Michael Brown told The New York Times that within hours of Katrina's attack on New Orleans he told the White House that Louisiana officials lacked an organized response, leading to an "out of control" situation.
Brown said he called Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and White House chief of staff Andrew Card to let them know the situation was out of control.
His account suggests the White House knew right away that the storm was leaving the coast in shambles.

This is extremely troubling in every direction. Either Brown is rationalizing and trying to avoid taking all of the heat, or he's telling the truth and the White House ignored what was going on. Based on some of Brown's other comments, I would lean towards Brown being an idiot, but the other side of this should not be discounted.