Feb 10, 2006 8:00 am US/Eastern
White House Knew Levees Broke
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
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Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina flow through broken section of levee, New Orleans, La, (File)
AP
Twenty-eight government agencies reported that New Orleans levees were breached the day Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, documents show, raising questions about whether the government moved quickly enough to rescue people once they realized the levees had broken.
A timeline of e-mails, situation updates and weather reports, pieced together by Senate Democrats, indicates the Bush administration knew as early as 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 29 about levee failures that would ultimately lead to massive flooding of the city and its surrounding parishes.
The documents were released in advance of a Senate hearing Friday at which Michael Brown, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was set to testify. Brown, who resigned shortly after the storm, is widely considered the public face of the government's sluggish response to Katrina. Brown is expected to start naming names of "who knew what the day Katrina hit," CBS News correspondent Susan Roberts reports.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said President Bush and his top aides were fully aware of the massive flooding, and less concerned whether it was caused by levee breaches, overtoppings or failed pumps, all three of which were being reported at the time.
"We knew there was flooding and that's why the No. 1 effort in those early hours was on search and rescue, and saving life and limb," Duffy said.
Shortly after the disaster, Mr. Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." He later said his comment was meant to suggest that there had been a false sense of relief that the levees had held when the storm passed, only to break a few hours later.
Democrats said the documents showed there was little excuse for the tardy federal response.
"The first communication came at 8:30 a.m.," said Senator Joe Lieberman, top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "So it is inexplicable to me how those responsible for the federal response could have woken up Tuesday morning unaware of this obviously catastrophic situation."
The first internal White House communication about levee failures came at 11:13 a.m. on Aug. 29 in a "Katrina Spot Report" by the White House Homeland Security Council, Roberts reports.
"Flooding is significant throughout the region and a levee in New Orleans has reportedly been breached sending 6-8 feet of water throughout the 9th ward area of the city," the internal report said.
Brown, now a private citizen, has said his Katrina-related communications with Mr. Bush and other top White House officials no longer fall under executive confidentiality protections, a possible signal that his testimony will assign blame elsewhere.
Brown quit FEMA on Sept. 12 after he was relived of his onsite command in the Gulf Coast, and left the federal payroll Nov. 2. He testified in front of a House investigation panel in September.
(© 2006 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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