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[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. The Industrial Canal was later breached as well, flooding the neighborhood known as the Lower Ninth Ward. Discovery Company. [7] Medical machines also failed, which prompted a decision to move patients to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. [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. "[3], The Superdome was built to withstand most natural catastrophes. The Superdome with the newly repaired roof, August 15, 2006. The lights stayed on. [45] However, the Saints announced that they would be returning to New Orleans, with the first home game taking place on September 25, 2006 against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football. The guardsmans gun went off during the confrontation. The population of New Orleans fell from 484,674 in April 2000 to 230,172 in July 2006, a decrease of over 50%. 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. - About 25,000 storm evacuees were sheltered at the Louisiana Superdome, a sports arena. It was worse than they imagined.. [1] Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In some areas, floodwaters reached depths of 10 to 15 feet, and didnt recede for weeks. According to ABC News, it was claimed that "the levee breaches could not have been foreseen" and that the government had little warning before the hurricane. Sign up for the For The Win newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. A woman cries after returning to her house and business, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, on August 30, 2005, in Biloxi, Mississippi. According to NBC News, the average age of victims was 69, and "just under half of all victims were 75 or older." 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. You could see water everywhere.. This is a nuthouse, said April Thomas, 42, there with her 11 children. . People wade through high water in front of the Superdome in New Orleans on August 30, 2005. Do you think this is going to work? he asked. 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. An interesting fact about Hurricane Katrina is that to date, it remains the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Katrina is the costliest U.S. hurricane on record, inflicting some $125 billion in total damages. 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. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Black families have also had a harder time rebounding than white families. Nagin had no solution. In addition, a Bleacher Report article quotes Thornton saying "We're not a hospital. When Hurricane Katrina first made landfall in Florida between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, it was a category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 70 miles per hour. At noon, he boarded a helicopter. WATCH: Cities of the Underworld: Hurricane Katrina on HISTORY Vault. Whatever they needed was theirs. The Society Pages writes that there were six deaths in the Superdome: one by suicide, one by overdose, and four from natural causes. 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. 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. While Mouton and Thornton worked to find space for them to operate, two massive, 18-wheeler refrigerated trucks pulled into the loading dock, not far from the door where new arrivals entered the building. You have to fight for your life. WATCH:I Was There: Hurricane Katrina: Rescue Swimmer. Plus theyll be out in the heat.. There was a plan. 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. 2. For the remainder of that night, it was just Doug Thornton and a few remaining members of his management and security teams. On June 4, 2006, Pamela Mahogany was interviewed for her personal experience involving the events following Hurricane Katrina. [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. So they hoofed it. 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. Fights broke out. New homes stand along the rebuilt Industrial Canal levee on May 16, 2015. All Rights Reserved. Updated [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. . Most of the tragedies associated with Hurricane Katrina could have been avoided, but due to a variety of reasons, the hurricane quickly became one of the worst disasters to ever occur in the United States. They drove four hours from Bossier City where Doug, an executive with SMG, managed a facility back to New Orleans, a lone car on the inbound side of the highway as thousands upon thousands of cars sat in traffic on the outbound lanes. We've received your submission. Although they were meant to be used for 18 months, they were still in use up to six years after the hurricane. [43], On October 21, 2005, owner Tom Benson issued a statement saying that he had not made any decision about the future of the Saints. They would later learnwhat had happened: Levees at various locations in and around the city had failed, and the pumping stations, overwhelmed with water and damaged by the storm, werent working. Returning to Washington from Texas, Air Force One descended to about 5,000 feet to allow Bush to view some of the worst damage from Hurricane Katrina. 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. Preparations by location South Florida. Because of this shortsightedness, Hurricane Katrina was "the nation's first $200 billion disaster.". Hurricane Katrina was a devastating Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that resulted in 1,392 fatalities and caused damage estimated between $97.4 billion to $145.5 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding areas. The men found a weak spot in the wall, a metal panel around head height, and punched a hole through it. Mouton found out that there were sandbags available on Franklin Avenue inLakefront. Thanks for contacting us. 