That poor FEMA - someone should explain the difference between an a$$ and an elbow so they know the difference
Mayors fault FEMA response
BILOXI, Mississippi (CNN) -- Almost two weeks after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, some of the cities hardest hit by the storm are waiting for more help.
"Clearly the FEMA response has been slow," Matthew Avara, mayor of Pascagoula, Mississippi, told CNN Saturday night.
"We got a lot of good people on the ground here that are with FEMA and with the state agencies," he said. "They wear their badges, and they look good. But unfortunately, we just not have seen all the assets and all the resources that we need in our city."
FEMA -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- has been criticized for what state and local officials have said was a slow response to Katrina, which devastated more than 90,000 square miles in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi on the morning of August 29.
FEMA director Michael Brown was recalled to Washington on Friday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who named Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen to head the hurricane relief efforts.
Slidell, Louisiana, Mayor Ben Morris also slammed FEMA Saturday, saying when the storm hit, "everything we did was on our own."
The situation was gradually changing, he said.
"It's been quite slow, but we do have some of their folks on the ground, and they're working real hard," he said. "Hopefully, they'll get up to speed sometime soon."
Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway told CNN that past experience with storms led him to believe it would take at least three days before any assistance reached his town. He said FEMA was in the city working with local officials.
FEMA said Saturday it has paid $669 million to more than 570,000 households affected by the storm, The Associated Press reported.
www.cnn.com