Just looking out I saw glare of the water, she said, choking up. FEMA photo/Andrea Booher. More women are coming forward with stories of sexual. Every sink was broken. Omissions? The men sat in stunned silence. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. for victims from Orleans and St. Bernard Parish, where 86% of Katrina deaths occurred. The men found a weak spot in the wall, a metal panel around head height, and punched a hole through it. Out of the at least 1,800 deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina, nearly half were elderly people. A 2008 report from the Louisiana Health Department put the total at . Residents of the B.W. It hit land as a Category 3 storm with winds reaching speeds as high as 120 miles per hour. Evacuees crowd the floor of the Astrodome in Houston on September 2, 2005. By 2007, 99% of the 1.2 million personal property claims had been settled by insurers. Residents of Saucier, Mississippi, line up to get gas on August 31, 2005. He said he just wanted to get out, to go somewhere. The backup generator for the lights was barely able to be kept afloat, and after the water supply gave out, the toilets "became inoperable and began to overflow." Thousands were looking for a place to go after leaving the Superdome shelter. Many of them boarded without having any idea of where they were headed. 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. Roughly 14,000 people were inside now. by Laura Butterbaugh Thanks to the Internet, the images of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were as vivid as they were shocking: A hysterical woman pleading to TV cameras that women and girls were being raped in the Superdome. They tried to use a trash can to create suction around the generator and pump the water out, but that plan failed. 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. Hurricane Katrina made landfall off the coast of Louisiana on August 29, 2005. 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. [39] However, that number also counted four bodies that were near the dome. Despite the fact that the Superdome became the city's "refuge of last resort," it was woefully inadequate for housing the thousands of evacuees. And then thenext morning, more bad news: The buses had been rerouted and delayed, sent to a highway overpass where people were stranded. 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. At one point, the storm became a Category 5, but weakened before striking land. Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. September 1, 2005. He made two requests: Hed need a large contingent of National Guardsmen, and a few hours Sunday morning to prepare. On the morning of August 29, 2005, Katrina made landfall around 60 miles southeast of New Orleans. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Twenty-five thousand miserable people many of whom lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina hunkered down with little food and little water, overflowing toilets, stifling heat and the unbearable stench of human waste. Most of these rumors were caused because of the breakdown of cellular service, which prevented the distribution of reliable and accurate information. An aerial view of the catastrophic flooding in Downtown New Orleans on August 31, 2005. By then it was too late for Thornton to call in the staff hed need to keep it running. Thornton and Mouton just needed to find a way to keep things under control for 20 hours before it could be enacted. This was it. Governor Blanco's comment regarding M-16s was likely in response to the reports of snipers shooting at police and rescue workers. And I expect they will.". [15] Evacuees began to break into the luxury suites, concession stands, vending machines, and offices to look for food and other supplies. On May 12, 2015, rubble remains at what used to be the B.W. That night SMG sent a private helicopter to evacuate the staff and their families. They treated us like animals. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people in New Orleans were evacuated to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, there were roughly 2,000 foster children registered in the state. The generator kept burning. This was it. 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. An estimated 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater by August 30. Light was fading fast. All sources confirm deaths, although the numbers of the dead vary. Cooper held about 1,000 families and was the city's largest housing project. 2008 Dec;2(4):215-23. doi: 10.1097/DMP.0b013e31818aaf55. [29] However, the eventual cost to renovate and repair the dome was roughly $185 million and it was reopened for the Saints' first home game in the city in September 2006. 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. The office asked him if he could open up the Superdome as a refuge of last resort for the city of New Orleans. . . knock out power for about 1 million and cause $630 million of damage, Cities of the Underworld: Hurricane Katrina, about 100,000 people were trapped in the city when the storm hit, fourth highest of any hurricane in U.S. history, according to a report published in 2008 by the American Medical Association. Hurricane Katrina, tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United States in late August 2005. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Ive been in there seven days, and I havent had a bath. Doug Thornton knew he had to get his people out. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary. A neighborhood east of downtown New Orleans remains flooded on August 30, 2005. 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. [8] Further damage included water damage to the electrical systems, and mold spread. NBC News reports that although there were stories of freezers full of bodies, "no such pile of bodies was [ever] found.". Some of those who left later returned, and by 2020 the population reached just over 390,000, or about 80 percent of its pre-Katrina population. People seek high ground on Interstate 90 as a helicopter prepares to land at the Superdome in New Orleans on August 31, 2005. A fire erupted in a trash chute inside the dome, but a National Guard commander said it did not affect the evacuation. Finally. To see all these downtown buildings completely shut down, Thornton said. So they hoofed it. Out of 60 nursing homes in New Orleans, 21 had evacuated their residents in advance of Katrina. A woman gets carried out of floodwaters after being trapped in her home in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, on August 30, 2005. Many Katrina evacuees made it to Houston, Texas, where they were housed in the Astrodome and other shelters. On the day the storm hit, two sets of notes sat tucked in a drawer . estimated population had increased to 376,971. A school bus drops off a student in front of the Claiborne Bridge on May 12, 2015. However, tens of thousands of residents could not or would not leave. 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. Soon after they arrived, officialsenacted contraflow, shutting down all roads leading in and opening up every lane out of the city. It would be impossible to drive there with the roads in their current state, so Mouton called inBlackhawk helicopters to get them. The day . [21] The Astrodome started to fill up, so authorities began to transfer people to the nearby Reliant Arena, Reliant Center, and George R. Brown Convention Center in Downtown Houston in the following days. Emergency lights worked intermittently as engineers struggled to keep backup generators running as the area around the dome flooded. It also had burned through half of the fuel in the 1,000-gallon tank. A few blocks away, the strobes inside Charity Hospital flashed. The NOPD was gone. 