US News
Emails: Director worried about clothes while people died
By DPA
Nov 4, 2005, 19:00 GMT

Washington - In a modern day equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned, emails released Thursday by an angry Louisiana Congressman show that the ousted U.S. national emergency director worried about his clothes while people were dying in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Congressman Charles Melancon, who represents the storm-ravaged state in the nation's capital, posted on the Internet dozens of pages of emails between Michael Brown and his staff during the tragic chaos of the storm.

On Monday, August 29, just after the storm is hitting the city, Brown receives a series of desperate messages that flood dams had been breached - including a 6 metre gap in one dike - and that floodwaters were reaching the Superdome storm shelter.

Brown, in Washington, is dismissive: 'I'm being told here water over (,) not a breach.'

On the same day, Brown exchanges emails about his clothes with Cindy Taylor, FEMA deputy director of public affairs.

Taylor tells Brown that her 'eyes must certainly be deceiving' her because Brown 'looks fabulous'.

Brown replies: 'I got it at Nordstroms (an upscale department store) .... Are you proud of me?' Later, as the city is flooding, he tells Taylor 'I am a fashion god.'

Two days later, there has still been no major evacuation of the tens of thousands of people stranded in New Orleans, and only limited food and water delivery.

Brown receives a message from one of the few Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) people on the ground - Marty Bahamonde - who writes: 'Estimates are many will die within hours ... We are out of food and running out of water at the dome'.

Brown answers: 'Thanks for update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?'

After more than 325,000 hits to his website Thursday, Melancon's staff noted that they were 'forced to remove the rest' of the website so people could gain access to the files.

'Few of the emails show Mr. Brown taking command or directing the response,' Melancon wrote.

Brown stepped down in the midst of the catastrophe as U.S. President George W. Bush, who appointed him, suffered the largest political setback in five years in office over the government's faulty response to the worst natural disaster that ever hit the country.