A daily overview of the weather, emergency situations and the activities of FEMA is posted at
http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/. I checked past months, including holidays and the reports are always listed. Except for September 1, 2, 3, and 4. These reports are general overviews of many situations in the US. There is no reason why they should disappear for four days. Were no Situation Reports filed? Were they removed? Either way, we deserve an explanation. Were emergency managers left without reports for four days or were troublesome reports removed form the site?
August 30
Bush, on a visit Monday to Arizona and California, pledged extensive federal help for victims of Katrina to "get your lives back in order." The government put into effect a massive emergency assistance program that included rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas.
But the next day, a different tone. Not a word of relief efforts, only an overview of the situation
August 31
'The breach in the 17th Street canal is about 200 feet wide,' New Orleans Police Lieutenant Julie Wilson told reporters. 'The water is going to keep coming in until it reaches the level of the lake. I don't know what they are going to do.'
'The devastation is greater than our worst fears,' said Louisiana state Governor Kathleen Blanco. 'It is just totally overwhelming. It is a tragedy of great proportions.'
The Superdome, which is holding at least 10,000 evacuees, was surrounded by water on Tuesday. Evacuees sat tight in the massive sports arena, which itself bore Katrina's scars after having much of its outer dome ripped off on Monday.
Then nothing until September 5!
September 5
Having largely emptied the cavernous Superdome, which had become a squalid pit of misery and violence, officials turned their attention to the convention center"
Almost 13,000 Coast Guard personnel are in the city performing search-and-rescue operations and another 3,000 are expected to join them Monday. At the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, about 1,000 people - tired and dirty from living for days on the sidewalks outside the center - were loaded air-conditioned buses in the first two hours of the evacuation operation Saturday morning. An estimated 25,000 people have been waiting for help outside the center.
Even the acknowledgement of problems in the federal government is a tongue-in-cheek slap at New Orleans
With the evacuee situation stabilizing somewhat, and increasing numbers of armed soldiers and police on the streets, officials said Saturday they would start aggressively dealing with the bands of armed looters who pushed the city to the brink of complete breakdown. Frustration at the slow rate of recovery and the federal response to the disaster also mounted Saturday in Mississippi and Alabama, where storm victims voiced resentment that New Orleans seemed to be getting most of the attention.