Katrina: two horror stories from Meet the Press

‘The guy who runs this building I’m in, Emergency Management, he’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, “Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?” and he said, “Yeah, Mama, somebody’s coming to get you.” Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday… and she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night! [Sobbing] Nobody’s coming to get us. Nobody’s coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m sick of the press conferences. For god’s sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.’

‘We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water.  FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] 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.’

— Aaron Broussard, President, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, on NBC Meet the Press, Sunday 4 September. 

For the full transcript of the whole programme, including a defence of his record by Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, click here.

 <  Secretary Michael Chertoff

Thanks for drawing attention to these and other items in the programme to my wife and to Stygius. 

 Brian