U.S.

Hurricane Aid Pours In Nationwide

August 30, 2005 / 5:02 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Medical disaster assistance teams from across the country were deployed to the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The Red Cross sent in 185 emergency vehicles to provide meals. And President Bush cut short his vacation Tuesday to return to Washington to focus on the storm damage.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president will chair a meeting Wednesday of a White House task force set up to coordinate the federal response and relief effort.

"We have a lot of work to do," the president said of the storm FEMA director Michael Brown has termed catastrophic.

The government began rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with doctors, nurses and first-aid supplies.

The Pentagon sent experts to help with search-and-rescue operations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had medical teams, rescue squads and groups prepared to supply food and water poised in a semicircle around New Orleans.

Other localities rushed emergency relief to the hardest hit cities, CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports from New Orleans. Ambulances from other cities navigated the streets early Tuesday to take the injured and sick out of New Orleans' hospitals — some running without power — and to safer facilities.

Federal officials are urging those who want to help to donate money instead of traveling to the Gulf Coast. FEMA chief Michael Brown says the money will let agencies issue cash vouchers to victims. He says donating canned goods or other materials will only add to the burden of storing, sorting, packing and shipping the goods to the affected areas.

FEMA says the American Red Cross, America's Second Harvest and the Salvation Army are among the groups that could use cash to help victims.

FEMA's emergency medical teams are designed to be self-sufficient, being able to triage and treat as many as 250 patients over 72 hours. The teams bring their own supplies, including food and medicine.

The teams can handle trauma, pediatrics, surgery and mental health problems. Two Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams are also included to handle pets and rescue dogs.

The American Red Cross, meanwhile, reported it had about 40,000 people in 200 shelters across the area.

Bush also was expected to tap into the nation's emergency petroleum stockpiles to help refineries affected by the storm, administration officials said. Final details were being worked out, they said. The government's supply — nearly 700 million barrels of oil stored in underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast — was established to cushion oil markets during energy disruptions.

As the storm surged ashore just east of New Orleans on Monday, Bush was traveling in the West — here and in El Mirage, Ariz. — to pitch a new Medicare prescription drug benefit. The hurricane, however, took top billing at both stops.

By the time Bush spoke in California, his focus had changed from urging people to stay out of harm's way to talking in the past tense of "a storm that hit with a lot of ferocity."

"It's a storm now that is moving through and now is the time for governments to help people get their feet on the ground," Bush said. "For those of you who are concerned about whether or not we are prepared to help — don't be. We are."

He added, "We're in place, we've got equipment in place, supplies in place and once we're able to assess the damage we'll be able to move in and help those good folks in the affected areas."

"I was impressed with the evacuation. Once it was ordered it was very smooth," FEMA Director Michael Brown said. With the storm moving north, Brown said he expected to see flooding in Tennessee and the Ohio Valley.

Brown told Julie Chen of CBS News' The Early Show that part of the relief effort is waiting. Due to the extent of the damage, FEMA is focusing on life-sustaining efforts, such as providing food and shelter to victims, during the disaster assessment process.

"We will find a lot of structural damage in those homes, disease from animal carcasses, the chemicals in home, that sort of thing," Brown said. "It's going to take a long time to clean up and make it safe for people to get back to the neighborhoods."

In related developments:

The American Red Cross said it had thousands of volunteers mobilized for the hurricane. It was the "largest single mobilization that we've done for any single natural disaster," said spokesman Bradley Hague. The organization set up operational headquarters in Baton Rouge.

The president made emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The difference between these declarations and preliminary ones issued over the weekend was that the new declarations allow for the drawdown of federal funds in disaster relief and recovery.

The Environmental Protection Agency dispatched emergency crews to Louisiana and Texas because of concern about oil and chemical spills.

The Coast Guard closed ports and waterways along the Gulf Coast and positioned craft around the area to be ready to conduct post-hurricane search and rescue operations.

The Agriculture Department said its Food and Nutrition Service will provide meals and other commodities, such as infant formula, distilled water for babies and emergency food stamps.

The Federal Aviation Administration said airports were closed in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La.; Biloxi, Miss.; Mobile, Ala.; Pensacola, Fla., and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Airlines have moved their equipment away from the stricken areas and canceled all flights, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Many air traffic control facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were closed.

The Defense Department dispatched emergency coordinators to Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to provide a wide range of assistance including communications equipment, search and rescue operations, medical teams and other emergency supplies.

The Health and Human Services Department sent 38 doctors and nurses to Jackson, Miss., to be used where needed, and 30 pallets of medical supplies to the region, including first aid materials, sterile gloves and oxygen tanks.

Some 6,000 National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi who would otherwise be available to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are in Iraq. Even so, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the states have adequate National Guard units to handle the hurricane needs, with at least 60 percent of the guard available in each state. He said about 6,500 National Guard troops were available in Louisiana, about 7,000 in Mississippi, nearly 10,000 in Alabama and about 8,200 in Florida.

The First U.S. Army, based at Fort Gillem near Atlanta, has 1,600 National Guard troops who were already there training to go to Iraq, and they will be available to assist the states or evacuate Camp Shelby in Mississippi, if necessary.

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