why that order was given, and his testimony was cut short when it became evident that he was unprepared to answer lawmakers' questions.

Other state officials told the committee that the state's pre-hurricane evacuation, which relied on people getting themselves out of danger, worked smoothly.

"Everyone who had desire and means to evacuate did so," said Secretary of Transportation Johnny B. Bradberry.

However, he said, the "plan did not address people without vehicles." Those people were the primary responsibility of local authorities, he said. There was no request for assistance from New Orleans officials, he added.