Do you have a cite that points to a barge being associated with the 17th Street levee? All of the barge reports and photos that I am aware of associate a barge with the Industrial Canal.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1482715/posts?page=20#20
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1482715/posts?page=24#24
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.mcmahon4/nola/
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/t-p/katrina.ssf?/hurricane/katrina/stories/083005catastrophic.html
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/pdf/083005_a01a02.pdf
August 30, 2005 - The Louisiana governor still doesn't request Federal assistance.
This statment is false as stated, but could be true if made more specific.
http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976 <- Aug 27 req. for some Fed assistance
http://www.yuricareport.com/Disaster/BlancoToPresident_letter8_28_05.html <- Aug 28 request
September 1, 2005 - Gov. Blanco finally signs Executive Order KBB-2005-23. This Order requests Federal assistance.
Hoo boy. I suggest you read the order, and KBB 2005-29 that folowed it (same thing, more or less). The orders don't perform the function you claim.
KBB 2005-23 dated Aug 31, 2005
Partial list of primary sources consulted for this article:
Blanco Refused To Act... Governor's Indecision Cost Precious Time
That article is not a good reference. See rebuttals (with cites) at posts 88, 91, 102, and 103.
See third subhead. It's possible the Newsmax source also has it wrong, and it should be associated with the Florida Av break. If that is indeed the case, then all right, we'll add that to the info pile.
Regarding Executive Order, it does appear there is a disagreement there, and I appreciate your providing the link. I'll go back and look some more at where I got that and get back to you.
Regarding Federal assistance--I am noting changes occurring to stuff coming out of Louisiana. FEMA, for example, has a 27th August declaration, which must be made pursuant to a request from a state--in this case, Louisiana. The Louisiana request is dated August 28, at least the one on their website, which is interesting. A previous post here notes that it seems LA made an error in itemizing which parishes to include and "cleaned it up" after the FEMA declaration "missed" parishes. But, having lived in Louisiana, and knowing that a full third of the people in that state live in the four "missed" parishes, I am hard pressed to believe the folks in Baton Rouge, an 80-minute drive up the Interstate when it's open, were that stupid to miss that area. So, let's just say I am regarding anything eminating from the Louisiana's governor's office with extreme skepticism right now.
Pieced this together. Has to do with the ability of non-state police to conduct police operations, including arrest, and a requirement to bond them.
Without that, Federal entities and National Guard troops are powerless to do much of anything to restore order except shout "hey" as someone rolls on by doing whatever.
So, I will concede that it didn't request Federal assistance, per se, but what it did do is nonetheless quite important in the scheme of things--it allowed the Federal assistance to be effective. Until then, not much could go on because control was still retained in the, by then, vastly overwhelmed local authorities. This declaration changed the equation, but it didn't show up until storm-day plus three. (Fine point, it was signed the evening before, but really didn't become a practical instrument until Sept. 1.)