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• Before Landfall
• Landfall
• The First Week
• Ongoing Aftermath

Ongoing Aftermath:
4 September 2005 -

• Jefferson Parish President Broussard criticizes FEMA on Meet The Press:
  "Let me give you just three quick examples.
  • We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago.
  • FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, 'Come get the fuel right away.' When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. 'FEMA says don't give you the fuel.'
  • Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.
• Times Picayune Calls for FEMA Chief Dismissal
  In this "open letter" to the President, the New Orleans newspaper took issue with what it called "bald-faced" lies by FEMA Chief Michael Brown and expressed skepticism that President Bush would follow through with promises to save New Orleans and its citizens.

• Barbara Bush NPR Interview   (audio)
  
  "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

• Mayor Nagin forces evacuation of New Orleans.
• FEMA on Photos of the Dead
  Reuters quotes a FEMA spokeswoman as sending an email saying, "The recovery of victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect and we have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media."

• NBC news crew prevented from filming National Guard activities in New Orleans; Adminstration seeks to prohibit showing the dead.
• Congressional Investigation
  In a written statement, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) announced a joint committee to review government response -- at all levels -- and announced findings no later than February 2006.

• Using the power of the executive order, President Bush suspends the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, thus allowing federal contractors rebuilding after Katrina to pay less than prevailing wages.
• News reports suggest FEMA Chief Brown inflated his resume, ensuring additional controversy.

• FEMA Chief Brown Demoted, Replaced by Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen, Coast Guard chief of staff
• CNN Temporary Restraining Order successfully blocks government agencies from interfering with news coverage of recovery efforts.

• FEMA Chief Brown Resigns
• Times Picyaune On Brown Resignation

• Bush Statement on Responsibility
• First Criminal Charges Filed

• 8:02 PM CDT: President Bush Addresses the Nation (excerpts):
  Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again...
  
  Tonight I propose the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone...
  
  I propose the creation of Worker Recovery Accounts ...
  
  I also propose that Congress pass an Urban Homesteading Act...
  
  I consider detailed emergency planning to be a national security priority, and therefore, I've ordered the Department of Homeland Security to undertake an immediate review, in cooperation with local counterparts, of emergency plans in every major city in America....
  
  [T]he system, at every level of government, was not well-coordinated, and was overwhelmed in the first few days. It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces -- the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice...
  
  This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. We're going to review every action and make necessary changes, so that we are better prepared for any challenge of nature, or act of evil men, that could threaten our people...

• National Day of Prayer
• Mississippi's Clarion Ledger reports that the US Department of Justice is asking agencies:
  "Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation."

• Mayor Nagin rescinds approval to re-enter the city due to Hurricane Rita.

• Boston Globe
• CNN
• Chicago Tribune
• New York Times
• Newsweek
• NOAA
• Seattle Times
• TPM
• Think Progress
• Wikipedia