Hurricanes

Bush Reassures Floridians During Visit

MIAMI (CBS) ― President Bush on Thursday promised a robust response to Hurricane Wilma, offering reassurance that things would improve soon for victims who are angry that supplies have been slow in coming.

"Things don't happen instantly, but things are happening," Bush said. As Bush reassured storm victims, a political storm swirled around the White House back in Washington.

Residents are growing increasingly frustrated as they continue to struggle to secure the essentials of everyday life, CBS News correspondent Trish Regan reports.

"How frustrated are we? I'll tell you. I want to kill everyone around here," one Miami resident said.

"This is like the Third World," said Claudia Shaw, who spent several hours in a gas line. "We live in a state where we suffer from these storms every year. Where is the planning?"

In Florida, Bush spoke at a relief supply distribution center, as people gathered around him as they waited for a hot meal of barbecue pork, potatoes, bread and crushed pineapple.

Alongside his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president greeted volunteers with the Southern Baptist Convention who traveled from Tennessee to hand out food and water. Storm victims mobbed the brothers to get handshakes, hugs and, for the women, kisses on the cheek.

Bush held a closed door meeting with local officials and also got a tour of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield showed Bush data on Tropical Storm Beta, the 23rd named storm of 2005. Staff at the center expect it to grow to hurricane strength as it moves over the Caribbean Sea, continuing the year's record-setting hurricane season.

About 2 million homes and businesses remain without power in Florida in the wake of Wilma, which struck the state on Monday. Floridians have grown angry about the response as they struggle to find food, water and fuel.

Criticism has been directed toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is trying to recover from its failures in response to Hurricane Katrina. Gov. Bush said Wednesday that the responsibility is the state's and promised a huge infusion of supplies.

The president said he came to Florida to make sure the federal and state responses "dovetail."

"People are getting fed. Soon more and more houses will have their electricity," Bush said. "A lot of the gasoline lines that people are standing in will be alleviated by new ships coming in."

He said generators being brought in from other states and the presence of 6,000 electrical workers from across the country would help restore power -- a key step to also addressing the gas shortages, since many stations have gasoline, but no electricity to deliver it to customers.

After landing at Miami International Airport at lunchtime, Bush took a short helicopter flight to a Goodyear blimp hangar here. His motorcade route to the relief center took him down streets lined with downed branches.

(© 2005 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)