That's where Katrina Babies comes in. There are still areas that look like Katrina hit yesterday. "Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks perhaps longer. And when I saw it then, and watching it again now, I think that Trouble the Water is an amazing accomplishment, and something everyone should see about the people who had to live through what we all went through here in New Orleans. They didn't have communication. Nicola Mann and Victoria Pass. He announces FEMA is moving supplies and equipment into the hardest hit areas. "As I have said, I think that one of the biggest mistakes that I made as the FEMA director during Katrina was not immediately turning to the military and saying: 'We have been overwhelmed. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently changed life for thousands of people across the country. The Times-Picayune reports that the breaches in the 17th Street and Florida Avenue Canals have been repaired and power is restored to the Warehouse and Central Business Districts. When Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans poet Shelton Alexander to evacuate his home, he took his truck and video camera to the Superdome. The hurricane caused billions of dollars of damage to the city, and killed thousands. After suffering heavy damage during Hurricane Katrina, the Superdome was re-opened on September 25, 2006 for the Saints' Monday night game against the Falcons. In Louisiana, New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level. Remembers Covering Katrina Preserving History After Hurricane Katrina Katrina's Affect on Charter schools quiz: 10 Questions on Katrina. They lost power. 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. Rentals include 30 days to start watching this video and 48 hours to finish once started. We all did. "Katrina will regenerate on Friday over Gulf of Mexico, head west-northwest then turn northward. Persons, pets, and livestock exposed to the winds will face certain death if struck. The Ghosts of the New Orleans Superdome | GQ Team members said they delivered babies, treated gunshot and stab victims, and ultimately fled for their own safety. Note: In the last hours before Katrina made landfall, dozens of copies of the Hurricane Pam report are distributed to emergency planners. The Katrina Horror Story You Haven't Heard Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and . '", Michael Brown, FEMA director: Years after Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary asks: What happened to President Bush flies over the area on his way back to Washington. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, Congress appropriated an unprecedented $126.4 billion for relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts. 'Katrina Babies' Review: HBO Doc Is a Moving Study of Ongoing Trauma Pack carefully. She says she tried to report the assault at the time, but authorities weren't listening. (Weather forecasters classify hurricane strength on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the strongest.) Kathleen Blanco. Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina Get as many people out as possible. Because of the ensuing . "The police was stressed out themselves," Lewis says. And he said: 'No, you don't have to leave. By midday, water levels between the city and Lake Ponchartrain have equalized. Interstate 10 is shut down with damage to 40 percent of its Twin Span Bridge over Lake Ponchartrain. In what looked like a scene from a Third World country, some people threw their arms heavenward and others nearly fainted with joy as the trucks and hundreds of soldiers arrived in the punishing midday heat. And they hadn't. More Stories Emerge of Rapes in Post-Katrina Chaos : NPR I don't think that's the proper thing to do. In October 2005, The Historic New Orleans Collection initiated Through Hell and High Water: Katrina's First Responders Oral History Project, partnering with local, state, and federal agencies to document their experiences. HBO. Spectacular Disaster: The Louisiana Superdome and Subsumed Blackness in But one man then-82-year-old Herbert Gettridge was determined to rebuild the house he had built more than 50 years earlier in the Lower Ninth Ward, with or without government support. " After Katrina passed, we thought we're pretty much out of the woods. And the guard unitspent most of the next 24 hours saving itself. Lewis says she was raped on Monday, Aug. 29, the day of the storm. Inside the Superdome during Katrina - BBC News Why would we think there was less rape typical of any given week in the city? ". I said, 'All of us are going to leave right now, and they're going to work this out right now. There was nobody there to protect you," Lewis says. New Orleans residents are still trapped by the floodwaters, and dispatchers receive about 1,000 emergency phone calls from people needing to be rescued. "A close eye will be kept this system could strengthen ". New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. Their communications center was useless. In television interviews, Michael Brown, FEMA director, states that he only just heard about the suffering at the Convention Center, when in fact, he tells FRONTLINE, he misspoke; he was told the previous day about the situation. But they're designed for short hauls.". The Times-Picayune reports the Convention Center evacuees are still being loaded onto buses and evacuated and search-and-rescue operations continue. Where is food? In a documentary aired in October 2005 on the Sundance Channel, "In His Own Words: Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina," Williams said, . 