Fights broke out. In addition to two unarmed civilians killed at Danziger Bridge, at least ten other people were shot by police in the first week after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. About850 patients with serious medical conditions some in hospice care would arrive to ride out the storm there; most of them from parts of the city not protected by the levee system. Never did we think wed be here for nearly a week.. And although President Bush said on September 1, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," days before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the White House was informed that the levees were likely to overtop and breach. Up to 47% "were caused by acute and chronic diseases." Hurricane Katrina deaths, Louisiana, 2005 Disaster Med Public Health Prep. He didnt realize how bad things are other there, Wells said. There were two reports of rape, one involving a child. They got it to the city and waited for their supplies. Hours before three major levees were breached, President Bush announced that New Orleans had "dodged a bullet," despite the fact that Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco had already requested federal assistance two days before the hurricane hit, according to The Society Pages. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). They had no good options. [9] Although 80 percent of the roof had been destroyed, ultimately, the damage to the roof proved not to be catastrophic, with the two repairable holes and the ripping off of most of the replaceable white rubber membrane on the outer layer. The massive hurricane exposed major issues with the citys infrastructure, left thousands upon thousands of people without any place to stay, destroying their homes and leaving their neighborhoods in ruins. In all, 1,833 people would lose their lives. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people in New Orleans were evacuated to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The levee system that held back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne had been completely overwhelmed by 10 inches (25 cm) of rain and Katrinas storm surge. As buses finally started arriving to pluck refugees from the Louisiana Superdome yesterday, a horrifying picture emerged of the squalor, violence and mayhem that they faced during the days spent huddled in the stadium. They knew they needed to do a security check before allowing the people inside they couldnt risk anyone bringing guns and knives inside the Dome. [32] While numerous people told the Times-Picayune that they had witnessed the rape of two girls in the ladies' restroom and the killing of one of them, police and military officials said they knew nothing about the incidents. Parishioners gather during Sunday services in the rebuilt church on May 10, 2015. At 7 am Katrina is a Category 5 with 160 mph maximum sustained winds. Drowning was the major cause of death and people 75 years old and older were the most affected population cohort. The line to get in was already a quarter-mile long. It took 17 men several hours to do the job. We took him to the terrace and said, Look. , As he saw the floodwaters rising around the stadium, the man broke down. FEMA had sent the trucks to act as a makeshift morgue. Some levees buttressing the Industrial Canal, the 17th Street Canal, and other areas were overtopped by the storm surge, and others were breached after these structures failed outright from the buildup of water pressure behind them. Doug and Denise Thornton woke early to drive back to New Orleans. Up to a month after Hurricane Katrina, over 100 children were still unaccounted for, and it took until November to find everyone. And although they were deemed unsuitable for habitation, according to Grist, little has been done to ensure that people no longer live in toxic trailers. We had to chase him down, said Sgt. There is feces on the walls, said Bryan Hebert, 43. At St. Rita's Nursing Home, residents were reportedly abandoned by the staff, and 35 people drowned as a result. Nagin had no solution. Mouton found out that there were sandbags available on Franklin Avenue inLakefront. It ran into the reserve tank. Thornton, whod been cooped up in the Superdome for going on five days, looked down on her city, at the soft waves lapping against the houses in the moonlight. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and. Experts don't know exactly how many people lost their lives during Hurricane Katrina, but 1,800 is one of the low estimates, and over 1 million people lost their homes and were displaced. In contrast, over half the nursing homes in New Orleans decided against early evacuation. However, it was later found that despite the poor conditions in the Superdome, "it was not the murderous hellhole" it was reported to be. That night, around 6 p.m., Thornton got a phone call. Meanwhile, in the Senate committee report, race isn't mentioned once in over 700 pages. Several hundredof Thorntons part-time employees had shown up as well, unable to evacuate, and hed placed them in one of the club lounges along with the families of some New Orleans Police Department officers. "Hurricane Katrina survivors in the Superdome." . At 5 a.m. on August 29, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which