U.S. Feds mount broad aid campaign for Rita
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-25 09:09

The Bush administration, eager to avoid repeating the error-prone response to Hurricane Katrina, mounted a broad mobilization of government assistance on Saturday to areas of Texas and Louisiana slammed by Hurricane Rita.

"The damage is not as serious as we had expected it to be," R. David Paulison, acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters in Washington. "The evacuations worked."

Some 3 million people fled ahead of the storm.

As the military quickly moved troops, amphibious vehicles and equipment into the stricken area, FEMA fielded more than 1,000 rescue workers. President Bush cautioned residents against returning home too quickly.

"People who are safe now ought to remain in safe conditions," said Bush, who monitored the storm from an Air Force command post in Colorado and then flew to Austin, Texas, for more briefings.

"The first order of business now is the search-and-rescue teams, to pull people out of harm's way," Bush said in Colorado Springs. In Austin, at the state Emergency Operations Center, he added an admonition for evacuees to stay put — and not contribute to a repeat of Friday's miles-long traffic jams.

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