As our September FOMC meeting followed Hurricane Katrina by approximately three weeks and was held concurrently with the formation of Hurricane Rita, I felt that there was insufficient information as well as great uncertainty about how these forces would play out in the near term. As a result, I voted to pause in the removal of policy accommodation until more was known.
What was clear then, and has become even more evident in the time since, is that the Gulf Coast of the United Sates suffered extraordinary human and economic losses. The news reports have graphically displayed the tragic dislocations of millions of people, loss of life, and destruction of  1/4  property.