President Bush appeared on Good Morning America, and said that he understood the frustration of Katrina victims, many of whom are still waiting for food, water, and other aid. "I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday," Bush said. "I understand the anxiety of people on the ground. … So there is frustration. But I want people to know there's a lot of help coming." He said that the government's first priority is to save lives, and described the devastation that he saw while flying over the hardest-hit areas as, "very emotional," but was also very optimistic about the prospects of New Orleans' recovery.

A 50-member Canadian search-and-rescue team from Vancouver, British Columbia reached a flooded New Orleans suburb to help save trapped residents.

National Guardsmen accompanied by buses (475 in all) and supply trucks begin to arrive at the Superdome.

A day after the National Guard (from Camp Beauregard) began delivering food, water and ice in New Orleans, the National President of the American Red Cross, Marsha Evans, requested to set up a shelter in New Orleans to pass out food and water. However, due to the ongoing military rescue operations in the city at the time, the Red Cross was asked to wait for 24 hours. By Saturday, the point was moot because the large-scale evacuation of the city was already underway.

Meanwhile, conditions at the Superdome, as well as the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, continued to deteriorate. Food and potable water were unavailable, with mostly false reports and rumors of rescuers coming under fire from people seeking to hijack supplies or transportation, and few buses were arriving to evacuate the survivors. About 5,000 refugees made it by bus to Reliant Astrodome, yet there were only about 2,000 cots available. Secretary Chertoff is criticized by NPR's Robert Siegel during an interview on All Things Considered, as he had no knowledge of the approximately 2,000 survivors at the Convention Center with no food or water. He said, "I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the Convention Center who don't have food and water."^[37] FEMA Director Brown said that FEMA only became aware of crisis at the Convention Center on this date, yet later claims to have known about it 24 hours earlier.

Secretary Chertoff announced that 4,200 National Guard troops trained as military police would be deployed to New Orleans over the next three days. Governor Blanco requested the mobilization of an additional 40,000 National Guard troops. 14,284 Army National Guard and 972 Air National Guard were currently deployed (15,256 total).

California swift water rescue crew units deployed to the area rescued hundreds in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. However, FEMA later halted the swift water rescue crews from conducting further rescues, citing safety concerns.

Sealing of the 17th Street Canal from Lake Pontchartrain with sheet pilings begins, while closing the breach continues.

The New Orleans suburb of Gretna seals the Crescent City Connection bridge across the Mississippi River, turning back fleeing flood victims at gunpoint. Evacuees blamed the incident on racism, but the chief of police stated that the city was in lockdown and was not equipped to handle evacuees from New Orleans.

The Kansas City Southern Railway reopened its Meridian Speedway railway line between Meridian, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana, after clearing debris and repairing damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. The line is also used by Norfolk Southern as a bridge route for NS intermodal trains between the Meridian and Alliance, Texas. KCS is also working with CSX Transportation and Meridian and Bigbee Railway to transfer additional intermodal traffic through Meridian rather than New Orleans or Birmingham.

President Bush signed a $10.5 billion relief package that was passed by Congress which included supplemental funds for FEMA, as well as $500 million for the Pentagon for its relief efforts. He also toured the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast, saying that he is ordering additional active duty forces to the region, and authorized a withdrawal of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Bush administration sent Governor Blanco a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans. Louisiana officials eventually rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law.

Sheet piling blocks water flow into the 17th Street Canal, making closure of the breach not relevant to city flooding. Work on closing the breach continues for purposes of pumping.

In a letter to the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, BNSF Railway (headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas) pledged a contribution of $1 Million, and offered rail transportation to aid in relief efforts for the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. The monetary contribution came from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation as a donation to the American Red Cross relief efforts, while the transportation assistance was organized by the Association of American Railroads, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Railroad Administration, as well as other railroads that serve the area. The letter also stated that repairs to the Bayou Boeuf bridge were now completed and BNSF's mainline was reopened as originally planned at 6:00 PM CST on September 1.