And at that time I took some liberties I probably shouldn't take. Ultimately, more than 300 soldiers would be trapped inside their own headquarters. ", Leo Bosner, FEMA watch officer: Michael Brown, FEMA director: But a growing body of evidence suggests there were more storm-related sexual assaults than previously known. He says his team only saw a fraction of the desperate people who sought assistance. And the bosses say, 'Oh, okay. It was called "Hurricane Pam" and the exercise was conducted with state and local emergency managers. "A close eye will be kept this system could strengthen ". Katrina first made landfall in South Florida. Producer Martin Smith: So, although you said that, you didn't feel that way at that time? Within five hours I start to get reports from my staff members, who are out doing assessments, the water's rising. By midday, water levels between the city and Lake Ponchartrain have equalized. And that was that.". William E. Brown Jr. -. She requests President Bush to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana. And it was a very good meeting, I thought. FEMA was doing what it's supposed to be doing. She is at work on her next memoir, No More Wire Hangers, about domestic abuse in teenage relationships. But Mayor Nagin goes on radio and castigates state and federal officials for their inaction and demands they "fix the biggest god-damn crisis in the history of this country." One woman told me she was going to commit suicide after Katrina, and that she saw Spike Lees documentary, and I saved her life. They were finally able to leave the city on Saturday. The numbers are not dramatic, but they are significant when seen in light of the official number of post-Katrina rapes and attempted rapes: four. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. He also announces that the Superdome will be "a shelter of last resort for evacuees with special needs." "They didn't have no food. He came right back and he said, I dont know why, but theres probably a foot of water on Claiborne Street, Landreneau said. In an effort to get victims to come forward, the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault asked Charmaine Neville, a popular New Orleans jazz singer, to tape a public service announcement for national airplay. Throughout the day, emergency responders and public officials complain that communication links are very poor. Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News/epa/Corbis Watch it: To understand what went wrong in the governments response to Katrina. And I knew it wasn't true, because 8:00 or 10:00 that morning, I received a report from one of my staffers that either a levee had been topped or had actually broken. Katrina makes landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 3 storm with winds near 127 mph. "Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks perhaps longer. We talked about it. ISIS is in Afghanistan, But Who Are They Really? "I didn't see any police officers -- I could have gotten away with murder," she says. ", Gov. Listen 7:57. Marty Bahamonde/FEMA. Issues of race, class, government response and responsibility, and political rivalries interweave with personal stories of challenges faced and decisions made. Then we kind of figure out ways that we could coordinate. Get It Published. The 42 reports include assaults that happened inside New Orleans and outside the city, for instance, in host homes. His goal: To make it possible for his wife of 65 years, Lydia who had gone to live with one of their nine children in Wisconsin after Katrina to return home. With camera lenses and lights abounding, the . But they're designed for short hauls.". The Department of Defense's "Joint Task Force Katrina" -- 4,600 active-duty military headed by Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honor -- sets up at Camp Shelby, Miss. We go to Sam's and Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie and gather up food and water and start distributing it because we had 60 hours' worth of resources that we had stored, but now we're out of it. Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina. 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 . A New Orleans house submerged in floodwaters. Kathleen Blanco: I wasnt poor before Katrina, and Im certainly not poor afterward, but Trouble the Water pisses me off all over again, in a good way. People begin arriving at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center seeking shelter, food, and water. Michael Brown, FEMA director: Phyllis Montana-Leblanc is a Hurricane Katrina survivor. At 10 a.m., the Thorntons headed together to the Superdome. 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 . Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency manager: Richard Falkenrath, Homeland Security Adviser (2001-2004): In Fight Against ISIS, a Lose-Lose Scenario Poses Challenge for West. Copyright All rights reserved. I spoke to an airman [over the phone] he told me that it had rained very little and there was justexcept for just a few puddles of water in the parking lot, there just was no water, the guards commander, Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, who was monitoring the situation from Baton Rouge, recalled in an interview with FRONTLINE. August 29, 2005. Thats just one of the chain of catastrophes at the local, state and national level brought to vivid life in FRONTLINEs Emmy Award-winning 2005 documentaryThe Storm. FEMA Situation Update: National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield tells the Times-Picayune newspaper, "This is scary this is the real thing." You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations. "Louis Armstrong International Airport served as a massive clearing house for some of the storm's sickest victims Saturday. Officials said the complete evacuation of New Orleans two days earlier was necessary, citing the prospect of diseases caused by rotting bodies and polluted waters as well as other risks caused by Hurricane Katrina. Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency manager: Rapid Transit Authority buses pick up citizens and bring them to the Superdome, where the Louisiana National Guard has stocked enough MREs to feed 15,000 people for three days. Your email address will not be published. Your email address will not be published. I talk to her every other day, and thats her main question How long is it going to be? It is 250 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Heres What the Claims Say and Where They Stand. Anastasia is a petite, 25-year-old hairdresser who asked that her last name be omitted. The vast majority of them were elderly. Civil order had completely broken down. But we need something really big, like a hospital, that shows where the $25 billion in recovery money is going. And they both shook their heads and said, 'Yes, you're right.' Storm refugees reported being raped, shot and robbed, gangs of teenagers hijacked boats meant to rescue them, and frustrated hurricane victims menaced outmanned law officers. " Troops poured in to restore order after almost a week of near-anarchy. The line to get in was already a quarter-mile long. Buckles, who wrote and directed the documentary . A shaft of light falls throught an opening in the fully evacuated Superdome on Sept. 5, 2005 in New Orleans, La. And nothing happened. 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 . Issues of race, class, government response and . During Hurricane Katrina, around 20,000 people took refuge in the Superdome. Per this CNN Money report, a Brian Williams' Katrina tale appears to have evolved somewhat dramatically over the course of just one year.In 2005, Williams reported in a documentary that he had "heard the story" of a man killing himself in the Superdome. Michael Brown, FEMA director: Their communications center was useless. Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, says he is "extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government and federal partners to this terrible tragedy." "I admit that rapes are underreported," Benelli says. Katrina becomes a Category 3 with 115 mph maximum sustained winds. August 27, 2015, 2:18 PM. " from my view sitting inside a windowless room at FEMA headquarters during my nightshift we are working to coordinate with our federal partners, to get water out. I gave the governor two options. Lipin says when he arrived in Baton Rouge and turned on the TV, he was surprised by reports of rampant violence in New Orleans. A decade later . Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans, La., on Aug. 30, 2005. We were moving school buses in. Four were wounded, and 17-year-old James Brisette and 40-year-old Ronald Madison were killed. The eye of Hurricane Katrina made landfall near Buras in Plaquemines Parish at approximately 6:00 a.m. on August 29 as a Category 3 hurricane. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. He co-wrote the novel,"The Spencer Haywood Rule," and he was co-producer of the "Katrina Cop in the Superdome," a 2010 documentary about the experiences of a black New Orleans police officer and other citizens as they sheltered in the Louisiana Superdome during the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005. ", Leo Bosner, FEMA watch officer: 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 Kims family and others through the horrific aftermath of the storm. Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News/epa/Corbis. We knew we were gonna have to shelter people. August 28, 2015, 2:21 PM. And there seems to be this dance about who has ultimate authority. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. FEMA Situation Update: By. Law-enforcement authorities dismissed early reports of widespread rapes in New Orleans during the lawless days following Hurricane Katrina. Note: In the last hours before Katrina made landfall, dozens of copies of the Hurricane Pam report are distributed to emergency planners. And I wanted to cut to the chase because I knew what the real issue was. 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. In the 2005 documentary "In His Own Words: Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina," Williams indicated that he wasn't a witness to the suicide. There was nobody there to protect you," Lewis says. Now, other than media reports, I don't know what's happening at the other end. "Media reports attribute Katrina with four fatalities [in Florida], more than a million customers were without electricity". Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and . So I finally just walked up to Danny and said, Mr. Victims of Hurricane Katrina fight through the crowd as they line up for buses to evacuate the Superdome and New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005. Producer Martin Smith: Were they going back and forth with each other? She made a report to a local sheriff's office; it has not yet passed the report on to the New Orleans police. Rescuers drop them off wherever there is high ground; many are dropped at interstate overpasses and the Superdome. ", At that time, I thought we had done a pretty good job because we had gotten about 80 percent of the people out. [Mayor Nagin] was upset with everything. We do our video conference calls before and during disasters. ' Gettridge told FRONTLINE. authenticate users, apply security measures, and prevent spam and abuse, and, display personalised ads and content based on interest profiles, measure the effectiveness of personalised ads and content, and, develop and improve our products and services. web site copyright 1995-2014 '", Michael Brown, FEMA director: First categorized as a tropical storm, Katrina hit New Orleans, flattening buildings, breaking levees, and flooding the city with terrifying 125 mph winds. "I went into New Orleans and stood beside Mayor Nagin and emphasized the need to leave. "The fact that something wasn't reported to the police doesn't mean it didn't happen," Benitez says. The account of her rape was verified by a trained forensic nurse at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, where Lewis sought treatment. hurricane katrina anniversary: 40 powerful photos of New Orleans after the storm. 