Near catastrophic events

Why Michael Brown actually IS as dumb as he looks

What, by definition, is a catastrophe?

Dictionary.com says catastrophe is:
1. A great, often sudden calamity.
2. A complete failure; a fiasco
3. The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot.
4. A sudden violent change in the earth's surface; a cataclysm.

What, in the realm of all things plausible and implausible, led FEMA Director Michael Brown to characterize the wake of the hurricane as "near catastrophic events," pray tell? Was it the part where the storm was a Category 5? Or the part where, despite a mandatory evacuation, large quantites of people were still stuck on the interstate? Or was it the storm surge that threatened to put New Orleans under water? Do these strike anyone as "near catastrophic" events, or is that someone's guilty conscience trying to downplay the fact that they dropped the ball.

In that case, since the hurricane was not actually a catastrophe, I will then elaborate on what seems to be the real catastrophe, as described so succintly by the dictionary.

See definition two: a complete failure, a fiasco. The cluster f*ck that was federal response

See definition three: The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy. What will happen when the people of New Orleans descend upon Michael Brown and go Greek on his ass - you want to sell us out? You only THINK Agamemnon had it bad. And all he did was sacrifice his daughter.

You want this to just be a near catastrophe, Michael Brown? It's about to get a hell of a lot more near than you'd like.