administered the levees, received a report that water had broken through the concrete flood wall between the 17th Street Canal and the city. It's also believed that many of these deaths could have been preventable if emergency and hospital services hadn't been as disrupted as they were. The area east of the Industrial Canal was the first part of the city to flood; by the afternoon of August 29, some 20 percent of the city was underwater. Thornton recruited off-duty NOPD officers to come grab sandbags and carry them from the parking lot, through the loading dock, and back to the generator room from the inside. In addition, many of the underlying systemic inequalities and problems that resulted in the severity of the disaster still have not been addressed. In April 2000, according to the Data Center, the population of New Orleans was 484,674; by July 2006, not quite a year after Katrina, it had dropped by more than 250,000, to some 230,172. National Geographic writes that the storm hit the coast of Louisiana on August 29 and ended up affecting up to 90,000 square miles of land and over 15 million people. Houses stand in the Seventh Ward on May 12, 2015. It has been 10 years since Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed the city ofNew Orleans. A neighborhood east of downtown New Orleans remains flooded on August 30, 2005. But inside the Superdome, things were deteriorating rapidly. AP By 4:30 p.m., the winds were dying down and Thornton and Mouton went outside and surveyed the building. It was already known that the generators would not provide lights or air conditioning for the whole dome if the power failed, and also pumps providing water to second-level restrooms wouldn't function. All Rights Reserved. The flooding destroyed New Orleans, the Nation's thirty-fifth largest city. Nagin told the men to get him a list of supplies they needed, and he would get it from FEMA. All they could do was try to protect the generator. It continued on a course to the northeast, crossing the Mississippi Sound and making a second landfall later that morning near the mouth of the Pearl River. Katrinas death toll is the fourth highest of any hurricane in U.S. history, after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed between 8,000 and 12,000 people; Hurricane Maria, which killed more than 4,600 people in Puerto Rico in 2017; and the Okeechobee Hurricane, which hit Florida in 1928 and killed as many as 3,000. Winds of 125 mph and storm surges of 28 feet devastated much of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. Out of 60 nursing homes in New Orleans, 21 had evacuated their residents in advance of Katrina. https://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/08/refuge-of-last-resort-five-days-inside-the-superdome-for-hurricane-katrina, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Hurricane Katrina caused up to $161 billion worth of damage, largely due to the fact that the breached levees led to flooding in 80% of New Orleans. And as the media portrayed New Orleans as a lawless place filled with violence with overblown and unverified reports, police and rescue efforts were redirected against the imaginary violence. Southern Mississippi won over Arkansas State, 3119. Reports of other rapes were widespread. And just from the sound of the rain and the wind, I said, Look. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. We can't house people for five or six days. Although there was a "maintenance regime" theoretically in place for the levees, the Senate committee found that it was "in no way commensurate with the risk posed to these persons and their property." The men sat in stunned silence. There is no particular person for whom Hurricane Katrina was named. About 16,000 people. And I expect they will.". What was the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans public education system? [6] By this time, the population of the dome had nearly doubled within two days to approximately 30,000, as helicopters and vehicles capable of cutting through the deep flood waters picked up stranded citizens from hard-hit areas and brought them to the dome. But it worked. And it's possible that the deaths may have even numbered as high as 10,000. People seek high ground on Interstate 90 as a helicopter prepares to land at the Superdome in New Orleans on August 31, 2005. [15] Evacuees began to break into the luxury suites, concession stands, vending machines, and offices to look for food and other supplies. And,. Supplies were dangerously low, with one mother saying officials told her to reuse diapers by scraping them out when they got dirty. Upon making landfall, it had 120-140 mph winds and stretched 400 miles across the coast. On August 27 Katrina strengthened to a category 3 hurricane, with top winds exceeding 115 miles (185 km) per hour and a circulation that covered virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico. Children slept in pools of urine. He starts off the essay with his own personal account of the damage that Hurricane Katrina left. Thornton, pacing inside, turned to one of the mechanics. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Dozens of churches were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. NBC News reports that although there were stories of freezers full of bodies, "no such pile of bodies was [ever] found.". This is a national emergency. It wasnt until midnight that things started to settle down. Out of the at least 1,800 deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina, nearly half were elderly people. It was previously used in 1998 during Hurricane Georges and again in 2004 during Hurricane Ivan, on both occasions for less than two days at most. The 2005 hurricane and subsequent levee failures led to death and destructionand dealt a lasting blow to leadership and the Gulf region. Hurricane Ivan it was less than that. New homes stand in the Lower Ninth Ward on May 15, 2015. For detailed information on the effect on Tulane, see, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome, Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, "Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Saints, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Tulane University, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Hornets, "How New Orleans' Evacuation Plan Fell Apart", "Hurricane Katrina as Seen Through the Eyes of the Saints' Biggest Fans", "At least 10,000 find refuge at the Superdome", "Governor: Evac Superdome, Rescue Centers", "Trapped in the Superdome: Refuge becomes a hellhole", "Photo in the News: Hurricane Shreds Superdome Roof", "NFL 2005: Homeless Saints face long road in 2005", "Almost 10 years after Katrina, Michael Brown's still out to lunch: Jarvis DeBerry", "Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina", "From Superdome to Astrodome: Katrina's refugees will be moved to Houston in bus convoy", "Superdome evacuation disrupted after shots fired", "10 Years Since Katrina: When The Astrodome Was A Mass Shelter", "Astrodome to become new home for storm refugees", "Astrodome at capacity, but buses with evacuees keep coming", "Neighbouring states struggle to cope with influx of people", "Dome closed for a year, could be scrapped", "NFL, at Saints' urging, kicks in $20 million for dome repairs", "Superdome returns with glitz, glamor and Monday night football", "Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy", "Reports of anarchy at Superdome overstated", "Higher Death Toll Seen; Police Ordered to Stop Looters", "7 facts about Hurricane Katrina that show just how incompetent the government response was", "Four years on, Katrina remains cursed by rumour, cliche, lies and racism", "Saints' home games: 4 at LSU, 3 in Alamodome", "Errors cost Saints early, often in poor excuse for 'home' opener", "32nd annual Bayou Classic moved to Houston", "SOUTHERN JAGUARS FALL 50-35 TO GRAMBLING STATE IN BAYOU CLASSIC XXXII", Temporary home venues in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Effect_of_Hurricane_Katrina_on_the_Louisiana_Superdome&oldid=1113156691, Articles needing additional references from October 2014, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia introduction cleanup from February 2022, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from February 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 30 September 2022, at 02:13. Hurricane Katrina, tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United States in late August 2005. Out of the at least 1,800 deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina, nearly half were elderly people. As general manager of the facility since 1997, he had been through this several times before. Katrina made landfall that morning as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds in excess of 135 mph. [33], During the evening on August 31, about 700 elderly and ill patients were transported out by military helicopters and planes from Louis Armstrong International Airport to Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston. As a result, thousands of people became stranded at the Superdome, while thousands more ended up on the roofs of their homes as floodwaters reached heights of 20 feet. Levees at various locations in the city had failed, and the pumping stations, overwhelmed with water and damaged by the storm, werent working. Updated A FEMA employee told Thornton and Mouton they expected to find lots of dead bodies, and had decided to bring them here, right next to the place where those left in the city were fighting to live. Hurricane Katrina reached Category 5 strength in the Gulf Coast, and although it was a Category 3 when it made landfall, it was still one of the "worst disasters in U.S. history," according to World Vision. Thornton and Mouton just needed to find a way to keep things under control for 20 hours before it could be enacted. They found the building in better shape than the Superdome fewer windows were blown out and the building, unlike the Superdome, had a roof. [13][35] The attacker was later jailed. Results: Hurricane Katrina was responsible for the death of up to 1,170 persons in Louisiana; the risk of death increased with age. The outer ends of the hurricane also produced tornados, although they only damaged power lines and trees. On the state and local level, Louisiana Gov. The roof was estimated to be able to withstand winds with speeds of up to 200mph (320km/h) and flood waters weren't expected to reach the second level 35 feet (11m) from the ground. Initially, the Superdome was described as a "lawless, depraved, and