Slip-up delays FEMA emergency supplies for Louisiana parish

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CNN) - Residents of Gustav-ravaged East Baton Rouge Parish will have to wait awhile for food, water, ice and blue tarpaulins that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had said would be available Tuesday.

FEMA representatives told parish officials Monday that the supplies had been staged in Alexandria, Louisiana, about two hours away. Those critical supplies were supposed to be on the road as soon as winds died down and tractor trailers could safely move.

But Tuesday morning, Walter Monsour, chief administrative officer of the parish, was told the supplies were not in Louisiana, but somewhere in Texas, and there was no estimated time of their arrival.

A FEMA spokesman in Baton Rouge, John Bajon, said he is trying to find out what caused the miscommunication, and when the supplies will arrive.

"We are in need," said Irma Plummer, assistant chief administrative officer of the parish. Nearly everyone in the parish of 450,000 is without power. Hospitals are running on backup power, and fuel for critical needs is in short supply. A curfew was in effect from 8 p.m. Monday until 6 a.m. Tuesday.  –From CNN's Marsha Walton