Cape Elizabeth’s Water Extrication Team was on standby for 72 hours and ready to head to the Gulf Coast to help with the rescue effort following Hurricane Katrina, but what Capt. Joe Mokry called an “absolute disaster” in organization prevented them from going.

He said eight members of the WETeam and a couple boats were cleared to go, but efforts by the state to send assistance to the affected areas were blocked on the federal level.

Mokry said after three days of making “a hundred phone calls” to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Maine Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard it became clear that no one knew what was going on. “People weren’t thinking straight,” he said.

However, Lynette Miller, spokeswoman for MEMA, said there were no stumbling blocks in Maine’s attempts to assist the emergency response effort along the Gulf Coast.

She said that when a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina strikes, emergency management agencies around the country respond according to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which helps coordinate the national response. The compact ensures that emergency response resources don’t overwhelm states in need, Miller said.

Miller said that to a civilian watching the news it might appear that a group such as Cape Elizabeth’s WETeam would be sorely needed, but the reality is different. MEMA has been getting constant updates, including requests for certain types of resources. A request for water rescue teams did come through very early on, Miller said, but it was filled by states much closer to the affected areas.

“In Maine we have to understand we’re going to be the second, third or fourth wave of response and perhaps not the first,” Miller said.

She said with a disaster of such unprecedented proportions states would be helping the affected areas get back on their feet for a long time to come and states such as Maine would continue to help with what resources they could, usually with specialized resources not available closer by.