JUDY WOODRUFF: And now we explore
Washington's response to the devastation

caused by Hurricane Ida with David Bibo of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

He is the acting associate
administrator for response and recovery,

and he is just back from Louisiana, where
he saw areas hit hardest by the storm.

He joins us now from
the FEMA headquarters.

Mr. Bibo, how would you say

this aftermath compares with what
we have seen after other hurricanes?

DAVID BIBO, Federal
Emergency Management Agency:

Well, Judy, no question the
devastation is heartbreaking.

I joined the FEMA administrator
yesterday with the governor,

saw the degenerate in Lafourche,
Terrebonne, St. John the Baptist,

and Jefferson parishes. Some of the
reporting from your correspondent
there was in those same places.

And they're going to need a
lot of help. And recovery is
going to take a lot of time.

(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: I'm sorry.

So, what is FEMA's principal role
at this point? We see there is

enormous effort at the local
level. But what is it that
the federal government can do?

DAVID BIBO: Right.

So, we have been involved since
several days before landfall,

pre-positioning meals,
water, tarps, blankets, cots,
specialized teams. We were able to

participate and support the
search-and-rescue mission that has
still been under way today, and

some of the National Guard
distribution, points of distribution
that you saw there in your reporting.

We have established a flow of commodities
to make sure that that can continued

in the days ahead. Also, importantly,
with the persistent power outages,

we provided hundreds of
generators, as well as

folks from the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to help install
those at critical facilities,

like water treatment plants,
sewage plants, as well as hospitals
and other critical facilities.

And that's the important work
that is under way right now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And what's your
understanding of how long it's
going to take to get the power

back? I mean, we have seen estimates
of going into weeks and a month.

DAVID BIBO: And we know that,
with 150-mile-an-hour winds and

the extent of the damage,
that it could be a while.

Entergy, the primary power
provider, has more than 20,000
personnel that they are bringing

into the state to expedite the
return of power. Importantly, the
president the other day approved

a major disaster declaration,
which authorizes assistance for
individuals and communities.

So people who have been affected
by Ida can go on FEMA's Web
site or DisasterAssistance.gov,

download the FEMA app, or call
1-800-621-FEMA to take advantage
of that assistance. We have already

approved more than $25 million
in assistance for affected
Louisianians in the past day.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You mentioned
the very basic needs that people
have. We heard that from our own

reporter, food, water, power shelter.

Is FEMA and are other agencies
going to be able to get people
the help that they need?

DAVID BIBO: Well, providing that
support in such a degraded environment

is extremely challenging. And that's
why we're seeing the parish presidents,

the mayors encourage their residents,
if they did evacuate, to wait to return.

And it's really critical that Louisianians

who left town in advance in
response to those mandatory
evacuation orders, which probably

saved lives, heed those continued
directions from local and state
officials about when to return,

because we don't want folks
returning to a place where essential
services have yet to be restored.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What -- if people are
watching this and they want to help,

what can people in the -- who don't
live in the area do to be of help?

DAVID BIBO: There are two
things I would suggest.

First, you can visit NVOAD.org and
find a charity that is active in
disasters and donate to provide

support. It's always better to
donate money than it is to donate
supplies in kind. And the other

thing it's really important to
note is that the remnants of Ida
are not done with us. We have

flash flood warnings, we have
tornado warnings across the
Northeast tonight, into tomorrow.

So it's critical that folks
pay very close attention in
the Northeast, because there is

still a very life-threatening
weather situation unfolding from
the remnants of Ida right now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And we have seen
that reporting of flooding in

Pennsylvania and Maryland
and other states.

But just finally, back to Louisiana,

how concerned are you that we could
be headed for a real humanitarian

crisis, with so many people now
out of power and, again, out of
water and out of food, gasoline?

DAVID BIBO: Being out of power
presents challenges, no question.

Our focus in support of
the state of Louisiana

is to get those generators attached
to those critical facilities,
so that we can have as many

essential, absolutely essential
services available as possible.

The city of New Orleans opened
cooling centers today, as well
as points of distribution that

are unfolding across the
affected parishes. And folks
can find information about those

in their neighborhoods. There are
folks going around to make sure

that the message is getting out about
the availability of those services.

And we're going to keep the flow
going of those meals, the water,

and the essential support
items in the days ahead.

JUDY WOODRUFF: David Bibo is the
acting associate administrator of FEMA.

Thank you very much. And
we, of course, wish you and

all your colleagues the best
with all this important work.

And we will talk with the mayor of New
Orleans a little later in the program.