Former FEMA Director: Harvey Worse Than Katrina

Hurricane Harvey is worse than Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA Director Michael Brown told the Houston Chronicle on Monday.

Harvey hit Texas over the weekend, bringing torrential rains, deadly flooding and catastrophic damage to some southeastern areas of the state.

"There are several factors that make it worse than Katrina," Brown said. "For one, there is the scope of the flooding. Harris County and the surrounding areas are so saturated. Also, the amount of damages will continue to grow. There will be mold and structural damages adding up."

Brown, who resigned from FEMA 10 years ago after coming under fire over his qualifications and for what critics call a bungled response to Katrina's destruction, said the damage to businesses and homes will be "unequivocally" worse with Harvey.

"The damage to businesses, the damage to homes, I think is going to be so extensive over such a wider area that this will way surpass Katrina in terms of cost to the economy and in terms of cost to the taxpayers," he told Stuart Varney during an interview on Fox Business' "Varney & Co."

"This will be unfathomably expensive for both the private sector and taxpayers," Brown said. "This will be easily the most expensive natural disaster in American history."

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