We knew what had to be done. I think the American Red Cross already had shelters and was already feeding people. Katrina Cop in the Superdome. Where is water? Kathleen Blanco: The account of her rape was verified by a trained forensic nurse at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, where Lewis sought treatment. Years after Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary asks: What happened to 'Rebirth in New Orleans' reflects on . You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations. She insists other women were raped in the same apartment building over the next four nights, but her claim could not be checked out. Exacerbated by the recent BP oil spill in the region, the storm and its aftermath remains an open wound for local residents and others affected . "At that stage, we had mission-assigned the Department of Defense to start giving us everything they could in terms of air-lift capability. [2] Approximately 10,000 residents, along with about 150 National Guardsmen, sheltered in the Superdome anticipating Katrina's landfall. A hurricane warning is issued for north central Gulf Coast including New Orleans. One of the victims is Ms. Lewis, a 46-year-old home health-care worker from New Orleans East, who asked that her first name not be used. And, in 2004, FEMA sponsored a disaster planning exercise in which the scenario was a major hurricane striking New Orleans. And the mayor began to tell us some of the things that he needed. With camera lenses and lights abounding, the . ', We immediately did turn to the military and mission-assigned them to start doing airlifts, start bringing things in. Already, these preliminary cases show a high number of gang rapes and rapes by strangers, both unusual characteristics. Why would we think there was less rape typical of any given week in the city? FEMA Situation Update: We, Yahoo, are part of the Yahoo family of brands. Brian Williams: From 'Heard' Of To 'We Watched' Katrina Superdome Suicide Shelton Alexander: Surviving in the Superdome During Hurricane Katrina "I remember reading [that New Orleans had dodged a bullet]. Katrina Babies is an assertion of presence, a proclamation that the devastating hurricane is not simply a past story, but a present one too. He escaped the ch. "What we did -- under Louisiana law the parish presidents, the head of the counties, have the authority to use private resources. On Sept. 1, with desperate Hurricane Katrina evacuees crammed into the convention center, Police Chief Eddie Compass reported: "We . Crime is at an all-time high. Since many New Orleans streets are still filled with stagnant, fetid waters smelling of garbage and raw sewage, the military was considering using planes to spray for mosquitoes.". On August 28, 2005, at 6 am, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the Superdome would be used as a public shelter. Widespread looting continues. And he basically asked me, 'Mr. Hurricane Katrina: Remembering the Federal Failures And when I saw it then, and watching it again now, I think that Trouble the Water is an amazing accomplishment, and something everyone should see about the people who had to live through what we all went through here in New Orleans. Under the best of circumstances, rape is one of the hardest crimes to solve. 49 But it was the subsequent flooding of New Orleans that imposed catastrophic public health conditions on the people of southern . So I finally just walked up to Danny and said, Mr. I said, 'If you guys don't get together and work this out, this is going to get worse.' Why Hurricane Katrina Was Not a Natural Disaster And he passes, literally, hundreds of school buses lined up to come and get these folks. In downtown New Orleans, some streets were merely wet rather than swamped. We'd sent them all the information they needed. There's this lunch. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. In fact, at the headquarters of the Louisiana National Guard, located in the Lower NinthWard, soldiers were not yet aware that the levees were giving way. I just expressed to her my concern about the lack of unified command, and the need to have more of a structure of what was going on. (Weather forecasters classify hurricane strength on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the strongest.) Where is food? Persons, pets, and livestock exposed to the winds will face certain death if struck. Even $20, if thats all you can afford in the recession, that helps. New Orleans and the Superdome Post-Katrina | Nealon Discussion Blog According to the New Orleans Data Center, racial disparities in income and employment are more pronounced in the city than they are nationally; the poverty rate is 11 points higher than the national average; and the incarceration rate is approximately three times the national average. Gov. / HBO Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently changed life for thousands of people across the country. Note: In the last hours before Katrina made landfall, dozens of copies of the Hurricane Pam report are distributed to emergency planners. And nothing happened. And he said: 'Mr. I talk to her every other day, and thats her main question How long is it going to be? Neville says she was sexually assaulted early the morning of Aug. 31st, while she was sleeping on the roof of Drew Elementary School in the Bywater Neighborhood, where she and others had taken refuge. The Times-Picayune reports that Jefferson Parish residents are allowed to return to the area to inspect the damage to their homes.The breach in the 17th Street Canal is finally repaired, and engineers continue to work on other levee breaks. The price tag has not yet been determined. The Katrina Horror Story You Haven't Heard And he said definitively, "Mr. Mayor, the storm is headed right for you. We talked about it. Kathleen Blanco. The police department -- reeling from desertions, flooding and the immensity of the disaster -- was in a survival mode itself. The top-notch special effects are alarmingly realistic and frightening, particularly when the 17th St. Canal levee breaches and when Katrina rips the roof from the Superdome, where in the days . The situation begins to improve. I was able to get Governor Blanco to sit with me several times in the office that she had and talk about what needed to be done. After Katrina, the spectacle of a Black refugee population in the Superdome, along with the short-lived plan from