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WASHINGTON — President Bush said Wednesday that his administration was moving quickly to save lives and provide sustenance to uncounted victims of Hurricane Katrina, but that it "will take years" to recover from the storm that laid waste to the Gulf Coast.
"We're dealing with one of the worst national disasters in our nation's history," Bush said at a news conference hours after an aerial tour of the area.
"This is going to be a difficult road," he added, and made it clear the impact could broaden well past the four states along the battered coast.
"Our citizens must understand this storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and to distribute gasoline," the president said.
Run-down of actions
Flanked by senior members of his administration, Bush ran down a list of actions already taken to help victims of the storm.
He said, for example, buses were on the way to help take thousands of storm refugees from the overwhelmed Superdome in New Orleans to the Astrodome in Houston.
Medical teams had been deployed, as have search-and-rescue teams, the president said.
The Coast Guard had already rescued nearly 2,000 people, he added.
Bush said the Pentagon as well was contributing to the rescue and relief operations, and said he had instructed Energy Secretary Sam Bodman to work with refineries to "alleviate any shortage through loans."
In addition to the government's efforts, Bush encouraged Americans to donate money to help recovery efforts.
Presidential fly-over
Bush cut short his working vacation in Texas by two days to fly over the devastated region.
His plane flew over New Orleans at about 2,500, and it descended even further, to about 1,700 feet, over Mississippi. Bush surveyed the damage from a couch near the left front of the plane.
The plane flew over New Orleans, then traveled along the coast to Mobile, Miss., before turning north toward Washington.
“It’s totally wiped out,” Bush remarked as the modified Boeing 747 moved east past Slidell, a Louisiana community reduced to a pile of rubble and sticks.
“It’s devastating, it’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground,” Bush said, according to his spokesman Scott McClellan. ....
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9132021/#.UVIF9BeN5yc
Bush Says New Orleans Flyover After Katrina a `Huge Mistake'
Former President George W. Bush said he made a “huge mistake” in not stopping in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and in allowing photographers to take pictures of him looking at New Orleans as he flew over the city.
The image, taken on board Air Force One, made him look “detached and uncaring,” Bush said in an interview scheduled for broadcast on NBC next week in connection with the Nov. 9 release of the former president’s book, “Decision Points,” about his time in office.
This Aug. 31, 2005 file photo shows U.S. President George W. Bush looking out the window of Air Force One as he flies over New Orleans, Louisiana, surveying the damage left by Hurricane Katrina. Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Bush was criticized for the federal government’s botched response to the 2005 storm that devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf of Mexico coast and for not going to the area soon after the hurricane hit.
“I should have touched down in Baton Rouge, met with the governor and walked out and said, ‘I hear you. We understand. And we’re going to help the state and help the local governments with as much resources as needed,’” said Bush, 64, according to excerpts from the interview with Matt Lauerscheduled to air at 8 p.m. New York time on Nov. 8.
In his book, Bush writes that a low point in his presidency was a remark by rapper Kanye West shortly after Katrina hit that the government’s response to the disaster showed Bush “doesn’t care about black people.” ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-05/bush-calls-new-orleans-flyover-in-wake-of-hurricane-katrina-huge-mistake-.html