Winds of 125 mph and storm surges of 28 feet devastated much of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. And since the hurricane evacuation plan stipulated that "the primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles," according to "Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared" (the Senate committee's report), this left the state's most impoverished and vulnerable families, the large majority of whom were people of color, without anywhere to go as Hurricane Katrina hit. As general manager of the facility since 1997, he had been through this several times before. Daylight could be seen from inside the dome, and rain was pouring in. Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans - Wikipedia Levees at various locations in the city had failed, and the pumping stations, overwhelmed with water and damaged by the storm, werent working. As Talk Poverty notes, it was directly due to "racially discriminatory housing practices," which meant that"the high-ground was taken by the time banks started loaning money to African Americans who wanted to buy a home.". I thought it would be two days at most and wed be out, said Thornton. It looks like we cant stop the levee breaches and were being told there could be as much as six to eight feet more of water, Thornton recalls Compass saying. - The total damage from Katrina is estimated to be $125 billion (or $190 billion in 2022 dollars), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Ive been in there seven days, and I havent had a bath. [37] This was done as covertly as possible so as to not cause rioting or charges of favoritism. Hurricane Katrina - Facts, Affected Areas & Lives Lost - HISTORY Thornton and Mouton just needed to find a way to keep things under control for 20 hours before it could be enacted. A woman slumped over in a wheelchair in a back corner, a Upon making landfall, it had 120-140 mph winds and stretched 400 miles across the coast. It was going to be the big one. The Bayou Classic was moved from the Superdome to Reliant Stadium in Houston. 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). A few of these groups wandered the concourse, stealing food and attacking anyone who stood up to them. Water floods a cemetery outside St. Patrick's Church in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on September 11, 2005. NBC News reports that although there were stories of freezers full of bodies, "no such pile of bodies was [ever] found.". The roof had ripped off in sheets. Hurricane Katrina, the tropical cyclone that struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005, was the third-strongest hurricane to hit the United States in its history at the time. A violent, free-for-all riot seemed sure to break out with the next bit of bad news. They found a 50-foot fuel line and screwed it into the reserve tank of the generator, then ran it out to the truck, which was parked in several feet of water outside the exterior door. Please check your email for a confirmation. In 2004, the federal government sponsored a "planning exercise" involving local, state, and federal officials that resembled the eventual impact of Hurricane Katrina. Thorntons staff opened up the concourses, allowing people to walk around the arena, stretch their legs, find neighbors and friends who were there as well. No one knew what would happen. For now, theyd monitor. At noon, they opened the doors and thousands of New Orleanians started shuffling in, carrying ice chests, kids toys, clothes, and whatever belongings they could carry. Thornton and Mouton climbed into a Humvee and drove toward the New Orleans Convention Center, dodging debris and navigating through a little standing water down Poydras Street. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. Up to 47% "were caused by acute and chronic diseases." Still, about 100,000 people were trapped in the city when the storm hit, and many took last-ditch refuge in the New Orleans Superdome and the Ernest J. Morial Convention Center as the storm approached. [7] Medical machines also failed, which prompted a decision to move patients to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. [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. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and subsequent floods. A storm surge more than 26 feet (8 metres) high slammed into the coastal cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, devastating homes and resorts along the beachfront. TV-PG. The low-income development has been replaced by two-story, townhouse-style buildings. They guarded the office where Thornton and his team huddled, but that was about it. But finding the children was only part of the battle. On the state and local level, Louisiana Gov. Itll be harder to manage them. [19][20] The refugees were given three meals and snacks daily, along with hygiene supplies, and were allowed to use the locker rooms to shower. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was responsible for the design of the levee system in New Orleans, acknowledged that outdated and faulty engineering practices used to build the levees led to most of the flooding that occurred due to Katrina. By then it was too late for Thornton to call in the staff hed need to keep it running. It is 250 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. After Hurricane Katrina struck, numerous federal officials, including President George W. Bush, claimed that there was little that could have been done to prevent the disaster. The air conditioning ducts would have mold in them by now. The Data Center, a New Orleans-based research organization, estimated that the storm and subsequent flooding displaced more than 1 million people, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Many local agencies found themselves unable to respond to the increasingly desperate situation, as their own headquarters and control centres were under 20 feet (6 metres) of water. The dome's emergency generator was able to power the internal lighting but little else; the building's air conditioning system would no longer operate, nor would the refrigeration system which was keeping food from spoiling. "[3], The Superdome was built to withstand most natural catastrophes. At the peak of the Katrina recovery effort, 51,039 National Guard soldiers from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and three territories worked in Louisiana and Mississippi, making Katrina by far . In the bathrooms, every toilet had ceased to function. Her escape out. FEMA had sent the trucks to act as a makeshift morgue. [36] A group of about 100 tourists were "smuggled" out from the Superdome to the New Orleans Arena next door, where 800 medical needs patients were being held. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin were criticized for not ordering mandatory evacuations sooner. NPR reports that before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FEMA Director Michael Brown and other top Homeland Security officials received emails on their blackberries warning that Katrina posed a dire threat." NOLA.com reports that FEMA also "turned away offers of personnel and supplies from the Department of Interior and denied a request from the state Wildlife & Fisheries agency for 300 rubber boats.". And although hurricanes are usually only 300 miles wide at most, Hurricane Katrina's winds stretched out over 400 miles, with wind speeds well in excess of 100 mph. And despite the fact that this was meant to be a temporary shelter, they ended up being stranded in the stadium for a week. The Superdome was gone. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Hurricane Katrina | New Orleans History Spectacular Disaster: The Louisiana Superdome and Subsumed Blackness in 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. [32] New Orleans Police Department chief Eddie Compass appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and reported seeing "little babies getting raped" and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin also said he saw hooligans raping and killing people. A lightning bolt strikes above a destroyed church in the Lower Ninth Ward on August 5, 2006. Local residents gathering outside of the Superdome on September 2, 2005. In the United States, Louisiana has the "highest rate of beds per 1,000 persons ages 85 or more," but over half of the nursing homes in New Orleans decided against early evacuation. I Was There: Hurricane Katrina Superdome Survivor - HISTORY Feces covered the walls of bathrooms. That night, NOPD Chief of Police Eddie Compass arrived to see Thornton and Col. Mouton. [4] However, when looking into the origins of the claims about 200mph (320km/h) wind security in the Superdome, CNN reported that no engineering study had ever been completed on the amount of wind the structure could withstand. Tempers began to flare as hunger and thirst deepened. It took 17 men several hours to do the job. The National Weather Service was revising its forecast again. On the day the storm hit, two sets of notes sat tucked in a drawer . But Thornton wasnt thinking about that right then. 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. More Stories Emerge of Rapes in Post-Katrina Chaos : NPR They had to find out if they could move these people. Though downgraded to a category 3, the storms relatively slow forward movement (around 12 mph) covered the region with far more rain than a fast-moving storm would have. His assailant hit him with a metal rod taken from a cot. With the failure of the air conditioning, temperatures inside the Superdome reached the high 90s, with heavy humidity. However, "many of its admonitory lessons were either ignored or inadequately applied." In this satellite image, a close-up of the center of Hurricane Katrina's rotation is seen at 9:45 a.m. EST on August 29, 2005 over southeastern Louisiana. 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. Just looking out I saw glare of the water, she said, choking up. That would be sorted out soon, Thornton thought, or maybe never at all. Nearly half the fatalities in Louisiana were people over the age of 74. This was it. 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. . In some areas, floodwaters reached depths of 10 to 15 feet, and didnt recede for weeks. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. His home was destroyed. Supplies were dangerously low, with one mother saying officials told her to reuse diapers by scraping them out when they got dirty. [41], After the events surrounding Katrina, the Superdome was not used during the 2005 NFL season. - About 25,000 storm evacuees were sheltered at the Louisiana Superdome, a sports arena. The water pumps had failed, and without water pumps to the elevated building, they couldnt maintain water pressure. Sign up for the For The Win newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. A few hours later, at 9:00 AM EDT, reports from inside the dome were that part of the roof was "peeling off" in the violent winds. Theyd evacuate the group in shifts later that night, they decided, taking them west to a helipad at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, outside Baton Rouge. What was the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans public education system? Everyone remembers Kanye West's infamous comment that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people," but the