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." [52] The Mountaineers won, 3835. It was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin had stated that as a "refuge of last resort," only limited food, water, and supplies would be provided. 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. Some trapped inside also believe the curse is real. Results: Hurricane Katrina was responsible for the death of up to 1,170 persons in Louisiana; the risk of death increased with age. "[38] On that same day, 10 deaths were reported at the Superdome by CBS News. Hurricane Katrina had intruded on the last safe space. [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. They were acquitted in 2007. One of the worst disasters in U.S. history, Katrina caused an estimated $161 billion in damage. Hurricane Katrina not only left more than 1,800 human deaths in its wake, it also rendered thousands homeless as more than 800,000 housing units were destroyed or damaged in the storm. Thornton and Mouton went to work, spending a hour writing up a two-page, handwritten list of everything they needed. And with everyone scattered, it became incredibly difficult to reunite children with their birth parents. In response, guardsmanput up barbed wire at various areas around the building, protecting themselves from the general population. During the first ten years after the storm, FEMA provided more than $15 billion to the Gulf states for public works projects, including the repair and rebuilding of roads, schools and buildings. The population of New Orleans fell from 484,674 in April 2000 to 230,172 in July 2006, a decrease of over 50%. [citation needed] The building's engineering study was underway as Hurricane Katrina approached and was put on hold. . [4], On August 28, 2005, at 6 am, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the Superdome would be used as a public shelter. This is ready to break. The National Guards headquarters had flooded, so the entire operation had moved to the Superdome. 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. 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. The White House writes that by February 2006, there were still over 2,000 people who were counted as missing, and many are still missing over 15 years after the storm. But its the only shot we got.. Parishioners gather during Sunday services in the rebuilt church on May 10, 2015. Supplies were dangerously low, with one mother saying officials told her to reuse diapers by scraping them out when they got dirty. Miller told a reporter. There wasnt much more he could do. President George W. Bush looks out the window of Air Force One on August 31, 2005, as he flies over New Orleans. In the bathrooms, every toilet had ceased to function. "[3], The Superdome was built to withstand most natural catastrophes. Houses stand in the Seventh Ward on May 12, 2015. They guarded the office where Thornton and his team huddled, but that was about it. He could only offer supplies. Weve been here since 6 a.m., and this is getting worse and worse, State Police Officer K.W. 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. 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. However, there was no water purification equipment on site, nor any chemical toilets, antibiotics, or anti-diarrheals stored for a crisis. Thornton and his skeleton crew he only had 18 management staff and security officers there, along with the National Guard had to figure out how to best prepare the building to serve as a shelter. 40% of deaths were caused by drowning. On the state and local level, Louisiana Gov. [13][35] The attacker was later jailed. 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. From Morgan City, Louisiana, to Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama, Hurricane Katrina's wind, rain, and . 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. People search for their belongings among debris washed up on the beach in Biloxi on August 30, 2005. 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. Duette Sims stands in the heavily damaged Christian Community Baptist Church in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward on August 28, 2007. 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. The water pumps had failed, and without water pumps to the elevated building, they couldnt maintain water pressure. Hurricane Katrina deaths, Louisiana, 2005 Disaster Med Public Health Prep. [14] With no power or clean water supply, sanitary conditions within the Superdome had rapidly deteriorated. All Rights Reserved. With Hurricane George, it was 36 to 48 hours. [7] According to many, the smell inside the stadium was revolting due to the breakdown of the plumbing system, which included all toilets and urinals in the building, forcing people to urinate and defecate in other areas such as garbage cans and sinks. Although the rebuilt levees are supposed to protect the city against a flood with a severity that comes every 100 years, the flood brought by Hurricane Katrina was one that, in theory, comes once every 400 years. The Thorntons woke early to the sound of the wind. The air smelled toxic. 2. Lets think about that very carefully, he said. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. But that was the only light they could see. We took him to the terrace and said, Look. , As he saw the floodwaters rising around the stadium, the man broke down. The owners, Salvador and Mabel Mangano, ended up facing the only criminal charges directly related to Hurricane Katrina, as they were charged with negligent homicide due to their refusal to evacuate their residents. Deaths in the Superdome. 25% were caused by injury and trauma and 11% were caused by heart conditions. The NOPD was gone. At their peak, hurricane relief shelters housed 273,000 people. Southern Mississippi won over Arkansas State, 3119. One crisis had been averted. Although FEMA had promised 360,000 military rations, only 40,000 had arrived by that day. Most of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina was due to the fact that New Orleans' levees and floodwalls were breached. 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." When they got back to the Dome, they arrived to chaos. The bad news is its going to take us several days to pump the water out of the city even if they can stop the water flow from coming in, Thornton recalls Nagin saying. He didnt realize how bad things are other there, Wells said. 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. Cooper housing project play on mattresses on June 10, 2007. 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. [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. Bloodstains smeared the walls near vending machines that had been pried open. Tempers began to flare as hunger and thirst deepened. 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. We cant spare 6 feet.. That night, NOPD Chief of Police Eddie Compass arrived to see Thornton and Col. Mouton. [citation needed] Residents who evacuated to the Superdome were warned to bring their own supplies with them. 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.