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WASHINGTON - President Bush decided to cancel the rest of his vacation to concentrate on federal relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina as his top disaster relief official lamented "catastrophic" damage in three Southern states.
With at least one New Orleans hospital threatened by Katrina's floodwaters, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that patients were being transferred to the Superdome and medical personnel were being sent in to treat them.
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Meanwhile, the White House revealed that Bush was returning to Washington Wednesday rather than returning to his Texas ranch. "We have a lot of work to do," the president said of the storm damage in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Bush planned to chair a meeting Wednesday of a White House task force set up to coordinate the federal response and relief effort, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
The damage is "very, very sobering," Brown said. "And of course the flooding is just everywhere ... New Orleans, all through Mississippi and Alabama. This storm is really having a catastrophic effect." Low-lying areas are "just devastated," he said.
FEMA sent medical teams, rescue squads and groups prepared to supply food and water into the disaster areas and Brown said it would be "quite a while" before those displaced by the hurricane can return to damaged areas, especially in those areas near downtown New Orleans.
Bush was considering tapping U.S. emergency petroleum stockpiles to ease the storm's impact on affected refineries. Administration officials said Bush was expected to authorize a loan of at least some oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The storm shut down oil and natural gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, representing about 8 percent of U.S. refining capacity or about 1 million barrels, further driving up gasoline prices.
Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said, "Over the next few days, we will continue to gain more information on the specific needs and then be able to make a better determination on how we can help."
The reserves would be used to provide refineries a temporary supply of crude oil to replace interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm.
The government put into effect a massive emergency assistance program that included rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas.
The president made emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. McClellan said Bush had spoken with the governors of those states "to make sure they were getting what they needed from the federal government."
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