hurricane katrina: superdome documentary

City officials say 80 percent of New Orleans is flooded. With a death toll of more than 1,800, Katrina was the third-deadliest hurricane in US history after Galveston in 1900 (which killed 8,000 to . To get medical teams and search teams out the door and get 'em down there. In the decade since Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which came under harsh criticism for its response to the storm says it has improved its preparedness for future natural disasters. so you had a very dynamic situation.". New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. Watch it: To understand what went wrong in the governments response to Katrina. Even $20, if thats all you can afford in the recession, that helps. 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. They were making suggestions about we need to do this and that. But there were also profane jeers from many in the crowd of nearly 20,000 outside the Convention Center, which a day earlier seemed on the verge of a riot, with desperate people seething with anger over the lack of anything to eat or drink. The choice was either run the risk of becoming stranded or take a detour to wait the storm out for a day or two in the Superdome. They lost power. A scene from 2006s 'When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts' (Photo: Everett Collection) This week marks a . The storm initially formed as a tropical depression southeast of the Bahamas on August 23. Benelli says his team investigated two attempted rapes inside the Superdome, and two additional reports of rapes that happened in the city, one of which was the 25-year-old hairdresser. Where is all the things that we need to get out of here?"' We've all feared a catastrophic hurricane striking New Orleans. At a press conference in Baton Rouge, 80 miles away, Gov. "We know about all the other things that happened, all the thefts, all the robberies. Producer Martin Smith: Were they going back and forth with each other? Remembers Covering Katrina Preserving History After Hurricane Katrina Katrina's Affect on Charter schools quiz: 10 Questions on Katrina. Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. It has been nearly six years since Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf of Mexico cutting a swathe of devastation and shock through the psyche of the American people. special video+discussion+teacher's guide+readings & links In a documentary aired in October 2005 on the Sundance Channel, "In His Own Words: Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina," Williams said, . And the guard unitspent most of the next 24 hours saving itself. By. Lewis and others had taken refuge in the Redemption Elderly Apartments, in the Irish Channel section of New Orleans. All I can tell you is that in the city of New Orleans we had maybe 250 guardsmen that we could account for. The National Guards didn't want to hear it.". Flooding grows as water surges over levee breaks from Lake Ponchartrain; the 9th Ward is almost entirely submerged. And that was that.". Military planners are considering setting up a permanent rapid reaction unit designed to respond to domestic disasters. Officers were walking off the job by the dozens. And he said: 'No, you don't have to leave. Bring enough to sustain yourself, your family, your children. But they're designed for short hauls.". Watch it: For a powerful story of resilience and determination in the face of tragedy. will never be the same. The Army Corps of Engineers attempts to plug breaches in the 17th Street Canal and Industrial Canal levees. At 1:30 in the morning, Denise Thornton walked with her group up to the helipad, out in the open air, and there it was. That's the attitude I would take if I was operating in the dark too. The interviews done as part of this project reflect the disaster's painful, chaotic, and murky aftermath. People continue to head towards the Superdome, which is now surrounded by water. "I think that that was probably over-reported," he says. August 28, 2005. (48) 7.4 1 h 13 min 2010 13+. More than a million people were displaced in the days leading up to and following . Visit us at HISTORY.com for more info. They were very civil and very cordial. "A close eye will be kept this system could strengthen ". Copyright All rights reserved. I said, 'All of us are going to leave right now, and they're going to work this out right now. 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." Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina. Issues of race, class, government response and . "[On Air Force One] we gave the president a briefing on everything that had gone on. web site copyright 1995-2014 Throughout the day, emergency responders and public officials complain that communication links are very poor. Newly rescued people are still being brought to the Superdome. Marty Bahamonde/FEMA. By the end of the day, it is upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina, with 50 mph maximum sustained winds. 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. 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. We talked about it. And at that time I took some liberties I probably shouldn't take. Phyllis Montana-Leblanc is a Hurricane Katrina survivor. (Weather forecasters classify hurricane strength on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the strongest.) "[Michael] Brown I did not see the first couple of days. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies . That she could turn this 15 minutes of footage into an Oscar-nominated documentaryIm amazed by it. August 27, 2015, 2:18 PM. 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. I began to believe that no buses had been ordered. With camera lenses and lights abounding, the . On Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made its historic landfall on the Gulf Coast, hitting a number of cities along the Louisiana-Mississippi border, with the eye . FEMA National Situation Update: Get as many people out as possible. 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 . I was able to get Governor Blanco to sit with me several times in the office that she had and talk about what needed to be done. 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. "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. Troops poured in to restore order after almost a week of near-anarchy. "I got a call, I think Saturday afternoon [from] Max Mayfield, the hurricane director. [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.]. The storm traveled the Gulf of Mexico and then made landfall on the Gulf Coast in southeast Louisiana near the town of Buras, on Aug. 29, 2005. According to a New York Times article of September 29, "During six days when the Superdome was used as a shelter, the head of the New Orleans Police Department's sex crimes unit, Lt. David . It was called "Hurricane Pam" and the exercise was conducted with state and local emergency managers. President Bush declares Louisiana and Mississippi major disaster areas. An Unfiltered View: Producers of Police on Trial on What the Documentary Reveals 2 Years After the Murder of George Floyd, From the Archives: How the World's Deadliest Ebola Outbreak Unfolded, Russias Invasion of Ukraine, One Year Later, War Crimes Watch Ukraine: More Than 650 Documented Events, From the Archives: How the U.N. & World Failed Darfur Amid "the 21st Century's First Genocide". Michael Brown, FEMA director: The storm that would later become Hurricane Katrina surfaced on August 23, 2005, as a tropical depression over the Bahamas, approximately 350 miles (560 km) east of Miami. The outer ends of the hurricane also produced tornados . Where is water? Within five hours I start to get reports from my staff members, who are out doing assessments, the water's rising. 