berryjona
Disco's
Bitch
Registered: Feb
2003
Location:
|
is it just
me, or is it taking a while for these other states and their
task forces to assist? bush will chair a meeting WEDNESDAY?
{BC-Katrina-Washington, 8th-Writethru,740}
{Bush
cuts short vacation as relief teams head for communities}
reeling from hurricane
{Eds: AMs}
{With BC-Hurricane
Katrina, Bjt}
{By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID}=
{Associated
Press Writer}=
WASHINGTON (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.
“This hurricane has caused
devastation over a wide area,” Brown said.
His agency said
medical specialists from Washington state were joining similar
teams called in from Massachusetts, New Mexico, Ohio, North
Carolina, Oklahoma and Florida to assist people in damaged
areas.
The Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Carter said Tuesday
the Coast Guard had received reports that seven mobile
offshore oil drilling rigs were adrift, and was working with
companies on recovery and salvage plans.
In other
developments:
— The Department of Health and Human
Services reported it had sent 27 pallets of medical supplies
to Louisiana. These include basic first aid material such as
bandages, pads and ice packs as well as blankets and patient
clothing, suture kits, sterile gloves, stethoscopes, blood
pressure measuring kits and portable oxygen tanks.
— 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. The president is considering tapping the emergency
petroleum stockpile to provide refineries a temporary supply
of crude oil to replace interrupted shipments from tankers or
offshore oil platforms affected by the storm.
— The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent out
Navigational Response Teams to survey ports and waterways for
damage and to work with the Coast Guard and Army Corps of
Engineers in getting ports open again. New Orleans and Mobile,
Ala., are two of the nation’s most active commercial ports.
— The National Geodetic Survey prepared to launch aerial
surveys to assess for damage from erosion along levees and
major evacuation routes.
— The Coast Guard asked the
public in the hurricane-damaged area to report any oil spills
or releases of hazardous materials. The response center phone
number is (800) 424-8802.
— The Postal Service has shut
down operations in New Orleans and in nearby storm-damaged
areas.
IP:
69.2.39.5 |
08-30-2005 03:23
PM
