U.S. federal emergency officials, battered by last year's Hurricane Katrina, say they are prepared for this year's hurricane season, but independent experts are concerned that serious problems remain. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security and its Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said they have made key changes to the disaster relief agency that failed so visibly to handle Hurricane Katrina, as it devastated the U.S. Gulf coast and flooded the city of New Orleans, killing about 1,300 people. “FEMA has taken a serious look at its stumbling points from the last year. We have made serious efforts to retool those areas that need to be worked on,” agency spokesman Aaron Walker said. “FEMA is confident in our capabilities looking at the upcoming hurricane season,” which begins in three weeks. President George W. Bush has been more cautious. “We pray there is no hurricane this coming year, but we are working together to make sure that if there is one, the response will be as efficient as possible,” he said last month. FEMA was harshly criticized for its slow response to Katrina, in which tens of thousands of people—mostly poor and African-American—were stranded for days in a lawless city without essential supplies. FEMA, once an independent federal agency, was absorbed into the sprawling Department of Homeland Security, but many politicians and experts would like to see it become independent again, or at least completely overhauled within the department. Experts expect the 2006 Atlantic storm season beginning June 1 to be another active one. One prediction by scientists from Colorado State University estimated a 47 percent probability that the Gulf coast and northern Florida would experience a major hurricane.