5 Must-See Documentaries About Hurricane Katrina. The city floods further. One woman told me she was going to commit suicide after Katrina, and that she saw Spike Lees documentary, and I saved her life. What happened next was more than just a natural disaster especially in New Orleans, where the failure of the cityslevees unleashed flooding that left roughly80 percent of the city underwater. At daybreak, rescuers set out on boats to help others still stranded. Issues of race, class, government response and responsibility, and political rivalries . background photo copyright 2005 corbis I talk to her every other day, and thats her main question How long is it going to be? And he had flown in a helicopter. 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. Get It Published. President Bush flies over the area on his way back to Washington. The storm flooded New Orleans, killed more than 1,800 people, and caused . You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations. According to the New Orleans Data Center, racial disparities in income and employment are more pronounced in the city than they are nationally; the poverty rate is 11 points higher than the national average; and the incarceration rate is approximately three times the national average. Lewis says that later in the week, national guardsmen forced evacuees out of the building at gunpoint. When Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans poet Shelton Alexander to evacuate his home, he took his truck and video camera to the Superdome. She requests President Bush to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana. Katrina anniversary: Inside the Superdome during Katrina. After the genocide in Rwanda and atrocities in Srebrenica, Bosnia, in the 1990s, the world vowed never again. Then came the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, which began 20 years ago. He also announces that the Superdome will be "a shelter of last resort for evacuees with special needs." Your email address will not be published. We do our video conference calls before and during disasters. FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. Ms. Blanco, she left and walked out. And I think thats whats going to help us rebuild the mosttalking about what happened and how we can move onand why documentaries like Trouble the Water are still so relevant. New Orleans's flood-protection system was improved by increasing in the heights of earthen berms and upgrading floodwalls and floodgates. She insists other women were raped in the same apartment building over the next four nights, but her claim could not be checked out. Here's the things I think we need to focus on. 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. "We did meet with [Mayor Nagin] Tuesday morning. HBO. . Find out in the 2015 documentary Outbreak, newly available to stream on FRONTLINEs YouTube channel. And I said [to the president], "Here's my piece of paper. " 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. ". Producer Martin Smith: So, although you said that, you didn't feel that way at that time? By afternoon, officials issue a citywide call for more boats to help. Its just rawits a look at the poorest people of the Ninth Ward, and those who couldnt afford to leave, and if you have a heart in your body, you will feel this film 100 percent. Henry Glover was last seen alive in the backseat of a white Chevy Malibu on Sept. 2, 2005, days after Katrina hit. 7:577-Minute Listen. 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. 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. One of the victims is Ms. Lewis, a 46-year-old home health-care worker from New Orleans East, who asked that her first name not be used. Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency manager: As Katrina hit, Alexander found himself in a desperate situation. There was nobody there to protect you," Lewis says. In New Orleans last year, there was a rape every other day on average. Around 8 a.m. the storm's eye passes eastern New Orleans. 49 But it was the subsequent flooding of New Orleans that imposed catastrophic public health conditions on the people of southern . by JOHN DORN. We were moving school buses in. But more and more people were being evacuated from their rooftops after being in the sun for long periods or overnight and being put on highways on high ground. I just expressed to her my concern about the lack of unified command, and the need to have more of a structure of what was going on. Military and Coast Guard helicopters flew a steady stream of evacuees from hospitals and rooftops to the airport southwest of downtown. Required fields are marked *. Ultimately, more than 300 soldiers would be trapped inside their own headquarters. Kathleen Blanco. The majority of industrial buildings will become non functional. If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'. Note: The Earlier Warnings -- In 2001, FEMA identified the three most likely disasters facing the U.S.: an earthquake in California, a hurricane in New Orleans and a terrorist attack in New York City. "I realized how serious things were on Sunday. No, they weren't. Katrina caused more than $160 billion in damage. I said, 'If you guys don't get together and work this out, this is going to get worse.' My old high school, Joseph S. Clark, shut down, and we dont even have parks yet for kids to hang out inthats what we did in the 70s, at leastIm still trying to petition for these things, to organize our community, and these fool ass people have not yet gotten down here to rebuild. Around 9:30 a.m. Mayor Ray Nagin issues a mandatory evacuation. I think the American Red Cross already had shelters and was already feeding people. Gov. A decade later . She contacted the New Orleans police in October and filed a report that she was beaten with a bat and raped on Sept. 6th in broad daylight next to a flooded McDonald's at Gentilly Boulevard and Elysian Fields, near her father's house. Mississippi and Louisiana governors declare states of emergency. 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. Hurricane Katrina becomes Category 2 by 11 am, with 100 mph maximum sustained winds. And I said, "We're doing one in the morning.". Blanco is there. And based upon that ["Hurricane Pam" planning exercise], I knew they needed to evacuate. That's where Katrina Babies comes in. Buses have started evacuating people at the Superdome, but at the Convention Center thousands are still waiting and conditions continue to deteriorate there. There's this lunch. And nothing happened. I aint about to leave, Gettridge said. 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 . And that this could potentially be the big one that we had planned for in Hurricane Pam.". 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. He escaped the chaotic shelter a few days . His death came nearly two years to the day after his wifes passing. "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. Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. At least one half of well constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. They didn't have water. Hurricane Katrina Superdome. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome.

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