President George W. Bush promised a better US response to any catastrophic storm this season but his administration rebuffed a new call to shut down the agency most blamed for mishandling Hurricane Katrina.
Mr Bush made his pledge on his 11th trip to the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast, where his motorcade passed badly damaged houses, boarded up from top to bottom and awaiting rehabilitation.
Later, he donned work gloves and a carpenter's apron to pound nails into a house frame.
"We pray that there is no hurricane this coming year, but we're working together to make sure the response will be as efficient as possible," he said.
Mr Bush's trip came as he is struggling to pull up public approval ratings that have hit a record low.
His effort to refocus attention on post-Katrina rebuilding, backed by $100 billion in aid he has helped push through Congress, was overshadowed by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's conclusion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is beyond repair.
In a report published today, the panel recommended it be replaced with a beefed-up national preparedness agency that would be better able to respond to disasters like Hurricane Katrina.
The White House said it was opposed. "As we're heading into this hurricane season, now is not the time to really look at moving organizational boxes,"
Fran Townsend, homeland security adviser to Bush, told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina killed about 1,300 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless when it shattered New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Continuing political fallout from the disaster has been high on a list of troubles that have shaken public confidence in Mr Bush, raising election-year concerns among his fellow Republicans that they are in danger of losing control of Congress.
Mr Bush's popularity has also been hit by growing public disenchantment with the Iraq war and gasoline prices that have topped $3 a gallon in parts of the United States.
His approval rating fell to 32 per cent in a CNN poll released this week and to 36 percent in a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll yesterday. Both were all-time lows for each poll.