Storms 411

Ex-FEMA chief: I may tell all about Katrina

Michael Brown asks White House if they want him to stay quiet

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless the White House forbids it and offers legal support.

Brown's stance, in a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, follows senators' complaints that the White House is refusing to answer questions or release documents about advice given to Bush concerning the August 29 storm.

Brown quit as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency days after Katrina struck. He left the federal payroll November 2. [Read more - CNN]

Brown Accepts More Blame on Katrina

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown has placed blame on everyone from New Orleans' mayor to Louisiana's governor for the chaos following Hurricane Katrina. Now, he's including himself.

Brown said Wednesday he fell short of conveying the magnitude of the disaster wrought by the nation's deadliest hurricane, and calling for help.

"I should have demanded the military sooner," Brown, former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told a gathering of broadcast and National Weather Service meteorologists at a ski resort in the Sierra Nevada. [Read more - abcNews]

Day 107 – 12/6/05, Victims: Racism was factor in slow Katrina response

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black survivors of Hurricane Katrina said Tuesday that racism contributed to the slow disaster response, at times likening themselves in emotional congressional testimony to victims of genocide and the Holocaust.

The comparison is inappropriate, according to Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida.

"Not a single person was marched into a gas chamber and killed," Miller told the survivors.

"They died from abject neglect," retorted community activist Leah Hodges. "We left body bags behind." [Read more - CNN]

60 Unflooded Buses Found, Yet Another Evacuation Horror Story

Wizbang found 60+ UNFLOODED buses in New Orleans that could have been used to evacuate people who stayed behind when Katrina hit. This picture was taken the Wednesday AFTER Katrina struck the city:

Day 23 – 9/14/05, Mississippi Town Hard-Hit by Katrina Sealed off with Barbed Wire

Authorities in Long Beach, Mississippi, east of the New Orleans metropolitan area, said they cordoned off most of the devastated town with barbed wire fencing Wednesday.

The 4-1/2 miles of rolled barbed wire, stretching around the town from the Gulf of Mexico to a half-mile inland, was put up to keep out looters, said officials with the Long Beach Fire Department.

But military police at a checkpoint in the town of about 17,000 people just west of Gulfport said the fencing was erected because it is believed many bodies remain in that area.

The sealed-off area contained large upper- and middle-class houses, most of which were destroyed.

CNN producer Peter Tedeschi described the damage as some of the worst he had seen along the Mississippi coast. He said the stench was overwhelming.

Video showed blocks and blocks of homes reduced to rubble, cars tossed about like toys and large oaks snapped in half.

Scott Dubuisson with the Long Beach Fire Department said he had no idea how long the area will remain sealed.

He said touring the area was unlike anything he had ever seen: "It's like going to Mars for the first time."

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Day 10 – 9/1/05, The Big Disconnect on New Orleans - The Official Version; Tthen There's the in-the-trenches Version

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Diverging views of a crumbling New Orleans emerged Thursday, with statements by some federal officials in contradiction with grittier, more desperate views from the streets. By late Friday response to those stranded in the city was more visible.

But the conflicting views on Thursday came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, evacuee Raymond Cooper, CNN correspondents and others. Here's what they had to say:

Conditions in the Convention Center

FEMA chief Brown: We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need.

Mayor Nagin: The convention center is unsanitary and unsafe, and we are running out of supplies for the 15,000 to 20,000 people. (Hear Nagin's angry demand for soldiers. 1:04)

CNN Producer Kim Segal: It was chaos. There was nobody there, nobody in charge. And there was nobody giving even water. The children, you should see them, they're all just in tears. There are sick people. We saw... people who are dying in front of you.

Evacuee Raymond Cooper: Sir, you've got about 3,000 people here in this -- in the Convention Center right now. They're hungry. Don't have any food. We were told two-and-a-half days ago to make our way to the Superdome or the Convention Center by our mayor. And which when we got here, was no one to tell us what to do, no one to direct us, no authority figure. [Read more - CNN]

Day 10 – 9/1/05, FEMA Chief: Victims Bear Some Responsibility

The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday those New Orleans residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for their fates.

Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands.

"Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN.

"I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," he said. [Read more - CNN]

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Day 10 – 9/1/05, Up to 60,000 Trying to Flee New Orleans

Thousands wait among dying evacuees at convention center

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Police and National Guard troops struggled to restore order Thursday in New Orleans and worked to evacuate tens of thousands of people, who are growing weaker and more desperate in the flooded city.

Thousands of people slept on streets, interstate access ramps, bridges or any dry spot they could find.

Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, a huge crowd waited on the sidewalks for aid that could be a long time coming. The building was used as a secondary shelter when the Louisiana Superdome was overwhelmed. 

CNN's Chris Lawrence reported that conditions inside the building were extremely bad -- a number of bodies were visible, including a baby.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have any help," Rev. Issac Clark told the Associated Press. [Read more]

Again, help the Red Cross help others. Give generously. Thanks!

Day 10 – 9/1/05, Amtrak Planning Evacuations for N.O. Rresidents

MERIDIAN — An evacuation plan via Amtrak train for New Orleans residents trapped by Hurricane Katrina's devastation and floodwaters is being worked out by Amtrak president David Gunn, Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith said Wednesday.

Smith, former Amtrak chairman, said the plan also would possibly use three national freight lines to evacuate New Orleans residents.

If the plan can be worked out, New Orleans residents trapped by the storm could be evacuated to the west by lines operated by Union Pacific Railroad and Canadian National-Illinois Central Railroad, or to the north by freight lines operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad.

Gunn also is considering using Amtrak's Crescent line from New York to New Orleans. That line is clear to Slidell, La., Smith said, but Amtrak officials will have to evaluate the bridge south of Slidell over Lake Pontchartrain, Smith said.

Smith said he had discussed Gunn's plan with U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Bill Gottshall, chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.

Smith said they will present the plan to Federal Emergency Management Agency officials through the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Amtrak spokeswoman Marci Golgoski said, "I can't confirm personal conversations between a current Amtrak president and a former Amtrak president."