Mayor Nagin's committee to wipe out some Black neighborhoods, revived these . Timeline: Rebirth in New Orleans - NFL If we arent talking about what we still need, how can we be sure people wont forget?. I immediately hung up the phone, called my city attorney because they had always advised that you can't do a mandatory evacuation. At least 1,800 lives were lost in Hurricane Katrina, often considered one of the worst hurricanes in US history. By the evening of August 25, when it made . At 7 am Katrina is a Category 5 with 160 mph maximum sustained winds. Years after Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary asks: What happened to 'Katrina Babies' Review: HBO Doc Is a Moving Study of Ongoing Trauma With a death toll of more than 1,800, Katrina was the third-deadliest hurricane in US history after Galveston in 1900 (which killed 8,000 to . They lost power. Kathleen Blanco: Hurricane Katrina facts and information - Environment "A week after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans state officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say once the canal level is drawn down two feet, Pumping Station 6 can begin pumping water out of the bowl-shaped city. Michael Brown, FEMA director: . " I've expressed many times that we're willing to investigate any sexual assaults that happened in this city at any time. Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina Remembers Covering Katrina Preserving History After Hurricane Katrina Katrina's Affect on Charter schools quiz: 10 Questions on Katrina. And Michael Brown was there listening. Hurricane Katrina - 64 Parishes Police Chief Eddie Compass admitted even his own officers had taken food and water from stores. The city's buses have been positioned around the city in locations that have never been flooded. And [FEMA Director] Michael Brown was with me at that time. Mayor Ray Nagin orders the total evacuation of New Orleans due to the dangers posed by the contaminated standing water. Theres a river of water moving into this area.'. More than a million people were displaced in the days leading up to and following . Find out in the 2015 documentary Outbreak, newly available to stream on FRONTLINEs YouTube channel. People can say that writing a check doesnt mean anything, but honey, it does. to support FEMA disaster relief efforts, but it will be two days before the troops arrive in the city. Mayor, we had a good meeting. Panels blew off and the roof was severely damaged, but it was the only shelter . And that was that.". But we were working frantically to get it out. It is 45 miles northwest of Florida Keys. Just last week, a federal court ordered a new trial for five officers convicted of the Danziger Bridge shootings. It was late August, and some of the staff of the NREMT and I were attending the combined NAEMT conference and EMS Expo in New . Here's all these thousands of people that don't have any way to get out of the city. A decade later . Historic Disasters - Hurricane Katrina | FEMA.gov will never be the same. Michael Brown, FEMA director: "I admit that rapes are underreported," Benelli says. The film features 15 minutes of live hurricane video shot by Kimberly Roberts, an aspiring rapper whose family was too poor to leave New Orleans, and follows Kim's family and others through the . HBO. I don't think that's the proper thing to do. 11:09. " After Katrina passed, we thought we're pretty much out of the woods. Spectacular Disaster: The Louisiana Superdome and Subsumed Blackness in "We know about all the other things that happened, all the thefts, all the robberies. And that rap song she sings at the end of the film about growing up so poor, with her mother on drugs and being forced to stealit just shows that she is a strong woman, and so honest, real, determined, courageous, and intelligent. Plus, if you lived in a FEMA trailer for three years like I did, the last thing you want to do is go to a trailer for medical care. ", Gov. August 27, 2015, 2:18 PM. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty. Reports stream in from people needing rescue. She says she tried to report the assault at the time, but authorities weren't listening. The Times-Picayune reports the Convention Center evacuees are still being loaded onto buses and evacuated and search-and-rescue operations continue. Gallery. Mayor Nagin estimates 50,000 to 100,000 people remain in the city. Pack as though you're going on a camping trip. Sept. 15, 2005, 7:50 AM PDT. Lewis says that later in the week, national guardsmen forced evacuees out of the building at gunpoint. She gripped my arm at the store, and she told me, the way you shared with everybody so openly, you helped me to heal. It is 250 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. They didn't have water. And I wanted to cut to the chase because I knew what the real issue was. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. When we didn't get any assistance from the state or from FEMA in the time period that we thought was appropriate, I got someone in an automobile and said, 'Go to Baton Rouge, go find out. There's no question.". I n the HBO documentary Katrina Babies, young teen Meisha Williams recollects her experience surviving the 2005 hurricane that displaced approximately 200,000 New Orleans residents. But prosecutors have struggled to hold officers accountable. ' Gettridge told FRONTLINE. But the problem was that because of the fear that resulted from the civil unrest, the bus drivers said, 'We're not going in there to pick these people up unless you put a law enforcement official on every one of the buses, because we're afraid. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warning: Tonight, the Oscar-nominated Trouble the Watera documentary by filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, premieres on HBO. "And so now I think it's swung the other direction and it's underreported. The skies darkened, and the wind started to pick up. He didn't care where the help came from, he just wanted it to be there. Explore FRONTLINEs collected and ongoing reporting on Russia's war on Ukraine. The hurricane caused billions of dollars of damage to the city, and killed thousands. And we need to get these people out of the Superdome because it's a shelter of last resort, and they only have a limited amount of resources.". "I didn't see any police officers -- I could have gotten away with murder," she says. Surviving the Superdome.