Feds Cite Some Progress in Hurricane Prep

Dark clouds cover the sky above the Superdome in New Orleans in this Oct. 3, 2005, file photo. Federal officials are working with state and local governments to ensure people caught in hurricanes this season have better options than the dangerous and fetid conditions they faced in the Superdome after Katrina. The 2006 hurricane season officially starts Thursday June 1. (AP Photo/LM Otero/File) (Lm Otero - AP)

FEMA also aims to inspect more homes, nearly tripling its capacity to 20,000 a day from 7,000, which could help speed rebuilding by getting money into homeowners' hands more quickly. More than 16,000 mobile homes and travel trailers are available for short-term housing, about half at a staging point in Hope, Ark., where they have been since Katrina.

The failings of last year exposed a multitude of holes to fill and not everything will be done in time. "Our people are tired," Paulison told senators last week. "A lot of them are literally working seven days a week."

Among the undone tasks: FEMA, which administers the nation's flood insurance program, has yet to develop an appeals system for property owners whose claims are rejected. Chertoff assured a senator who threatened to delay Paulison's confirmation last week because of the issue that FEMA would establish an appeals process soon.

Whatever the best-laid plans of government, any hurricane's aftermath will be vastly complicated if able-bodied people ignore evacuation orders in large numbers and if populations in the danger zones don't stockpile their own supplies, including three days of food and water.

"If people are thinking they're going to ride out an evacuation order," Chertoff said, "they are not only betraying their obligation to themselves and their families, but they are violating a civic obligation."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the nation's governors just this week of a detailed procedure for requesting federal assistance before lawlessness gets out of hand in a disaster.

The Justice Department also has assembled a list of candidates, drawn from the FBI and other agencies, to serve as the top federal law enforcement official at the scene of a hurricane or other disaster. In addition, it has identified law enforcement officers working throughout the federal government who could respond quickly to a disaster scene.

After Katrina, federal health officials sent 14 medical stations, including 3,500 beds for non-acute care, to Louisiana and Mississippi. The Health and Human Services Department ordered six more stations for this hurricane season, boosting the number of available beds to 5,000.

Nationwide, some 6,000 Public Health Services doctors have "go-bags" at the ready and are on a shorter leash this year to ensure that medical help can get into the storm zone if needed.

The doctors are divided into three tiers of readiness. Working one-month shifts, they are on call and expected to be at the airport in as little as 12 hours, said Capt. Andy Stevermer, a doctor and Seattle-based regional emergency coordinator for the federal department.

Stevermer, who spent 110 days in Louisiana after Katrina, also said 25 rapid-response medical teams, with different specialties, have been training together around the country for the first time.

"It makes a big difference when you're out in the field when you're working beside somebody you have worked with and know," Stevermer said.