chaotic" place, with reports of numerous murders. Hurricane Katrina made landfall off the coast of Louisiana on August 29, 2005. Denise Thornton was tasked with deciding the order of evacuation. Hurricane Katrina made its second and third landfalls in the Gulf Coast region on Monday, August 29, 2005, as a Category 3 hurricane. One of the worst disasters in U.S. history, Katrina caused an estimated $161 billion in damage. [1], Hurricane Katrina was the third time the dome had been used as a public shelter. Meanwhile, flooding continued to worsen in New Orleans. She had heard a lot, from the National Guard, from her husband, from rumors among the employees. Nearly half the fatalities in Louisiana were people over the age of 74. The generator was near ground level behind the Superdome, and water was pushing against its exterior door. Meanwhile, foster families struggled with making sure that their children had their medication. The majority of all federal aid, approximately $75 billion of $120.5 billion, funded emergency relief operations. As the already strained levee system continued to give way, the remaining residents of New Orleans were faced with a city that by August 30 was 80 percent underwater. The hurricane and its aftermath claimed more than 1,800 lives, and it ranked as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. In response, guardsmanput up barbed wire at various areas around the building, protecting themselves from the general population. More than one million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the storm. According to CBS News, it took until March 2006 to find all of them: "All but 12 were found alive. The arrival of 13,000 U.S. National Guard troops and 7,000 U.S. military troops deployed by President George W. Bush helped with evacuations and resupplying food and water to those stranded at the Superdome and convention center, all of whom were finally evacuated on September 3. [44] The San Antonio Express-News reported that sources close to the Saints' organization said that Benson planned to void his lease agreement with New Orleans by declaring the Superdome unusable. TV-PG. [citation needed] The building's engineering study was underway as Hurricane Katrina approached and was put on hold. The air smelled toxic. Just looking out I saw glare of the water, she said, choking up. [1] On top of that, since most of the department's staff was sent to assist at state shelters, there was even a challenge of tracking down "missing workers.". WATCH:I Was There: Hurricane Katrina: Rescue Swimmer. Doug dropped his wife off at their home in the affluent Lakewood South neighborhood of New Orleans, right near the levee at the 17th Street Canal, and drove to the Louisiana Superdome. However, not a single one of those reports was "verified or substantiated. The population of New Orleans fell from 484,674 in April 2000 to 230,172 in July 2006, a decrease of over 50%. Soon after they arrived, officialsenacted contraflow, shutting down all roads leading in and opening up every lane out of the city. The emergency generator later failed, and engineers had to protect the backup generator from floodwaters by creating a hole in a wall and installing a new fuel line. You better move back. [30][31], As of August 31, there had been three deaths in the Superdome: two elderly medical patients who were suffering from existing illness, and a man who committed suicide by jumping from the upper level seats. As far as natural disasters go, Hurricane Katrina was a bad one. Preparations by location South Florida. Bloodstains smeared the walls near vending machines that had been pried open. Police watch over prisoners from Orleans Parish Prison who were evacuated to a highway on September 1, 2005. At its height as a category 5 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, Katrinas wind speeds exceeded 170 miles per hour. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin were criticized for not ordering mandatory evacuations sooner. Tulane University postponed its scheduled football game against the University of Southern Mississippi until November 26. Mouton then sent two diesel mechanics from the National Guard down to Thornton, and told them to invent a way to refuel the tank without opening the door that led to the outside. A few of these groups wandered the concourse, stealing food and attacking anyone who stood up to them. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. So they hoofed it. You need to go take a look. Because they had lost power and were relying on the generators, a lot of the buildings outlets had ceased to function, meaning many ofthe machines being used to keep the medical patients safe and alive were failing. Hurricane Katrina survivors arrive at the Houston Astrodome Red Cross Shelter after being evacuated from New Orleans. A woman cries after returning to her house and business, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, on August 30, 2005, in Biloxi, Mississippi. The bullet went through his own leg. [49][50] Grambling State University beat Southern University, 5035.