issue ran far deeper than just the feelings of the president. The National Guards headquarters had flooded, so the entire operation had moved to the Superdome. [42] Their first "home" game was played on September 19, 2005 against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium, which resulted in a 2710 loss. [35], On September 4, NOPD chief Eddie Compass reported, "We don't have any substantiated rapes. But the day before the hurricane hit, with the roads jammed with the vehicles of a million fleeing residents, the city of New Orleans decided to house people in the Superdome temporarily. President Bush was otherwise occupied during this time. In an analysis of 971 fatalities in Louisiana and 15 additional deaths of storm evacuees, 40% of deaths were caused by drowning. Some 25,000 crowded into the convention center, while more than 25,000 filled the Superdome. [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. FEMA photo/Andrea Booher. There is feces on the walls, said Bryan Hebert, 43. And food was running short. 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. More women are coming forward with stories of sexual. A woman cries after returning to her house and business, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, on August 30, 2005, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Theres five feet of water on Poydras Street.. The hurricane and its aftermath claimed more than 1,800 lives, and it ranked as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Duette Sims stands in the heavily damaged Christian Community Baptist Church in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward on August 28, 2007. Insurance companies have paid an estimated $41.1 billion on 1.7 million different claims for damage to vehicles, homes, and businesses in six states. 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 Superdome with the newly repaired roof, August 15, 2006. The water kept rising outside the exteriordoor, and was slowly coming in. All they could do was try to protect the generator. Severe flooding damage to cities along the Gulf Coast, from New Orleans to Biloxi, Mississippi. According to PBS, two weeks after the storm, 25% of the children remained unaccounted for. The job was far from over; it took two days to get everyone out and onto buses. And cars were overturned on Poydras Street.. In addition, a Bleacher Report article quotes Thornton saying "We're not a hospital. The Society Pages writes that there were six deaths in the Superdome: one by suicide, one by overdose, and four from natural causes. The men sat in stunned silence. On Wednesday morning, Mouton and Thornton checked the water first thing. Across 13 nursing homes and six hospitals that were investigated in Louisiana, at least 140 patients died as a result of Hurricane Katrina. By the evening of August 25, when it made landfall north of the Broward-Miami-Dade county line, it had intensified into a category 1 hurricane. This is a national disgrace, he said. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the garage, up the stairs and to the helipad. New Orleans went from having a public school system to having a school system composed almost entirely of charter schools, most of them run by charter management organizations. Its tenants, the New Orleans Saints, were talking about an open-air stadium on the Mississippi river or moving to another city. Emergency lights worked intermittently as engineers struggled to keep backup generators running as the area around the dome flooded. However, it was later found that despite the poor conditions in the Superdome, "it was not the murderous hellhole" it was reported to be. 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. 99% of the 1.2 million personal property claims, The National Flood Insurance Program paid out $16 billion in claims, The majority of all federal aid, approximately $75 billion of $120.5 billion. Katrina makes landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana. After a traffic jam kept buses from arriving at the Superdome for nearly four hours, a near-riot broke out in the scramble to get on the buses that finally did show up. According to Talk Poverty, "a Black homeowner in New Orleans was more than three times as likely to have been flooded as a white homeowner. [14] With no power or clean water supply, sanitary conditions within the Superdome had rapidly deteriorated. At 10 a.m., the Thorntons headed together to the Superdome. 24 With scant food and water sources, . [34] However, after a National Guardsman was attacked with a metal rod, the National Guard put up barbed wire barricades to separate and protect themselves from the other people in the dome, and blocked people from exiting. Three people died in the Superdome; one apparently jumped off a 50-foot high walkway. The population of the festering, battered dome had gone from 15,000 to 30,000 in a short time as helicopters and vehicles capable of cutting through the water picked up stranded citizens and brought them to the only place left to go in the entire city. [25][26][27], On September 7, speculation arose that the Superdome was now in such a poor condition that it would have to be demolished. Katrina makes landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 3 storm with winds near 127 mph.- Severe flooding damage to cities along the Gulf Coast, from New Orleans to Biloxi, Mississippi. [28] Instead, the State of Louisiana and the operator of the dome, SMG, chose to repair and renovate the dome beginning in early 2006. [49][50] Grambling State University beat Southern University, 5035.[51]. A helicopter rescues a family from a rooftop on September 1, 2005. 