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.". background photo copyright 2005 corbis Hurricane Katrina Superdome. City officials say 80 percent of New Orleans is flooded. Follow a day-by-day account of Hurricane Katrina's wrath, from its birth in the Atlantic Ocean to its catastrophic effects: flooded streets, flattened homes,. Residents are bringing their belongings and lining up to get into the Superdome which has been opened as a hurricane shelter in advance of hurricane Katrina. I mentally moved on from the storm after I wrote the last page of my book, but this documentary has opened some old wounds and moves me to action, and I can only hope it does the same for others. New Orleans's flood-protection system was improved by increasing in the heights of earthen berms and upgrading floodwalls and floodgates. It regained strength as its path turned northwest. These defenses held for Hurricane Ida, a category 4 storm, in August 2021. Stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina rest inside the Superdome September 2, 2005 in New Orleans. so you had a very dynamic situation.". Mayor Mitch Landrieu last week hailedNew Orleans as Americas comeback city,citing efforts to reduce crime, decrease homelessness and improve educational outcomes for area students. Interstate 10 is shut down with damage to 40 percent of its Twin Span Bridge over Lake Ponchartrain. So I went to the premiere, knowing Danny Glover was hosting it, and I couldnt get into the screeningso I texted Spike Lee, who directed When the Levees Broke, the documentary I was in, and asked him to pull some strings, but he didnt have Dannys number. They didn't have communication. 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. We can only deal with what we know.". Henry Glover was last seen alive in the backseat of a white Chevy Malibu on Sept. 2, 2005, days after Katrina hit. The death toll in the city is not known, but the dying continues as people succumb to illness, exhaustion and days without food and water. The city's buses have been positioned around the city in locations that have never been flooded. And he was the first guy that told us about the amount of devastation and the levee breaches. During Hurricane Katrina, then known as the Louisiana Superdome, the arena was used as . "I realized how serious things were on Sunday. At 7 am Katrina is a Category 5 with 160 mph maximum sustained winds. The only person I saw from FEMA was basically this guy named Marty [Bahamonde]. Nearly two decades after Hurricane Katrina, Edward Buckles Jr. asks what happened to the generation of kids who grew up with that trauma in the documentary "Katrina Babies" on HBO Max. Remembers Covering Katrina Preserving History After Hurricane Katrina Katrina's Affect on Charter schools quiz: 10 Questions on Katrina. Reports put the population there in the tens of thousands. It is 250 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. I'm just not going to go on, on public television and bash in the middle of a disaster what I think people should or should not be doing. Even $20, if thats all you can afford in the recession, that helps. And he said: 'Mr. And I forget whether it was on Saturday or Sunday, I told my staff that I was sick to my stomach because I could see that some things weren't looking quite right. The Louisiana National Guard's Jackson Barracks flood. Katrina Cop in the Superdome. He had been shot by a rookie police officer while walking through the parking lot of a run-down strip mall, and his brother had brought Glover who was curled up and bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest to a temporary SWAT compound seeking medical attention. Last September, when Trouble the Water first premiered in New Orleans, I remember thinking, "I have to go down to Canal Place Cinema and support this." Two national crime-victims' groups have reported a spike in the number of reported rapes that happened to storm evacuees. Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans: Later, his charred remains were discovered on the banks of the Mississippi River, inside a car that had apparently been set on fire. Exploring the experiences of a black member of the New Orleans Police Department and assorted other New Orleans residents during their stay in the Louisiana Superdome during and after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. Lt. Dave Benelli, commander of the sex crimes unit with the New Orleans Police Department, denies that. Blanco and said, 'We've got to move National Guard troops in there. Here's the things I think we need to focus on. As of Nov. 22, 2005, more than 900 people are known to have died in New Orleans. There's this lunch. [Note: The information in this timeline is drawn from the news and government agencies' reports, as published daily during the crisis, and from FRONTLINE's research and reporting.]. On August 28, 2005, at 6 am, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the Superdome would be used as a public shelter. 7:577-Minute Listen. They didn't have ammunition. Team members said they delivered babies, treated gunshot and stab victims, and ultimately fled for their own safety. And we said, "Plan your route carefully. Conditions are deteriorating with bathrooms overflowing, no power for air conditioning and little food and water. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently . The Times-Picayune reports the Convention Center evacuees are still being loaded onto buses and evacuated and search-and-rescue operations continue. I said, 'If you guys don't get together and work this out, this is going to get worse.' Kimberly Roberts is the star of the filmif you can call her thata 24-year-old aspiring rapper who did not have the finances to get the hell out of New Orleans when Katrina hit, and still, she managed to film all of her harrowing experiences on a Hi-8 camerathe water rising, being trapped in the attic with her husband and neighbors, the fear they felt.