Katrina recovery official: State, local leaders must do more to rebuild

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — President Bush’s Gulf Coast rebuilding chief said Monday that the federal government is living up to its responsibility in helping the region recover from the 2005 hurricanes, but suggested that state and local leaders weren’t doing enough to put federal dollars to use.

“Money alone does not produce results,” Donald Powell told a recovery summit on the eve of Bush’s planned visit to the city to mark the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Since Katrina, the federal government has committed more than $110 billion in grants, loans and other aid to the region, and Powell said Bush would propose spending billions more to strengthen the New Orleans area’s levee system to withstand a 100-year storm and to improve the area’s drainage system. Levees, he said, are a federal responsibility.

Running the federally funded program meant to help homeowners rebuild is a state responsibility, he said, as is disbursing the $5 billion set aside so far by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for emergency work and rebuilding public infrastructure in Louisiana.

But barely half the money set aside for recovery and rebuilding has flowed from the state to the local level, Powell said. He also referred to the Road Home program, which has disbursed more than $3 billion to help homeowners rebuild or relocate.