AUSTIN, Texas (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Monday rushed to oversee emergency operations for Hurricane Gustav, three years after the bungled response to mega-storm Katrina dealt a huge political blow to his administration.
With scores of emergency personnel, aid administrators and politicians at his side in his home state of Texas, Bush said emergency response to Gustav was much improved over the mismanaged 2005 reaction to Hurricane Katrina.
"The coordination on this storm is a lot better than during Katrina," a somber-looking Bush told a briefing at the Texas Emergency Operations Center in Austin, as Category-Two Gustav raged ashore near New Orleans almost exactly three years after Katrina devastated the city in the costliest natural disaster in US history.
Bush, seemingly eager to project the seriousness with which the White House was taking the latest storm, scrapped plans to attend the Republican national convention Monday in order to fly to Texas to oversee emergency efforts along the vulnerable US Gulf Coast.
He said his job was to be sure the federal government had the resources ready to respond, adding that "I feel good about this event."
However, he warned, "The storm has yet to pass, it's a serious event."
The president praised the "spirit of sharing" among the governors and residents of the affected states -- Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas -- to coordinate what has been described as the largest evacuation in US history.
"It's been a huge evacuation," Bush, his shirt sleeves rolled up, told the briefing.
"It's hard for a citizen to pull up stakes and move out of their home and face the uncertainty that comes when you're not at home, and I want to thank those citizens who listened carefully to the local authorities and evacuated," he added.
"And I want to thank my fellow citizens in Texas and in other states for welcoming these folks with open arms."
It was a vastly different scenario three years earlier. Bush's administration suffered a serious political blow after its haphazard response to the 2005 Katrina disaster, which killed some 1,800 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless for months on end.
Bush himself faced outspoken criticism over his perceived lack of leadership over the crisis, and in particular his early support of Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown, to whom he famously said during the Katrina crisis: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Brown was eventually replaced as pointman for the Katrina relief effort after FEMA's efforts proved vastly ineffective in helping the millions afflicted by the storm.
In Austin, Texas Governor Rick Perry told Bush that the state had evacuated more than 280,000 of its own residents from endangered coastline, the east edge of which was forecast to be hard hit by Gustav.
Texas also has taken in up to 50,000 evacuees from Louisiana, including several elderly nursing home patients evacuated by air before Gustav's arrival.
"Your home state did good," Perry told Bush.
At Lackland Air Force Base prior to leaving Texas, Bush praised the generosity of Americans.
"Nobody's happy about these storms. Everybody's praying for everybody's safety," Bush said.
"But I'm confident that after the storm passes and there's a human need it'll be met because of the generosity of the American people."
Meanwhile, Republican White House nominee John McCain Monday lent a hand to volunteers packing boxes of supplies to go to people stricken by the storm on the Gulf Coast.
"This epitomizes the millions of American people who are serving on behalf of causes greater than their self interest," McCain said as he helped pack disinfectant, gloves, soap, hygiene products and toys into a bin labeled Hurricane Gustav Relief Supplies.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
