http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1129096776273280.xmlAs if the kick by the deadliest storm in Louisiana history didn't create crisis enough, Jefferson Parish officials say the Federal Emergency Management Agency knocked out their radio communications with field workers for several critical hours on Aug. 31, two days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
Telecommunications Director JoAnn Becnel said Tuesday that a contractor investigating the failure discovered that radio cables and equipment leading to an antenna atop the Galleria office building in Metairie had been disconnected and replaced with cables and equipment belonging to FEMA. The contractor called Becnel from the Galleria's roof.
"I told him to unplug theirs and plug ours back in," Becnel said.
FEMA spokesman Kim Pease said his agency had no knowledge of the report but is investigating whether the agency's Mobile Emergency Reponse System personnel were involved.
"They're the first on the ground. They come in with a truck fully loaded, and all they have to do is find power," Pease said. "They've already left the area, but I am contacting the person who was in charge."
The disruption lasted no more than four hours, but officials with Parish President Aaron Broussard's administration said it complicated a desperate situation. The radio failure stymied attempts by Jefferson's emergency managers, in the Emergency Operations Center in Marrero, to direct personnel on the ground at a time when much of East Jefferson was flooding, people were being rescued from rising water and thousands of displaced residents were seeking food and shelter. The storm already had knocked out conventional phone service.
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