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U.S. NEWS Monday 19 august 2019

Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana’s governor during Katrina, dies

By MELINDA DESLATTE her legacy. The devastat- ana’s miseries were wors-
Associated Press ing August 2005 hurricane ened by a Republican-led
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) killed more than 1,400 peo- White House desperate to
— Former Louisiana Gov. ple in Louisiana, displaced blame someone else for its
Kathleen Babineaux Blan- hundreds of thousands and disaster response failures. “I
co, who became the inundated 80 percent of just thought I could shout
state’s first female elected New Orleans. more loudly than the noise
governor only to see her Historians will continue to around me, but in the end
political career derailed debate whether any gov- I couldn’t. There was just
by the devastation of Hur- ernor could have been too much pain,” she once
ricane Katrina, has died. prepared for such a catas- said. Edwards, a Democrat
After struggling for years trophe, but Blanco shoul- in his first term as governor,
with cancer, Blanco died dered much of the blame called Blanco a mentor
Sunday in hospice care in after images of thousands to him and a trailblazer to
Lafayette. She was 76. stranded on rooftops and women.
“Our hearts are broken, overpasses were broad- He ordered flags at state
but we are joyful in know- cast to the world, and the buildings around Louisiana
ing that she is rejoicing government was slow to flown at half-staff through In this June 11, 2009, file photo, former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen
in her heavenly reunion respond. Blanco was criti- Blanco’s funeral, sched- Blanco address a news conference as Gov. Bobby Jindal looks
with Christ. Please pray for cized as unprepared, over- uled for Saturday.q on at the state capitol in Baton Rouge, La.
God’s peace to carry us whelmed and indecisive. Associated Press
through the coming days The recovery she guided
and months of sorrow as moved ploddingly.
we mourn her absence “While she knew that her
from our lives,” Blanco’s name would forever be
family said in a statement linked with Hurricanes Ka-
released by Gov. John Bel trina and Rita, it was her
Edwards’ office. dying wish that she be re-
Blanco had a rare eye can- membered for her faith in
cer that she battled suc- God, commitment to fam-
cessfully in 2011, but it later ily and love of Louisiana,”
returned and spread to Blanco’s family said.
her liver. Her death came As the devout Catho-
more than a year after the lic asked in the letter an-
Democrat who served in nouncing her terminal con-
state government offices dition for prayers in her final
for more than two decades months, she also thanked
announced in December Louisiana residents for their
2017 that she was being “abiding love” during her
treated for the incurable years of service, and de-
melanoma. Blanco de- scribed the challenges of
scribed being in a “fight for responding to Katrina and
my own life, one that will the follow-up blow of Hur-
be difficult to win.” ricane Rita a month later.
Blanco held Louisiana’s top She called it an “honor
elected job from 2004 to and blessing” to lead Loui-
2008. Until her campaign siana at the time. “Katrina
for governor, she spent certainly left its mark and
much of her political ca- Rita left her mark on Loui-
reer moving steadily and siana. It made us tougher
quietly through state poli- people though. It made us
tics, rarely creating waves stronger,” the former gov-
or controversy. Katrina ernor said in July. In the im-
raised her profile nation- mediate aftermath of the
ally and forever impacted storms, Blanco said Louisi-