President Bush stopped in Austin Monday to tour the Emergency Operations Center and see the state's efforts to prepare for Hurricane Gustav.

Air Force One landed at about 10 a.m. at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Texas Governor Rick Perry and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas greeted Bush as he got off the plane.

President Bush was whisked away by Secret Service and taken directly to the EOC at DPS headquarters.

Bush says cooperation among states and the federal government during Hurricane Gustav is a lot better than during Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005 and tattered his administration's reputation for handling crises. The president said the federal government's job is to assist states affected by the storm. He lauded Gulf Coast residents who heeded warnings to evacuate, saying he knows it's hard for citizens to "pull up stakes." The president said Hurricane Gustav has "yet to pass" and is a "serious event."

Emergency workers began arriving at the EOC before sunup Monday -- with members of the Red Cross and other agencies on hand from different Texas counties. They went over the plans that are in place just in case Hurricane Gustav wreaks havoc.

Texas is a staging ground for emergency response efforts and a shelter state for gulf coast evacuees.

President Bush has issued pre-landfall emergency disaster declarations for Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi -- which enables federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts.

Right now the president is talking to emergency workers. He will then fly to San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base to visit the Alamo Regional Command Reception Center.

The president is trying to prove his administration has learned the haunting lessons of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The enduring memory of the 2005 hurricane isn't the ferocity of the storm, but the bungled reaction that led to preventable deaths and chaos.