Originally posted by Lady's Human
Speaking of patience,

One forgotten issue in all this that the media has just started to realise, or maybe they've realised it and are just not bothering to report it, is that the federal government CANNOT just step in and take over. The assistance has to be requested by the political leadership in the affected areas.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/0...ear/index.html

If it's not requested through channels, it cannot move. It could move in minutes if the request was made, but the request has to go in first, which is the case with much of the federal disaster aid materiel and personnel. It appears that the local politicians wanted to handle this themselves, then when they couldn't handle it sent the calls for help too late.
I thought it was reguested in advance. That was the reason they declared the areas disaster area's even before the hurricane even hit???