Bush Calls For Massive, Coordinated Recovery

President Bush on Wednesday called Hurricane Katrina “one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history” and directed his Homeland Security secretary to coordinate a massive recovery campaign that could take years to complete.

As the president returned to Washington to lead a task force meeting on disaster relief, the scope of the devastation continued to unfold. Agencies across the federal government pushed ahead with initial relief efforts and a campaign to ameliorate the effects far from the path of destruction.

The Department of Energy said it would release oil from the nation’s strategic reserve to make up for an interruption in supply from Gulf Coast producers, an attempt to lessen the disruption in gasoline supplies and the increase in prices.

The Environmental Protection Agency temporarily waived some antipollution standards for gasoline and diesel fuels to avert fuel shortages.

The Defense Department established Joint Task Force Katrina, based in Camp Shelby, Miss., as the military’s on-scene command in support of federal relief efforts. It will provide rescue teams, medical evacuation units, a hospital ship and disaster-response equipment.

“There’s going to be a lot of rebuilding done,” Bush said, outlining an aid program that in the short run would provide food, water and medical assistance for evacuees and, in the long run, would rebuild devastated highways, towns and lives.

Returning to Washington two days early from his Texas ranch, Bush asked Air Force One to adjust its flight path so he could view the stricken swath along the Gulf Coast.

“The folks on the Gulf Coast are going to need the help of this country for a long time,” he said later in the White House Rose Garden after meeting with Cabinet secretaries involved in the response. “This is going to be a difficult road. The challenges that we face on the ground are unprecedented.”

But, he said, “the great city of New Orleans will be back on its feet, and America will be a stronger place for it.”

On the flight from Texas, Air Force One detoured from its conventional route from Waco to Andrews Air Force Base, flying over the stricken region for about 35 minutes. The last-minute change in the flight path did not disrupt rescue or recovery efforts, the White House said.

The president moved from his cabin on the aircraft’s right side to peer out windows on the left, where Secret Service agents generally sit.

As related by Peter Baker of the Washington Post, the newspaper pool reporter on the flight, Air Force Col. Mark Tillman, chief pilot, brought the plane down from its cruising altitude of 29,000 feet to 2,500 feet. At one point, the plane was 1,700 feet above the ground, swooping over New Orleans’ skyscrapers.

The president had a wide-angle view of the devastation: a city nearly entirely underwater, the rotors of a Coast Guard helicopter whipping up waves, other choppers on apparent rescue missions, suburbs obliterated.

“It’s devastating,” Bush said as he viewed the damage, according to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. “It’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground.”

The tour continued over Waveland and Pass Christian, Miss. Looking down at the wooden houses turned into what looked like piles of matchsticks, Bush said, “It’s totally wiped out,” McClellan reported.

But reflecting what he said was the sobering view of the destruction, the spokesman said, “there wasn’t a whole lot of conversation going on.”

The government’s task force will be headed by Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Late Tuesday night, his department declared the hurricane an “incident of national significance,” the first use of a newly created designation that mobilizes federal resources to support state and local recovery efforts from catastrophic events.

As Bush flew to Washington, agencies began dispatching aid to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and political leaders vowed speedy action.

Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the relaxation of the federal government’s air pollution standards, which will be waived until Sept. 15, would allow the use of diesel fuel with a higher sulfur content and gasoline with higher-than-normal evaporation rates.

On Tuesday, the government said the relaxed standards would apply only to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. That changed Wednesday, when Johnson said they would apply to all 50 states “to ensure that Katrina doesn’t result in fuel supply disruptions.”

“We’re seeing serious problems,” he said.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday that oil stored in salt canyons in Louisiana and Texas would be tapped. “This is a big deal,” he said. “It should materially change gas supplies throughout the country.”

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was last tapped last year, when Hurricane Ivan disrupted the supplies of oil from the Gulf of Mexico.

The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, declared a public health emergency in the region. He said the measure would “dramatically expedite emergency actions” -- including establishing at least 40 medical shelters and providing 10,000 beds and about 12,000 medical personnel. He said the first shelter was already operating in Baton Rouge, La., and that 10 more would be available within 72 hours, largely in military facilities.

Leavitt said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration were assembling public health teams, focusing on preventing cholera, typhoid and dehydration -- problems that can occur more readily when clean water supplies are not sufficient.

The Transportation Department engaged more than 400 trucks to move supplies. Among them, according to Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, were 5.4 million prepackaged meals -- meals-ready-to-eat, in military parlance -- as well as 13.5 million liters of water, 10,400 tarpaulins, 4,900 rolls of plastic sheeting, 3.5 million pounds of ice, 10 mobile homes, 144 generators, 135,000 blankets, 11,000 cots, 200 tables, 450 chairs and one all-terrain vehicle.

About 11,000 National Guard troops from the 17 states in the path of the storm as it moved north and east had reported for hurricane duty by Tuesday, officials said. They said the number would double by this morning, with troops from every state but Hawaii joining 7,200 active-duty military police and other military personnel already on duty.

McClellan told reporters on Air Force One that sufficient funds were available for immediate needs, but that the administration would try to supplement the budget with additional spending requests.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, the senior Republicans in Congress, said they had asked committee chairmen to present immediate recommendations for assistance.

“We anticipate swift action by both the House and Senate,” they said in a joint statement.

Reflecting its efforts to project the president’s leadership role, the White House scheduled him for a live appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” today.

The White House, meanwhile, held off scheduling the president’s trip to the region, waiting to determine when his visit would best boost morale without interfering with the relief efforts.

Times staff writers Nicole Gaouette and John Hendren contributed to this report.