When did Bush and Homeland Security find out about the levee breaks?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050902-6.html
"Q: Sir, you talk about fixing what's wrong and you talk about the results not being acceptable, but there are a lot of people wondering why you weren't fixing the problems yesterday or the day before, and why the richest country on Earth can't get food and water to those people that need it?
THE PRESIDENT: The levees broke on Tuesday in New Orleans. On Wednesday, we -- and Thursday we started evacuating people. A lot of people have left that city. A lot of people have been pulled out on buses. It's -- I am satisfied with the response. I'm not satisfied with all the results. They started pulling people off roofs immediately. They started rallying -- we started rallying choppers to get people off rooftops, started savings lives. I mean, thousands of peoples' lives have been saved immediately, and that's good news."
- President Bush, answering questions in Biloxi, Mississippi
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/
Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, "New Orleans Dodged The Bullet," because if you recall the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse. It was on Tuesday that the levee--may have been overnight Monday to Tuesday--that the levee started to break. And it was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap and that essentially the lake was going to start to drain into the city.
- Michael Chertoff on Meet the Press, September 4th, 2004
When were the first reports of the breaks in the levees?
From the Times-Picayune Breaking News blog
Rescuers can't get to those who are stranded
New Orleans, 9th Ward, 2 p.m. (MONDAY)"Wes McDermott, from the office of emergency preparedness in New Orleans, said officials have fielded at least 100 calls from people in distress in the Lower 9th Ward and eastern New Orleans.
People report they are waiting on roofs and clinging to trees, he said. But McDermott said the city cannot send rescue crews out until the wind drops below 50 mph.
Angela Chalk, a lieutenant with the community emergency response team in New Orleans, said her niece, Brandi Hyde, is one of those people stranded and awaiting rescue. She said her niece is stranded on a roof of a three-story apartment building on Bundy Road, along with other tenants.
Meanwhile, City Hall confirmed a breach of the levee along the 17th Street Canal at Bellaire Drive, allowing water to spill into Lakeview."
Despair in the 9th Ward
New Orleans, 9th Ward, 2:30 p.m.Times-Picayune photographer Ted Jackson waded into the Lower 9th Ward Monday afternoon and reported a scene of utter destruction. The wind still howled, floodwaters covered vehicles in the street and people were clinging to porches and waiting in attics for rescuers who had yet to arrive.
In one home on Claiborne Avenue near the Industrial Canal bridge, Jackson saw a man peering from a window in his attic. The man said rising water in his house had forced him, his wife and two children into the attic.
Jackson estimated the water's depth at 12 feet.
"He was very calm,'' Jackson said of the man in the attic window.
Jackson said he couldn't get across the street. The water was too deep and the current was too fast.
Nearby, three children and three adults were clinging to a porch, trying to stay above the water, which they insisted was continuing to rise.
"They were really scared. They said they had been clinging to that porch since 8 a.m.''
And here is news of a report on WWL reporting a levee breach at the Industrial Canal on Monday morning, from the comments section at Brendan Loy's blog (does anyone have access to WWL transcripts to confirm?):
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/trojanloy/112532154158038403/
WWL just reported a levee breach at Industrial Canal.
Mike | 08.29.05 - 8:45 am
So here are multiple reports of a levee breach on Monday morning and Monday afternoon. And neither the President nor the head of Homeland Security knew that this happened until Tuesday?
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