Holding back storm aid

Washington, D.C.

The Interior Department offered hundreds of boats, trucks, and planes to help rescue victims of Hurricane Katrina, but FEMA officials failed to send the equipment where it was needed, according to documents released this week. The papers constituted “the most candid assessment that we’ve received from any federal agency” on the federal storm response, said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who heads a Senate committee investigating FEMA’s handling of the hurricane. A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees FEMA, said the government sent 60,000 federal employees to help out after the storm, but the agency was not equipped with “the 21st-century capabilities” necessary to organize an efficient response.

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