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. Rather, the hurricane was named in accordance with the World Meteorological Organizations lists of hurricane names, which rotate every six years. Evacuees crowd the floor of the Astrodome in Houston on September 2, 2005. They tried to use a trash can to create suction around the generator and pump the water out, but that plan failed. It also had burned through half of the fuel in the 1,000-gallon tank. 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. The flooding destroyed New Orleans, the Nation's thirty-fifth largest city. [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]. There is no particular person for whom Hurricane Katrina was named. 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. [16], At midnight that same day, a private helicopter arrived to evacuate some members of the National Guard and their families. The National Weather Service writes that Hurricane Katrina is "one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States.". The hurricane and its aftermath claimed more than 1,800 lives, and it ranked as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. 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. And as Rob Nixon notes in "Slow Violence, Neoliberalism, and Environmental Picaresque," "Discrimination predates disaster: in failures to maintain protective structures, failures at pre-emergency hazard mitigation, failures to maintain infrastructure, failures to organize evacuation plans for those who lack private transport, all of which make the poor and racial minorities disproportionately vulnerable to catastrophe." Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). On the morning of August 29, 2005, Katrina made landfall around 60 miles southeast of New Orleans. She came up with the list, talked to the dozens of people there, her husbands employees, people she knew a little bit before the storm and now knew like family. First delivery to the Superdome on August 31, 2005. On May 16, 2015, new homes stand in a development, built by the Make It Right Foundation, for residents whose homes were destroyed. Corrections? Residents of the B.W. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and. . People try to get to higher ground as water rises on August 30, 2005, in New Orleans. He flew on to Gonzales, where his wife was waiting for him. "[2], Despite these previous periods of emergency use, as Katrina approached the city, officials had not stockpiled enough generator fuel, food, and other supplies to handle the needs of the thousands of people seeking refuge there. Do you think this is going to work? he asked. An interesting fact about Hurricane Katrina is that to date, it remains the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Crack vials littered the bathrooms. The Industrial Canal was later breached as well, flooding the neighborhood known as the Lower Ninth Ward. Residents of Saucier, Mississippi, line up to get gas on August 31, 2005. [39] However, that number also counted four bodies that were near the dome. Most of these rumors were caused because of the breakdown of cellular service, which prevented the distribution of reliable and accurate information. That night a National Guardsmangot jumped as he walked through a dark, flooded locker room. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The fact that Black homeowners were more likely to face flooding than white homeowners wasn't an accident or bad luck. Satellite view of the Superdome showing the damaged roof with the New Orleans Arena to the right on August 30, 2005. However, tens of thousands of residents could not or would not leave. The lights stayed on. But over the Gulf of Mexico, some 165 miles west of Key West, the storm gathered strength above the warmer waters of the gulf. The total damage from Katrina is estimated to be $125 billion (or $190 billion in 2022 dollars), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). [52] The Mountaineers won, 3835. For the remainder of that night, it was just Doug Thornton and a few remaining members of his management and security teams. The National Flood Insurance Program paid out $16 billion in claims. After passing over Florida, Katrina again weakened, and was reclassified as a tropical storm. According to National Geographic, "some argue that indirect hurricane deaths, like being unable to access medical care, should be counted in official numbers.". Following the historical damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina, the name Katrina was retired from the lists of names. AP By 4:30 p.m., the winds were dying down and Thornton and Mouton went outside and surveyed the building. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people in New Orleans were evacuated to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Never did we think wed be here for nearly a week.. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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Robert Fontaine walks past a burning house fire in New Orleans' Seventh Ward on September 6, 2005. They treated us like animals. Trapped in the Superdome: Refuge becomes a hellhole The 2005 hurricane and subsequent levee failures led to death and destructionand dealt a lasting blow to leadership and the Gulf region. Weve been here since 6 a.m., and this is getting worse and worse, State Police Officer K.W. All sources confirm deaths, although the numbers of the dead vary. This place wont be here in six days.. We had a very, lets just say, heated conversation with one of those guys about where they were positioning those trucks, said Thornton. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [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.