Bush was warned before Katrina hit

IN dramatic and sometimes agonising terms, US disaster officials warned US President George W Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach New Orleans's levees.

He was told Katrina could risk lives in New Orleans's Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.

Mr Bush did not ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on August 29, but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

"My gut tells me ... this is a bad one and a big one," then-federal disaster chief Michael Brown told the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29.

Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by Associated Press show in detail that while officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realise they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the disaster.

Linked by secure video, Mr Bush's bravado on August 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and Mr Brown, then the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief, told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Mr Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

The White House and Homeland Security Department urged the public not to read too much into the footage.

"I hope people don't draw conclusions from the president getting a single briefing," Mr Bush spokesman Trent Duffy said.

"He received multiple briefings from multiple officials and he was completely engaged at all times."

Some of the footage and transcripts from briefings from August 25-31 conflicts with the defences that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimise the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:

* Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions.

* Mr Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans.

White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and Mr Brown discussed fears of a levee breach the day the storm hit.

One video snippet captures a missed opportunity on August 28 for the government to have dispatched active-duty military troops to the region to augment the National Guard.

Mr Chertoff: "Are there any DOD assets that might be available? Have we reached out to them?"

Mr Brown: "We have DOD assets over here at [emergency operations centre]. They are fully engaged. And we are having those discussions with them now."

Mr Chertoff: "Good job."

In fact, active duty troops weren't dispatched until days after the storm.