Those levees are just fine, just fine. Lets help the people in Texas.

[Flabbergasted]

Associated Press
Comparison of Reports on Katrina
By The Associated Press , 02.23.2006, 04:51 PM

A comparison of a White House investigation into Hurricane Katrina released Thursday, and a Feb. 15 House report:

EVACUATION:

_House: Mandatory evacuations ordered in Alabama and Mississippi went relatively well. Evacuations in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish were either declared late or not at all, a failure that "led to preventable deaths, great suffering and further delays in relief."

_White House: Federal performance was weak across the Gulf Coast due to poor planning for evacuation routes, communications, equipment and evacuee processing. Though fundamentally a state and local responsibility, the federal government must be ready to evacuate people when those authorities cannot.



LEVEES BREACH:

_House: Despite reports from FEMA and the Coast Guard the night Katrina hit, the Homeland Security Operations Center failed to conclude that New Orleans levees were breached. "Perhaps the single most important piece of information during Katrina was confirmation of the levee breaches in New Orleans."

_White House: Confusion about the difference between levee overtoppings and breaches, or breaks, contributed to delays in responding to flooding in New Orleans. On the evening of Katrina's landfall, the Homeland Security Operation Center reported that levees had not been breached, despite a bulletin six hours earlier by the National Weather Service that at least one had.
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/02/23/ap2549678.html

[Flabbergasted]

1. A role by the ferderal government would be nice george!

Or perhaps if we had a military to play a military role?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/24/MNGD1HE0QR1.DTL

Washington -- The federal government must play a stronger role in dealing with catastrophic natural disasters, including greater use of the military, the White House said Thursday in a report ordered by President Bush to study lessons learned from the failed response to Hurricane Katrina.

[El Supremo]

2. Here's what N'awlins sez: