Bush highlights Rita readiness after criticism for handling of Katrina

WASHINGTON — Eager to avoid the public pounding he got for his response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush pledged on Wednesday to be "ready for the worst" as another big hurricane headed for the Gulf Coast.

Across the federal government, officials were advertising the Bush administration's stepped-up response plans for Hurricane Rita as it swept across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coastline.

Bush pleaded with people in the region to comply with mandatory evacuation orders issued in New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. And he said that federal, state and local governments are in close coordination on the preparation.

"I urge the citizens to listen carefully to the instructions provided by state and local authorities and follow them," Bush said in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition. "We hope and pray that Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm but we got to be ready for the worst."

Hundreds of truckloads of water, ice and ready-made meals arrived Tuesday at locations in Rita's path and rescue and medical teams were standing by. "I think we're going to be ready when it does hit land," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff promised.

A military cargo plane evacuated 25 patients from the Florida Keys, and more than 2,000 National Guard troops were put on active-duty alert to assist as Rita slammed into the string of islands and headed west, perhaps toward Texas.

R. David Paulison, the newly appointed director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Rita, like Katrina over three weeks ago, could increase in strength to a Category 4 storm, the second-highest notch on the 1-5 hurricane scale. If people don't evacuate, he said, they could be out of reach of help.

"We know that there is going to be a period of time before help gets to you," Paulison told reporters in Washington. "So you need to make sure you have your family's plan in place, your evacuation plans in place. Make sure you have food, water, medicine, all the things you need to survive for a couple of days on your own."

Appearing on CBS's "The Early Show," Chertoff declared, "Ever since Katrina we've been reloading our resources." He said federal officials are working very closely with their counterparts in Texas.

In an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Chertoff said, "The lesson is that when the storm hits, the best place to be is to be out of the path. ... There's plenty of (advance) notice about Rita."