Ike Coverage: FEMA still playing the blame game

The Houston Chronicle reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency came under fire Sunday as emergency workers were left undernourished and dozens of trucks of water and food had yet to be set up at distribution centers around Houston and surrounding communities.

According to the Houston Chronicle:

And no sooner had the agency - widely condemned for its glacial response to suffering after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 - drawn sharp criticism as its leaders and spokesmen began to say it was someone else's fault.

Earlier in the day, a FEMA spokesman said delays in setting up staging points to hand out needed provisions had been caused by blocked roads.

By the evening, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said it was the fault of state officials who handed his department the "unexpected challenge" of having to prepare distribution points in addition to delivering supplies.

S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Houston, said he was told before the storm by FEMA officials that there was food and water already staged at the Ellington Air National Guard base, reports the Chronicle. "Now it's on the way? That doesn't make any sense to me," he told the Houston Chronicle. "I don't know what happened...The storm's been over for 30 hours."