Katrina: The Logistical Nightmare

Quotes from Glenn Garvin’s Miami Herald story:

> CBS VP Marcy McGinnis: “On an ordinary hurricane, you get in the day before and you cover the landfall. You cover the day after, maybe a bit of the second day after, and you go home. But this one just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

> Weather Channel GM Terry Connelly: “‘Lord, we’re making up the new rules as we go along on this one. Our crews have had to fend for themselves…I have no idea where they’re getting food.”

> CNN VP Jack Womack: “‘The logistics are enormous. We’re running a military-like supply line from Atlanta, sending out fuel, RVs, generators. After three or four days on a story like this, just finding places to charge up all the batteries on your equipment is an enormous task.”

> FNC VP John Stack says sat trucks are essential: “‘Those things are portable production studios. In addition to being able to transmit, live or tape, they’re our only source of electricity. Without them we’ve got no satellite phones, which means we have no communication — all the cellphone towers are either damaged or have no juice.'”