Governor ‘mistakenly told White House levees were intact’

HOURS after Hurricane Katrina lashed the US Gulf Coast, Louisiana’s governor mistakenly assured the Bush administration that New Orleans’ protective levees were intact, according to a video which emerged last night.

“We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees,” Governor Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on August 29, according to the video.

“We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee. I think we have not breached the levee at this time.”

In fact, the National Weather Service received a report of a levee breach and issued a flash-flood warning at 9.12am that day, according to the White House’s formal recounting of events.

The timing of the levees breach has been a key issue in exhaustive reviews of failures to respond to Katrina and highlights miscommunication about the scope of the storm’s damage at all levels of government.

The video details uncertainty and despair among state and local emergency response officials.

Ms Blanco reported that floodwaters were rising in parts of the city “where we have waters that are 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 metres) deep, and we have people swimming in there.”

A person heard but not seen on the video was then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown.

He implored officials to “push the envelope as far as you can,” noting he had already spoken to US President George W Bush twice that day and described the president as “very, very interested in this situation”.

Brown has criticised the White House for miscommunication that led to some delays but said in an interview yesterday he never directly blamed Mr Bush.

Delays in confirming the levee breaches held up repair efforts and allowed flooding to worsen. The White House was alerted about breach reports by 6pm, but only confirmed the damage the next morning.

The video came to light a day after one of an August 28 briefing - the day before Katrina hit - that showed officials warning the storm might breach levees, put lives at risk in the Superdome and overwhelm rescuers.

Mr Bush was among those on the videotaped call.