Stung by criticism of his slow response to Hurricane Katrina, President George Bush has been using Sunday’s fourth anniversary of the 11 September attacks to try to shore up his crumbling public support.
In his weekly radio address, Bush compared the aftermath of the storm to the US-led war on terror. ‘America is confronting another disaster that has caused destruction and loss of life,’ he said. ‘America will overcome this ordeal, and we will be stronger for it.’ A poll released yesterday put the President’s approval rating below 40% for the first time.
On Friday, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), was recalled by Bush to Washington. Brown had been a lightning rod for anger over the government’s perceived botched response. It was not the sacking his political opponents had demanded, but it was an unusual step for the President, who rarely fires or demotes anyone he considers loyal.
Bush also won congressional backing for more federal funds for the victims of the catastrophe, lifting the government’s aid package to $61 billion (£33bn), with the promise of more to come.
As the rescue operation gradually gave way to longer-term recovery and rebuilding efforts, concern switched last night to the south-eastern US coast as another hurricane, Ophelia, threatened Georgia and South Carolina. A wind of at least 74 mph was possible by tonight, the National Hurricane Centre said. A decision was yet to be made over whether evacuations would be ordered.
In New Orleans, with most of those who were trapped in the floodwaters now released, there are hopes that the final body count will be far lower than first feared.
Colonel Terry Ebbert, the city’s head of homeland security, said: ‘Numbers [dead] so far are relatively minor as compared to the dire projections of 10 000.’
The official death toll is 118, but will climb significantly once rescuers finish evacuating the city and turn their attentions to removing bodies. But Fema is unlikely to need most of the 25 000 body bags it ordered last week.
Meanwhile, officials knew months before the catastrophe in New Orleans that Louisiana would be unable to cope with the aftermath of a storm similar to Katrina, The Observer has learnt.
State representatives and Fema executives, including Brown, attended a series of emergency planning workshops over the past year in which it became evident that there was insufficient temporary housing and medical services to cope with the effect of a big storm hitting the region.
The workshops used scientific modelling and drew on expert testimony to predict what would happen if a category three hurricane hit the city. Fema was so concerned about a catastrophic storm scenario that it asked IEM, a company that won a $500 000 contract to develop the workshops, for a preliminary report within two months.
In later meetings, it became clear that there were shortfalls in the state’s emergency response plan. The lack of emergency housing was seen as so acute that it was the sole subject of a workshop two months ago. – Guardian Unlimited Â