Tapes Show More Katrina Confusion

La. Governor Said Levees Were Safe — Hours After They'd Been Breached

(CBS/AP)  A newly released videotape shows even more confusion among government officials on the day Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast.

In the new tape, Louisiana's governor is seen assuring federal emergency management officials that New Orleans' levees were holding — hours after a levee breach had been reported.

"We keep getting reports in some places that maybe water is coming over the levees," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said shortly after noon on Aug. 29 — the day the storm made landfall.

"We heard a report unconfirmed, I think, we have not breached the levee," she said on a video of the day's disaster briefing that was obtained Thursday night by The Associated Press. "I think we have not breached the levee at this time."

Blanco gave that assessment three hours after the National Weather Service had already reported a levee breach, according to a White House record.

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Transcript: Aug. 28, 2005 (day before Katrina hit)
Transcript: Aug. 29, 2005

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Delays in confirming levee breaches held up repair efforts and have been a key issue in reviews of the government's failed response, CBS News correspondent Claudia Coffey reports.

Former FEMA director Michael Brown, who's taken much of the heat for the government's response, was asked Friday if he was misled by the governor and if this had anything to do with the delayed response to those levees being breached.

"I'm sure it caused some delay. I think the public needs to know there was some confusion, that we had reports earlier in the day of a breach," Brown told CBS News' The Early Show.

"I think the important thing to remember is in emergency management you prepare for the worst. Whether there had been a breach or topping of the levees you still need to be getting rescue people in there immediately," said Brown.

The rampant confusion is highlighted in the two Federal Emergency Management Agency video briefings, obtained this week by The Associated Press, revealing disaster plans and damage reports detailed by officials as the storm smashed into the coast.

The tapes — and particularly the pre-storm Aug. 28 video that includes an appearance by President Bush — prompted widespread criticism by Republican and Democratic lawmakers who said the government should have been better prepared for the storm that flooded New Orleans and killed more than 1,300 people.