Bush gets firsthand look at flooded Iowa cities CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- With the painful lessons of Hurricane Katrina still in mind, President Bush on Thursday opened an inspection tour of Midwest flooding that has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes across six states. Bush was visiting the Iowa cities of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City on his first tour of the Midwest sin More.. ce heavy rains sent rivers surging over their banks. Bush was in Europe when the severe weather hit last week, but he made a point to show his deep concern while overseas. Cedar Rapids endured its worst flooding ever. The town was submerged by the Cedar River, which crested almost 20 feet above flood stage. Iowa City, a college town about 30 miles to the southeast, also was damaged by flooding. FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison, accompanying Bush on Air Force One, praised the "great coordination" between federal, state and local leaders. Bush also was accompanied by two Democratic lawmakers from Iowa, Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Dave Loebsack. "What we learned from Katrina is that FEMA can't do it all by itself," Paulison said. The sluggish federal response when Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast was judged woefully inadequate and brought heavy criticism of Bush and FEMA. Paulison said FEMA was working better with other partners -- the Army Corps of Engineers and even Wal-Mart -- to distribute supplies. He said more than 3.3 million liters of water, 200,000 ready-to-eat meals and 4,000 rolls of plastic sheeting have been distributed. FEMA is also putting sandbags and other supplies in states or towns where flooding hasn't hit yet or material has not been requested, just to be ready. "Another lesson learned from Katrina," he said. He said 28,000 people have registered for federal assistance. The average response time at FEMA's 24-hour call line is 12 seconds -- compared to response times that sometimes took hours during Katrina, he said. Now ...