[Wolfstar]

Power poles are pushed over in a flooded street after Katrina struck Gretna, Louisiana, Monday, August 29.

Hurricane Katrina destroys much of Biloxi, Mississippi August 29. Although the media reported from Biloxi and other points along the coast, the easy, "sexy" story was in New Orleans, a media hub.

Fifty-three-year-old Richard Googe looks around the Thomasville Apartments in Biloxi, Mississippi where he lives and weathered Hurricane Katrina August 29, 2005.

[Wolfstar]

NOAA satellite image of Katrina taken as the storm continued to move farther inland after it came ashore August 29. While the media concentrated on the story in New Orleans, this photo shows the massive region hit by Katrina. East to west, it stretched across the Gulf Coast from the Florida panhandle to about Lafayette, Louisiana. North to south at the time this satellite image was taken, it stretched from well out in the Gulf up into Illinois and Indiana.

At points along the entire front of that monster storm, FEMA had to stage first responders and initial supplies in safe locations. As the storm moved out of the Gulf region Monday afternoon, the first response would have been directed to areas that seemed the hardest hit. At that time, New Orleans seemed to have escaped any serious damage. The area directly hit was the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. That's where initial first-response aid was directed.