If You Wondered
This is the Louisiana declaration of a state of emergency prior to the storm, which is required before the President can issue the Federal declaration of a state of emergency and put the Federal Emergency Management Agency in charge of the emergency.
Both were issued and in place while Katrina was out in the Gulf.
I keep hearing this crap about “the local officials didn’t ask”. Excuse me, but when exactly did the governor of Louisiana ask the Federal government to ship the state’s National Guard and equipment to Iraq?
Update: Jillian of skippy pointed to a Larry Johnson post at the TPM Cafe on the National Response Plan that gives FEMA the power and responsibility to do whatever it believes is necessary, like they did last year in Florida.
