I’ve been saying it since Katrina and people still don’t seem to want to listen.

FEMA isn’t there to primarily provide emergency response and relief for disasters. They exist mainly to provide cover-your-ass for the politicians who are typically asleep at the wheel when this kind of shit happened. To provide the good cover stories, excuses, and bullshit in order for the government to walk out of a major incident blameless. They are mainly politicians first and disaster relief second.

They likely don’t want the drones exposing some major act of incompetence that has made the floods that much worse/or is going to make it much worse.

Or worse, they want to have that plausible deniability for when something really does go wrong. They don’t want drones and technology giving them all the information they need to actually do something to help the situation. If they do that, then they would have no real excuse for themselves if something really DOES go horribly wrong. So they order the drones and relief efforts to be stalled until it’s apparent that a fall-man is established or that their involvement can not fail.

It’s the sad state of affairs we live in. Even sadder that people still trust government acronym organizations like them.

This is why you are overflowing with conspiracy theories and accusing you of having death camps!

On what grounds were these arrests to transpire? What law?

Governement doesn’t want ANY details getting out about the drones they are using to watch over us here. These drones have created high resolution maps in under an hour of huge amounts of land. Imagine how quickly they could locate a person of interest when you have the NSA processing the data.

to me it’s simple an correct me if Im wrong but the floods ended and they no longer served any use after knowing what the maximum amount of damage was they were dealing with, drones grounded.

I never respond to these type of posts but this topic I’m very interested in. I’m from Pinewood Springs, CO as far as I can tell I was the last one evacuated from Pinewood Springs by a Blackhawk helicopter. I stayed until all but a couple of neighbors in Kiowa Island, (our bridge collapsed separating us from the rest of the community) evacuated.
I have been flying RCs for over 35 years, I have a pilots license (not current) I’ve worked with the FAA at Denver Center as a software engineer for 12 years. Recently I’ve worked for Honeybee Robotics as a Facility Manager and fabricator who is working on some UAV projects. I feel I have a very unique perspective on this matter.
When all these comments on the were being made on the 16th I was on my dirt bike trying scouting out an evacuation route for families with farm animals, chickens, goats, etc. Neighbors were told they were not allowed on the Chinooks. I found an old stagecoach route from 36 to Spring Gulch went down Spring Gulch and found the Apple Valley bridge still standing made it into Lyons and went to talk to the fire chief, we briefed each other I showed him the route I took and remember his last words to me ‘we’re stretched thin, (in Lyons) you guys are pretty much on your own up there’ that was all I needed to hear you might think that was disheartening but information is gold and now I knew the truth finally someones telling me the truth, I was delighted at that. Not that the Pinewood Springs fire department was lying to us but they were pretty much saying whatever they needed to get people to evacuate, they did a good job of this and they were right in doing so.
During that time the area looked like a war zone Chinooks and Blackhawks flying low level all over, it was an amazing site to see you never see many aircraft around here but to see so many flying at low level like this was something words can’t describe.
I have a huge interest in UAV flight and am working on my own projects in the area, if you have an some unquie information in the field please contact me. Anyway, imagine piloting during that day your looking out for the terrain other aircraft, paying attention to instruments, navigating and now you need to worried about a small UAV crashing through the windshield of the chopper your flying? The damage was already done, people needed to be evacuated, you try living without power, water, phone, internet, any communication of any kind. You look into your neighbors eyes and see their fear of not knowing what comes next. Then you’ll realize mapping can be done after all is safe. People were doing things they are not used to and the fear of someone getting hurt was very real, and you don’t want to get hurt when your not sure you can get medical response in a timely manner.
Sure you can say that maybe a UAV could’ve spotted some evacuee but at what cost. aircraft with people on board an aircraft are far more likely to do a much better job of spotting what needs to be done than a little camera on a UAV?sorry its the truth!
Don’t get me wrong I am a believer in UAVs and what they can do and the cost saving that can be achieved but when you get right down to it, do you want to be on that chopper as a passenger with who knows how many UAVs flying around at low level, think about that, I know I don’t.
All in all, FEMA did an outstanding job, its hard to me to say a government entity did a good job but I don’t think if I ran the outfit that I could have done the job they did, I’m proud of them. The National Guard, I’ve never really understood what the did, now I’m embarrased at myself for not serving in the National Guard, those guy are amazing, and dare I say it make me proud to be an American again.
In this day and age in America I am disgusted with our bought out politicians, scum of the earth in my opinion. But they will never be able to put down the American spirit of the common people, and the common people will always rally when disaster strikes?hopefully you’ll never have to experience a natural disaster or any other disaster, but if you do I’ll be there for you through FEMA and the National Guard the greatest concepts of government I’ve ever known.

Steve Fitzgerald