Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Brown, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told a congressional committee he notified a top White House official on the day Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast that a levee in New Orleans had been breached.

Brown, who was later removed as FEMA head amid intense criticism of the federal response to the hurricane, said he notified Deputy White House Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin about the levee breach on Aug. 29, 2005.

``I think I told him we were realizing our worst nightmares,'' Brown said of his conversation with Hagin.

As a result of breached levees, large parts of New Orleans were inundated with water in the wake of the hurricane.

Brown spoke today at a hearing called by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to look into the government's response to the hurricane.

The early reporting of the levee breach to the White House is significant because Bush administration officials, in the aftermath of Katrina, first said the breach caught them by surprise. President George W. Bush said he had first felt that New Orleans had ``dodged a bullet'' in the hurricane.

Earlier Reports

Brown's statement confirmed reports about when the White House first learned of the levee breach that have circulated since December, when a Democratic lawmaker, Representative Charles Melancon of Louisiana, said the White House had received e-mails about the breach on the night Katrina hit.

Brown today added a new element: that he spoke directly to Hagin and may also have talked with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

Joseph Lieberman, senior Democrat on the Homeland Security committee, asked Brown if he thought the message reached Bush. ``If I've told Joe Hagin or Andy Card, I've told the president,'' Brown responded.

White House spokesman Scott Mcclellan said he couldn't comment on Brown's statements because he hadn't seen them. He said the Bush administration was far less concerned with the cause of the flooding than the flooding itself.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 10, 2006 11:18 EST