[51]. The Social Science Research Council writes that this disparity occurred because elderly people were neither evacuated nor protected effectively. The men had little time to celebrate though water was still coming in under the door. People search for their belongings among debris washed up on the beach in Biloxi on August 30, 2005. I was able to see how bad it was, even though it was night. A FEMA medical team at the Superdome on August 31, 2005. But Thornton wasnt thinking about that right then. The agency also provided $6.7 billion in recovery aid to more than one million people and households. With maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, the storm killed a total of 1,833 people and left millions homeless in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. And it's possible that the deaths may have even numbered as high as 10,000. He could only offer supplies. FEMA photo/Andrea Booher. People had broken up into factions by race, separating into small groups throughout the building that the National Guard struggled to control. They were acquitted in 2007. Ten years ago this weekend, Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,000 people (the true death toll may never be known). Victims of Hurricane Katrina fight through the crowd as they line up for buses to evacuate the Superdome and New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005. I would rather have been in jail, Janice Jones said while being taken out of the dome. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. The tropical depression that became Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and meteorologists were soon able to warn people in the Gulf Coast states that a major storm was. I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I say is: Where are my babies? [8] Further damage included water damage to the electrical systems, and mold spread. Socialist Alternative writes that police were given the task of "defending the private property of businesses like the GAP and casinos" rather than concentrating on rescuing people. A bustling black market has also emerged, with cigarettes, at $10 a pack, and anti-diuretics, which help forestall going to the bathroom, hot items. [5] Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau of the Louisiana National Guard, said that the number of people taking shelter in the Superdome rose to around 15,00020,000 as search and rescue teams brought more people from areas hit hard by the flooding.[6]. Rumours spread in the press of reports of rapes, violent assaults, murders, drug abuse, and gang activity inside the Superdome, most of which were entirely unsubstantiated and without witnesses. There was water pouring in every crevice, Thornton said. They guarded the office where Thornton and his team huddled, but that was about it. Water poured onto the field. [35], On September 4, NOPD chief Eddie Compass reported, "We don't have any substantiated rapes. On Wednesday morning, Mouton and Thornton checked the water first thing. Hurricane Katrina had intruded on the last safe space. Her husband would be on the last helicopter. It hit land as a Category 3 storm with winds reaching speeds as high as 120 miles per hour. You have to fend people off constantly. The facility housed 15,000 refugees who fled the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. When buses finally arrived yesterday, a desperate group of refugees broke loose from a cordon of National Guardsmen, but were stopped by heavily armed police toting machine guns. It is 250 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. He flew on to Gonzales, where his wife was waiting for him. Their first game, against Mississippi State University, was played on September 17 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. 11:09. New homes stand along the rebuilt Industrial Canal levee on May 16, 2015. Katrina's death toll is the fourth highest of any hurricane in U.S. history, after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed between 8,000 and 12,000 people; Hurricane Maria, which. According to an article in Time, "Over the years city officials have stressed that they didn't want to make it too comfortable at the Superdome since it was always safer to leave the city altogether. The Superdome was, as far as Thornton was concerned, completely destroyed. And as Vox writes, this wasn't necessarily by choice "but rather because they were too poor to afford a car or bus fare to leave." By 2021, the estimated population had increased to 376,971, according to the Census. Most of these rumors were caused because of the breakdown of cellular service, which prevented the distribution of reliable and accurate information. Did you encounter any technical issues? FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. Though leaving in the light of day would be easier, it could also cause hysteria from those left behind in the Dome. [48] Overall, the team used six different stadiums for their six home games, including Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Cajun Field in Lafayette, Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston, Malone Stadium in Monroe, and LaddPeebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. Why did Hurricane Katrina lead to widespread flooding? On the morning of August 29, the storm made landfall as a category 4 hurricane at Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, approximately 45 miles (70 km) southeast of New Orleans. They mulled it over.