President George W. Bush said Monday that coordination among states and the federal government in response to Hurricane Gustav has been better than during Katrina, which devastated the Gulf coast in 2005 and destroyed his administration's reputation for handling crises. Bush visited an emergency operations center in Austin, Texas, about 645 kilometers west of Cocodrie, Louisiana, where Gustav hit land. The storm had winds in excess of 160 kilometers per hour (kph) but did not directly hit New Orleans, raising hopes that the city would escape the catastrophic flooding caused by Katrina. Bush said the federal government's job was to assist states affected by the storm. He said he wanted to ensure that assets were in place to handle Gustav, and that preparations are being made to help the Gulf coast recover. “The coordination on this storm is a lot better than … during Katrina,” Bush said, noting how the governors of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had been working together. “It was clearly a spirit of sharing assets, of listening to somebody's problems and saying how can we best address them.” Bush praised Gulf coast residents who followed warnings to evacuate. “It's hard for a citizen to … move out of their home and face the uncertainty that comes when you're not at home, and I want to thank those citizens who listened carefully to their local authorities and evacuated,” he said. “This storm has yet to pass. … It's a serious event.”
