Bush Was Criticized After The Hurricane Katrina
Bush received harsh criticism for the way the government handled one of the biggest natural catastrophes in US history, Hurricane Katrina. Before and immediately after the hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, Bush continued his vacation. Hurricane Katrina occurred early in Bush's second administration. During the Atlantic hurricane season of 2005, Katrina emerged in late August and devastated most of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States, especially New Orleans. On August 27, Bush proclaimed a state of emergency in Louisiana. The following day, he did the same in Mississippi and Alabama. On August 29, the hurricane's eye made landfall, and New Orleans started to flood as a result of levee breaches. Later that day, Bush declared Louisiana to be in a major disaster formally allowing FEMA to begin utilizing federal monies to aid in the recovery effort.
Before and immediately after the hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, Bush continued his vacation. Thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands were left homeless. Bush's standing as a crisis manager was damaged, and during his administration, his poll numbers did not improve. Bush gave an agency that was widely regarded as ineffective plaudits early on in the crisis. In instance, a picture of Bush gazing out of a plane window over Katrina's devastation seemed to show his disinterest in the situation.
Bush came under heavy fire for downplaying his administration's part in the poor response as the crisis in New Orleans worsened. Leaders criticized Bush for appointing Michael D. Brown and other inept FEMA officials to positions of authority. Federal response resources were also constrained because they were diverted to the Iraq War, and Bush himself failed to take action when flood warnings were sent. In response to growing criticism, Bush asserted that he took full responsibility for how the federal government handled the catastrophe. There have been claims that after Katrina, Bush crossed a political threshold from which he would never return.
