[kabar]

It would be interesting to get a timeline on when Bush called and how much time elapsed before ordering the mandatory evacuation. I watched the announcement by the Governor and Mayor on Sunday morning, August 28. Mississippi did a little better.

"Gov. Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency on Saturday and forecasters predicted the storm to make landfall anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.

Mike Womak, deputy director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said that Hancock County was the only area of the state under a mandatory evacuation order on Saturday afternoon.

"However, all three coastal counties are in the process of making their final preparations for issuing their evacuation notices," Womak said, adding the orders could be issued Saturday or Sunday."

"The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency also urged people to heed the orders."

"I'm very concerned about people in Mississippi and Louisiana who have watched these storms the past two years hit Florida and Alabama and may have a little lackadaisical attitude toward this thing," FEMA director Michael Brown told AP Radio.

Hurricane Katrina could plow through Mississippi beginning as early as Monday

[rit]

By mid-afternoon, officials in Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, Lafourche, Terrebonne and Jefferson parishes had called for voluntary or mandatory evacuations. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin followed at 5 p.m., issuing a voluntary evacuation. Nagin said late Saturday that he's having his legal staff look into whether he can order a mandatory evacuation of the city, a step he's been hesitant to do because of potential liability on the part of the city for closing hotels and other businesses. "Come the first break of light in the morning, you may have the first mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," Nagin told WWL-TV. St. Tammany officials ordered evacuations of the parish's low-lying areas by today at noon. Times-Picayune KATRINA TAKES AIM Sunday, August 28, 2005

[hocndoc]

From the Washington Post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476807/posts

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

""The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

""A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

""Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said."