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. One crisis had been averted. However, there was no water purification equipment on site, nor any chemical toilets, antibiotics, or anti-diarrheals stored for a crisis. 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. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the garage, up the stairs and to the helipad. 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. And cars were overturned on Poydras Street.. Thornton held a status meeting at 5 p.m. with Lt. Col. Doug Mouton, an old friend who had arrived to take command of the 370 National Guard troops at the Superdome. So that means youre going to have to be here probably another 5 or 6 days., Mr. 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." Between 20,000 and 30,000 people in New Orleans were evacuated to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. They got it to the city and waited for their supplies. This is not normal.. 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. [33] False reports of gunshots also disrupted medical evacuations at the dome. I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I say is: Where are my babies? In addition, according to the journalSocial Science & Medicine, there were also long-term mental health consequences of Hurricane Katrina. The water kept rising outside the exteriordoor, and was slowly coming in. In New Orleans, the evacuation plan reportedly "fell apart even before the storm hit." [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. Her escape out. They had no good options. In New Orleans, where much of the greater metropolitan area is below sea level, federal officials initially believed that the city had dodged the bullet. While New Orleans had been spared a direct hit by the intense winds of the storm, the true threat was soon apparent. More than one million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the storm. By 4:30 p.m., the winds were dying down and Thornton and Mouton went outside and surveyed the building. [28] Instead, the State of Louisiana and the operator of the dome, SMG, chose to repair and renovate the dome beginning in early 2006. There was water pouring in every crevice, Thornton said. 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. Two men paddle through the streets past the Claiborne Bridge in New Orleans on August 31, 2005. Thornton, pacing inside, turned to one of the mechanics. Dozens of churches were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The food inside the freezers had soon rotted, and "the smell was inescapable.". He started bawling. [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. Despite the planned use of the Superdome as an evacuation center, government officials at the local, state and federal level were criticized for poor preparation and response, especially Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin, President George W. Bush, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Residents of the B.W. 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. Children slept in pools of urine. 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. A neighborhood east of downtown New Orleans remains flooded on August 30, 2005. In many ways, the horrors of Hurricane Katrina were also exaggerated and in turn led to additional tragedies, such as the police shootings of unarmed residents and subsequent cover-up on Danziger Bridge. [13], On September 2, 475 buses were sent by FEMA to pick up evacuees from the dome and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where more than 20,000people had been crowded in similarly poor living conditions. There were no designated medical staff at work in the evacuation center, no established sick bay within the Superdome, and very few cots available that hadn't been brought in by evacuees. Weve been here since 6 a.m., and this is getting worse and worse, State Police Officer K.W. 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). It was Mayor Ray Nagins office. Hanging from her roof, a woman waits to be rescued by New Orleans Fire Department workers on August 29, 2005. Doug Thornton knew he had to get his people out. By 7 p.m. everyone was inside and had been checked. . 11:09. WATCH:I Was There: Hurricane Katrina Superdome Survivor. Their first game, against Mississippi State University, was played on September 17 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. They knew what that meant: The Superdome was now running on its backup generator, which could power the lights but not much more. A violent, free-for-all riot seemed sure to break out with the next bit of bad news. When they got back to the Dome, they arrived to chaos. However, according to "Deaths Directly Caused by Hurricane Katrina" by Poppy Markwell and Raoult Ratard, only about one third of those deaths were due to drowning. A man in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward rides a canoe in high water on August 31, 2005. 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. FEMA had sent the trucks to act as a makeshift morgue. Unfortunately, it was made significantly worse than it had to be. 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). On August 29, at about 6:20 AM EDT, the electricity supply to the dome failed. However, little to nothing was done by FEMA in response. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and subsequent floods. Omissions? Roughly 14,000 people were inside now. To do that, they needed to keep it dry. If water engulfed the generator, the building would be cast into complete darkness.