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Katrina's Greatest Hits
Infamous Quotes Related to the Hurricane


(Dallas, TX) — On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, leading to catastrophic flooding and untold suffering. When all was said and done, over 1800 people were dead and the cost exceeded $108 billion.

Katrina started out as a Category 1 storm which made landfall in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Once over the Gulf of Mexico, it strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane before weakening to the Category 3 storm that slammed into New Orleans on this date.

In honor of the seventh anniversary of Katrina's destructive trek, here are some caring and sensitive quotes from those who were in charge at the time. The quotes have been generously provided by the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Saloon, and Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Facility.



  • "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire you'll really vomit. I ama [sic] fashion god" (08/29/2005)

  • "Can I quit now? Can I go home?" (08/29/2005)

  • "Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." (09/01/2005)

  • "We just learned of the convention center – we being the Federal government – today." (09/01/2005)

  • "I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word 'unrest' means that people are beginning to riot or, you know, they’re banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that." (09/01/2005)

  • "I just feel like I'm getting the [explicative] beat out of me, but hey, we're working out [sic] butts off down here ..." (09/03/2005)

  • "Order a #2, tater tots, large diet cherry limeade." (09/06/2005)

  • "I want us to start planning for dealing with pets ... please get some sort of plan together to start handling the pets. Thanks." (09/08/2005)

  • "I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep." (09/09/2005)

  
Michael Brown
Director, FEMA
  • "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." (09/09/2005)

  
Representative
Richard Baker
(R-LA)
  • "I understand there are 10,000 people dead. It's terrible. It's tragic. But in a democracy of 300 million people, over years and years and years, these things happen." (09/07/2005)

  
Jack Burkman
GOP Strategist
  • "It's totally wiped out ... it's devastating; it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground." (08/31/2005)

  • "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." (09/01/2005)

  • "We've got a lot of rebuilding to do ... The good news is – and it's hard for some to see it now – that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house – he's lost his entire house – there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (09/02/2005)

  • "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." (09/02/2005)

  • "What didn't go right?" (09/07/2005)

  
Shrub
President
  • "I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." (09/01/2005)

  • "Louisiana is a city that is largely under water." (09/03/2005)

  
Michael Chertoff
Secretary, DHS
  • "What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." (09/05/2005)

  
Barbara Bush
Former First Lady
  • "I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school." (09/08/2005)

  
Laura Bush
First Lady
  • "There are a lot of lessons we want to learn out of this process in terms of what works. I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise." (09/10/2005)

  
Dick Cheney
Vice President
  • "It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level ... it looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." (08/31/2005)

  
J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker of the House
(R-IL)
  • "Judge Roberts can maybe, you know, be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good." (09/01/2005)

  
Pat Robertson
Christian Broadcaster
  • "This is the largest disaster in the history of the United States, over an area twice the size of Europe. People have to understand this is a big, big problem." (09/06/2005)

  
Senator Ted Stevens
(R-AK)
  • "I don't want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just not happening." (08/30/2005)

  
Senator David Vitter
(R-LA)
  • "Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane." (09/11/2005)

  
Senator Mary Landrieu
(D-LA)

Katrina's Greatest Hits: Infamous Quotes Related to the Hurricane. FLATLINE 2012 Jul-Aug;14(7-8):e13.