A decade after its reputation was shredded by Hurricane Katrina, Barack Obama praised America’s federal disaster relief agency for embracing a “change of culture” as he surveyed recovery efforts following the latest natural disaster to hit Louisiana.



In 2005 former president George W Bush told Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”, in response to Katrina. Ten days later Fema had become shorthand for incompetence and Brown was forced to quit, a setback from which Bush’s standing never fully recovered.

On Tuesday Obama toured flood-ravaged southern Louisiana and singled out the current administrator of Fema, Craig Fugate, “as somebody who I can’t brag enough about, one of the best hires I made as president”, crediting him with professionalising the organisation and turning it around.

The president also shrugged off political criticism over his own response to the tragedy, which struck while he was on holiday last week, killing at least 13 people in the region and displacing thousands. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Baton Rouge last Friday, handing out water and diapers.

“First of all, one of the benefits of being five months short of leaving here is I don’t worry too much about politics,” said Obama, wearing a checked shirt with rolled-up sleeves and an unbuttoned collar, standing in front of piles of waterlogged debris. “The second thing I have seen historically is that, when disasters strike, that’s probably one of the few times when Washington tends not to get political.

“I guarantee you nobody on this block, none of those first responders, nobody gives a hoot whether you’re Democrat or Republican. What they care about is making sure they’re getting the drywall out and the carpet out, there’s not any mould building, they get some contractors in here and they start rebuilding as quick as possible. That’s what they care about. That’s what I care about.”

The storm and its flooding have damaged an estimated 60,000 homes and forced thousands to seek temporary housing. More than 115,000 people have registered for federal disaster aid. Obama said federal support is at $127m so far. At least 40 state highways remained closed.

Obama spoke of the resilience of Louisiana, recalling that he visited New Orleans as a senator in the aftermath of Katrina and as president for last year’s 10th anniversary. He indicated how far he believes Fema has come since that nadir.

“The one thing I just want to repeat is how proud I am of Fema because if you think about the number of significant natural disasters that have occurred since my presidency began, you’d be hard-pressed to find a local official anywhere in the country, including those in the other party, who wouldn’t say that Craig Fugate and his team have been anything less than exemplary and professional,” he said.

Fugate, who took over in 2009, “has done such an outstanding job not just in dealing with this particular incident but has really rebuilt Fema so that there’s a change of culture, and everybody knows that when a disaster happens Fema’s going to be there on the ground cooperating with state and local officials rapidly and with attention to detail and keeping the families who’ve been affected uppermost in their minds,” Obama added.



The president met with a bipartisan group of officials, including Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, whose mansion flooded, and Republican lieutenant-governor Billy Nungesser. Republican senators Bill Cassidy and David Vitter also accompanied him.

Obama walked past mattresses, appliances and heaps of clothing tossed out on the curb in a middle-class neighborhood in East Baton Rouge Parish, the Associated Press reported. Going door-to-door followed by TV cameras, he offered sympathy to residents as they took a break from the cleanup to talk about the damage.

“I wish I was coming at a better time,” he told one resident, as he put his arm around her and walked into her home for a brief tour, according to the AP. “But I’m glad to see everybody is safe, at least.”

Later Obama said how he had talked to a young widow whose daughter had been trying to rescue from her bedroom keepsakes that remind her of her father.

“The prayers of the entire nation are with everybody who lost loved ones,” he said. “We are heartbroken by the loss of life. There are also people who are still desperately trying to track down friends and family. We’re going to keep on helping them every way that we can.”

He called for the nation to rally around a sustained long-term rebuilding effort long after the story has disappeared from the news. “Sometimes when these kinds of things happen, it can seem a little bit too much to bear, but what I want the people of Louisiana to know is that you’re not alone on this, even after the TV cameras leave. The whole country is going to continue to support you and help you until we get folks back in their homes and lives are rebuilt. The reason I can say that with confidence is because that’s what Americans do in times like this.”

Obama added: “This is not a one-off, this is not a photo-op issue. This is how do you make sure a month from now, three months from now, six months from now, people still are getting the help they need? I need all Americans to stay focused on this.”

A White House official said that, before his departure from Baton Rouge, Obama would meet the family of Alton Sterling, an African American killed by police on 5 July at a convenience store, and the families of three officers who were killed and three officers who were injured in an ambush in Dallas 12 days later.