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The FEMA declaration is dated August 27, and references a Louisiana dispatch (see second paragraph). The Louisiana letter is dated August 28.

Brown said President Bush authorized the aid under an emergency disaster declaration issued following a review of FEMA's analysis of the state's request for federal assistance.
FEMA News Release of August 27

Now, I see a fairly specific Louisiana state request for federal assistance dated August 27. That letter requests 9 million in aid, and even uses the phrase "request for federal assistance."

Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance, and debris removal.
Preliminary estimates of the types and amount of emergency assistance needed under the Stafford Act, and emergency assistance from certain Federal agencies under other statutory authorities are tabulated in Enclosure A.
Blanco letter of Aug 27

Is it your contention that Blanco's letter of August 27 is not the same thing described by FEMA as "the state's request for federal assistance."?

Even if that's true, so what? On the 27th she asked for relief commensurate with a near hit, and on the 28th she upgraded her request to 130 million dollars to reflect costs associated with landfall in LA.

As I said, there was a letter dated August 27 to FEMA Region 6 I cannot seem to put my hands on now, so I'll respect your position as I cannot lay onto the record the information I had come across previously.

That said, The basics are still there: 1. Storm on its way to the eastern Bayou region of Louisiana.

2. Governor's office runs timeline into and beyond requirements set out in New Orleans documentation for full evacuations (48 hours needed, Baton Rouge acts at storm-24 hours).

3. New Orleans keeps remaining residents, essentially, locked in the city (though there probably wasn't much to go to across the Mississippi--it was evacuated too, though it was dry. or at least drier--portions of Algiers flooded near the boundary with St. Bernard parish) after the event. [BTW - Not reported--Jefferson parish did, essentially, the same thing by keeping the Causeway closed (there was no reported damage to that structure), though that would have been a 27-mile hike across the bridge.]

4. The governor's office prevented supplies from getting into New Orleans.

5. Even after released, and I haven't seen any press acknowledgement of this (I only know because I used to live down there), it takes a long time for supplies to wend there way from central Louisiana to the eastern bayou region over the only two roads available for this action.

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Though it may not seem like it, I do appreciate your input to make sure the record is accurate.