I'll be the first to admit that I'm not surprised we didn't have troops on the ground within hours, and
Rekna you've got to admit the Operation Iraqi Freedom was planned pretty well in advance.
About the state of emergency thing:
Blanco's Website with
pdf linkage to the request for expedited federal disaster status on August 28.
I do find it hard to belief that we could drop supplies in or anything, period, for days afterwards. I would think it might have chilled people out a little bit, at least.