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, and horrific loss of life. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe#NationalGeographic #HurricaneKatrina #StormsAbout National Geographic:National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. By afternoon, officials issue a citywide call for more boats to help. 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 . Your email address will not be published. At 7 pm it makes landfall north of Miami. Ms. Blanco, she left and walked out. I n the HBO documentary Katrina Babies, young teen Meisha Williams recollects her experience surviving the 2005 hurricane that displaced approximately 200,000 New Orleans residents. A hurricane warning is issued for north central Gulf Coast including New Orleans. Katrina, 10 Years Later: Three Documentaries to Watch "A week after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans state officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say once the canal level is drawn down two feet, Pumping Station 6 can begin pumping water out of the bowl-shaped city. They didn't have water. Trapped in the Superdome: Refuge becomes a hellhole Several thousand National Guard troops start reaching the thousands of evacuees at the Convention Center and elsewhere. Dave Cohen was one of the few reporters to stay in New Orleans as Katrina bore down on the city, and continued broadcasting as the . Rescuers drop them off wherever there is high ground; many are dropped at interstate overpasses and the Superdome. "The fact that something wasn't reported to the police doesn't mean it didn't happen," Benitez says. By the end of the day, it is upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina, with 50 mph maximum sustained winds. The situation begins to improve. FRONTLINEs documentary The Old Man and the Storm followed Gettridge for 18 months as he worked to rebuild his home, which took on 10 feet of water when the levees breached. A final, official tally of those killed in the disaster is still not in. Hurricane Katrina | Deaths, Damage, & Facts | Britannica Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans, La., on Aug. 30, 2005. Thats why films like Trouble the Water are so important, and why its great that its making it to a wide audience via HBO. "I was told that they could mobilize immediately 2,500 National Guards members. The Katrina images we see in the film -- people on rooftops, the Superdome being shredded by hurricane winds, dogs stranded in attics -- are ones that once would have been guaranteed to put lumps . , "Law and order all but broke down in New Orleans over the past few days. That's the attitude I would take if I was operating in the dark too. "What you had was a situation where you've got a tremendous number of vulnerable people, and then some predatory people who had all of the reasons to take their anger out on someone else," Benitez says. Troops poured in to restore order after almost a week of near-anarchy. Hundreds of people already have been rescued. Timeline: Rebirth in New Orleans - NFL President Bush declares Louisiana and Mississippi major disaster areas. ISIS' growing foothold in Afghanistan is captured on film. During Hurricane Katrina, around 20,000 people took refuge in the Superdome. The Louisiana Superdome, once a mighty testament to architecture and ingenuity, became the biggest storm shelter in New Orleans the day before Katrina's arrival Monday. Who Is Pamela Mahogany Really Happened At The Superdome? And the mayor began to tell us some of the things that he needed. Winds continue to damage or destroy buildings and blow out windows. And he basically asked me, 'Mr. Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency manager: And I had a piece of paper where I wrote down like a five-point plan of the things that we needed to do. "A week after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans state officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say once the canal level is drawn down two feet, Pumping Station 6 can begin pumping water out of the bowl-shaped city. 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. Buses have started evacuating people at the Superdome, but at the Convention Center thousands are still waiting and conditions continue to deteriorate there. Mississippi and Louisiana governors declare states of emergency. " 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. 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. Some parts of the city already showed slipping floodwaters as the repair neared completion, with the low-lying Ninth Ward dropping more than a foot. I just sent President Obama 10 letters the other day ( I remember Oprah saying persistence pays off) saying that since Katrina, we still only have two medical trailers in this part of town, and they arent equipped to handle emergencies or even basic lab work. And then somebody came and called me and said, 'The president would like to see you.' 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. On August 28, 2005, at 6 am, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the Superdome would be used as a public shelter. 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 . Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. At 10 a.m., the Thorntons headed together to the Superdome. Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana: U.S. Cities and States Are Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change. . But we need something really big, like a hospital, that shows where the $25 billion in recovery money is going. Their back-up generators flooded. Documenting evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine. Believing the authorities abandoned her after the storm, she wonders why they would care about her now. Required fields are marked *. 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." And he passes, literally, hundreds of school buses lined up to come and get these folks. 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. so you had a very dynamic situation.". 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. Katrina becomes a Category 3 with 115 mph maximum sustained winds. Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome "All I know is on Wednesday night I was convinced that there were no FEMA buses. More women are coming forward with stories of sexual . Oh, absolutely not. I laid that out for him. I gave people clues on how to pack. Thousands of troops poured into the city September. They lost 15 high-water trucks with mobile communications packages. Four were wounded, and 17-year-old James Brisette and 40-year-old Ronald Madison were killed. Chef Al Brown's nationwide dinner party to raise funds for Cyclone Gabrielle relief, Dubai, Hamilton and a hurricane named Hazel, VIPCs Public Safety Innovation Center hosts technology exhibit at Virginia Fire and Rescue Conference in Virginia Beach, REVEALED: Huge sonic boom felt by thousands across the country was caused by RAF Typhoon jets scrambling to intercept plane when pilot stopped responding 1.9k shares, Vanuatu Left Strewn With Debris After Tropical Cyclone Kevin, Cyclone Kevin leaves trail of destruction in Vanuatu, Even more homes at risk of hurricane damage: Report, Hurricane Katrina New Orleans French Quarter. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Plus, if you lived in a FEMA trailer for three years like I did, the last thing you want to do is go to a trailer for medical care. Two national crime-victims' groups have reported a spike in the number of reported rapes that happened to storm evacuees. I've got to know. She describes . 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. By the end of the day it is 335 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. Judy Benitez is executive director of the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault, a statewide coalition of rape crisis centers. Experts say it was the perfect environment to commit a crime, and the worst environment to report a crime. ", At that time, I thought we had done a pretty good job because we had gotten about 80 percent of the people out. Newly rescued people are still being brought to the Superdome. Mississippi and Louisiana governors declare states of emergency. 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 . The Convention Center becomes a destination for walk-in refugees seeking evacuation. For my part, I am still going out into the streets every day to talk to people about their experiencesI call it getting phyllisophical. Other people call me the Dr. Phil of the streets. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. Michael Brown, FEMA director: And if you dont trust the system to deliver the money to the right places, call a school yourself and ask them what they need. Looting becomes more widespread; hotels begin turning out guests. "I think that that was probably over-reported," he says. When Hurricane Katrina ripped the Superdome's rubber seal off, tore open the steel roof paneling and penetrated the stadium, it shed light on the conjoined problems of concentrated poverty, socialized and environmental racism, and America's ability to ignore the suffering of its own citizens. Hurricane Katrina: Survivors on the Storm's Impact - People Mayor Ray Nagin orders the total evacuation of New Orleans due to the dangers posed by the contaminated standing water. ", "Coastal residents jammed freeways and gas stations as they rushed to get out A direct hit could wind up submerging New Orleans in several feet of water At least 100,000 people in the city lack transportation to get out Louisiana and Mississippi make all lanes northbound on interstate highways", Note: In the last hours before Katrina made landfall, dozens of copies of the, "To cries of 'Thank you, Jesus!' We have so much intelligence down here in New Orleans, and yet, even four years after the hurricane, we cant rely on the school system. The National Guards didn't want to hear it.". Blanco tours the area Tuesday evening and announces that the Superdome should be evacuated. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. Expressed my concerns, my frustration He needed to really get us resources to save people. Katrina first made landfall in South Florida. The two of us are going to leave. We were moving school buses in. As the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, explore three different FRONTLINE documentaries about the disaster, its lingering aftermath and the lessons learned. 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. 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. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible.Get More National Geographic:Official Site: http://bit.ly/NatGeoOfficialSiteFacebook: http://bit.ly/FBNatGeoTwitter: http://bit.ly/NatGeoTwitterInstagram: http://bit.ly/NatGeoInstaHurricane Katrina Day by Day | National Geographichttps://youtu.be/HbJaMWw4-2QNational Geographichttps://www.youtube.com/natgeo