Quote:By KEVIN ROBILLARD
10/03/2012 12:03 PM EDT
 In a 2007 videotape being publicized last night, then-Sen. Barack Obama ripped into the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Here are 10 facts about what Washington did and didn’t do to help New Orleans.


 
1. Within four days of Katrina’s landfall on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, then-President George W. Bush signed a $10.4 billion aid package and ordered 7,200 National Guard troops to the region. A few days later, he requested — and Congress approved — an additional $51.8 billion in aid. Better than HELENE
 
2. Hundreds of firefighters from other cities who volunteered to help in the response were rerouted to Atlanta, where they sat through two days of presentations on sexual harassment and the history of FEMA before being sent to New Orleans. HOPEFULLY worse than Helene
 
3. FEMA Director Michael Brown, who resigned over his handling of the response, later told a group of students that the White House only wanted to federalize the response in Louisiana, where the governor was a Democrat, and not in Republican-led Mississippi in order to embarrass Louisiana officials. Brown said the White House believed they had a chance to “rub [Kathleen Blanco’s] nose in it.” The Bush administration denied political considerations played a role in the response.  Sounds like both Katrina and Helene were and are being politicize, especially with the election so close
 
4. The federal government didn’t waive the Stafford Act, which requires localities to contribute 10 percent of the cost of reconstruction and clean-up projects, until May. It was quickly waived after both Sept. 11 and Hurricane Andrew. Definitely sounds political that remains to be seen with Helene but there are certainly signs
 
5. An investigation by Congressional Republicans, while placing most of the blame on the Bush administration, singled out New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for not ordering an evacuation of the city until less than 24 hours before Katrina’s landfall. Nearby Plaquemines Parish had ordered an evacuation a day earlier.6. Then-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered 200 members of his state’s national guard to help Louisiana the day the Katrina hit, but a letter from Washington authorizing the move didn’t arrive until five days later.  Helene is different wereas it was obvious NewOrleans was going to take a huge hit

 7. On Tuesday, Aug. 30, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff flew to Atlanta for a briefing on the avian flu, and President George W. Bush later said he thought New Orleans had dodged a bullet. In fact, the White House had been informed the night before that levees in New Orleans had broken and the city was flooding. Much like Helene it ain't just the wind it's the rain totals 
 
8. Vice President Dick Cheney’s office called a Mississippi electricity cooperative and ordered repair crews to restore power to a pipeline sending oil and gas to the northeast, delaying the restoration of power to two rural hospitals. Sounds like something a Dick Cheney would do, hmmm doesn't he have a daughter... not much differnt than Officials turning way help becaue its not from required vendors thet want cash so they can buy from the authorized disaster relief vendors
 
9. Before the storm hit, Amtrak ran equipment out of the city. With rooms for several hundred evacuees, they offered the spots to the city. Officials declined, so the train left with no passengers. Too early to hear about these types of fiascos but they happened, One plant in Tennessee lost 5 people cause they waited too long to evacuate.

 
10. Five days after the storm hit, then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) was allowed through the military checkpoints and given a national guard escort in order to visit his house. Jefferson said he was on tour of his flooded district and trying to examine the damage.

We are just now seeing politicians being let in, the situation on the ground is still fluid and these places can be hard to reach