Katrina Roundup

Cruises to nowhere. Immediately after Katrina hit, FEMA got the idea to use cruise ships to host refugees from the affected areas. Problem is that most families affected wanted nothing to do with being on a ship, let alone anywhere near water. So, the three ships contracted for by FEMA are being used to house relief workers.

The cost is $192 million for three months, and fuel and other costs are not included; up to $44 million.

Along with the charter payment, Carnival can charge up to $44 million in fuel and other expenses. The government has an option to extend the contract for three months.

The third ship covered by the contract, the Holiday, is sitting empty in Mobile, Ala. It will move to Pascagoula, Miss., at the request of Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, according to a spokesman for FEMA, James McIntyre.

The Holiday, which can hold 2,600 people, should arrive in about a week, after the Pascagoula docks have been repaired, Mr. McIntyre said. Local officials will decide who boards, most likely displaced emergency workers and evacuees.

"Cruise ships are just one available option for housing," said Mr. McIntyre, whose agency has issued no-bid contracts for up to $400 million to four companies for temporary housing in the region. "Our intent is to get more land-based housing and to put people in more permanent shelters."

The fourth ship, the Scotia Prince, is being chartered for $10 million, with a $3 million budget for expenses and the option of a three-month renewal. The ship, a bare-bones ferry that has about 1,000 berths and is for sale, is in the Gulf of Mexico. It is destined for St. Bernard's Parish, just south of New Orleans, after a damaged pier there has been repaired. Mr. McIntyre said he did not know how long that might be.

National Storm Management, Inc has opened an office in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to assist in the recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast.

People continue to be upset with the pace of the relief effort:

More than two weeks later, many across the disaster zone are still incensed by the government's slow response first when Katrina struck and now as they try to rebuild.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has received the sharpest criticism.

"We have had no help from them for our citizens. ... It is criminal," said Ben Morris, mayor of the devastated town of Slidell outside New Orleans.

"What we are dealing with is a human tragedy, people have nowhere to go," he said. "At FEMA, they keep saying they are coming, but they don't. I think they're useless"

Meanwhile, the American Red Cross is dispensing food, clothing, and other aid in Slidell. Volunteers recount their efforts on the Gulf Coast and a Nevada elementary school has adopted a school near Slidell:

Over in Nevada City at Seven Hills Middle School, students have decided to adopt an elementary school near Slidell, La., where the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over. The school, Brock Elementary, also happens to be where Seven Hills eighth-grader Kendra Newton has a sister who is a teacher, said teacher Nancy Gillespie.

UPDATE:
So what went right with the New Orleans evacuation and the federal response? Quite a bit as anyone with a clue should be able to figure out by now, though I don't hold any hope that Cindy Sheehan will find that to be the case. She's gone from Crawford, but thinks that she can extend her already expired 15 minutes by calling for an end of the occupation of New Orleans by the federal government. (warning - linky goes to Michael Moore's website where she has her say. What people will really want to know is that the military was crucial in those first few days to get people rescued from their perches as they escaped rising flood waters:

During the critical period beginning Monday, rescue helicopters were already reeling in at least 2000 people a day. These independent units comprised dozens of Coast Guard, Air Force, Air National Guard and Army choppers. Various boat-rescue operations by New Orleans first responders saved thousands more-even as the media's attention was focused on the Superdome, snipers and scenes of looting. The response to the real threat of Katrina, other words, was immediate and massive -it just wasn't the response the media wanted, expected or was spoon-fed at a press conference.

Technorati: flood aid; hurricane katrina; katrina aid; kanye west; impeach bush; slidell; biloxi; gulfport; pascagoula; nagin; blanco; barbour.