Years after Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary asks: What happened to Their communications center was useless. 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. Katrina documentary 'Mine' recounts pet owners' post-storm trials - NOLA Who Is Pamela Mahogany Really Happened At The Superdome? Years after Hurricane Katrina, a new documentary asks: What happened to We knew what had to be done. 5 Must-See Documentaries About Hurricane Katrina. But problems persist. Other people call me the Dr. Phil of the streets.. Conditions are deteriorating with bathrooms overflowing, no power for air conditioning and little food and water. 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 . But while the Superdome has been reclaimed, those stories of trauma remain, and some roil pretty close to . She was featured in Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke and is author of Not Just the Levees Broke: My Story During and After Hurricane Katrina. 1. Required fields are marked *. And I said [to the president], 'Look, we talked about that option, and then we also talked about another option, that we would federalize, and the governor said she needed time to think about it. ", Richard Falkenrath, Homeland Security Adviser (2001-2004): Officers were walking off the job by the dozens. You can change your choices at any time by clicking on the 'Privacy dashboard' links on our sites and apps. Persons, pets, and livestock exposed to the winds will face certain death if struck. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Thousands of displaced residents take cover from Hurricane Katrina at the Superdome in New . Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome And we said, "Plan your route carefully. We had pre-positioned supplies, medical teams, Meals Ready To Eat, and food in the Superdome. 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. 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. ", Mayor Ray Nagin: He didn't care where the help came from, he just wanted it to be there. Oh, absolutely not. And nothing happened. 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. Power outages will last for weeks water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.". Two national crime-victims' groups have reported a spike in the number of reported rapes that happened to storm evacuees. Hurricane Katrina, tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United States in late August 2005. The film a raw and gripping investigation of the Katrina response, its tragic consequences and its political ramifications includes candid interviews with key Katrina decision-makers, including the first televised interview with former FEMA Director Michael Brown since his resignation two weeks after Katrina hit. 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. Gov. Because of the ensuing . "Media reports attribute Katrina with four fatalities [in Florida], more than a million customers were without electricity". Issues of race, class, government response and responsibility, and political rivalries interweave with personal stories of challenges faced and decisions made. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. In the 2005 documentary "In His Own Words: Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina," Williams indicated that he wasn't a witness to the suicide. Timeline: Rebirth in New Orleans - NFL 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. 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. Shelton Alexander: Surviving in the Superdome During Hurricane Katrina Evacuating hospitals is a top priority: Patients and staff are stranded and supplies and power are dwindling. At a press conference in Baton Rouge, 80 miles away, Gov. Documenting evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine. More than four days after the storm hit, the caravan of at least three-dozen camouflage-green troop vehicles and supply trucks arrived along with dozens of air-conditioned buses to take refugees out of the city. "We did meet with [Mayor Nagin] Tuesday morning. I probably should have asked sooner. Hurricane Katrina [ edit] Refugees on the field inside the Superdome, August 28. 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. Issues of race, class, government response and responsibility, and political rivalries . Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. A spokesperson with the Resource Center said the number is steadily growing. The city's buses have been positioned around the city in locations that have never been flooded. "With the evacuee situation stabilizing somewhat, and increasing numbers of armed soldiers and police on the streets, officials said Saturday they would start aggressively dealing with the bands of armed looters who pushed the city to the brink of complete breakdown. That's the attitude I would take if I was operating in the dark too. At landfall, Katrina's maximum winds were about 125 miles per hour (mph) to the east of its center. Concerned over unreported and underreported rapes, her organization, together with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center -- which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- created a national database to track sexual assaults that happened after Katrina. Directed by New Orleans native Edward Buckles Jr., who was a teenager when Katrina struck, the documentary, which premieres Thursday on HBO, reminds us of the storm's real-life ramifications. Floodwaters keep rising. Kathleen Blanco. And he passes, literally, hundreds of school buses lined up to come and get these folks. And he basically asked me, 'Mr. Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News/epa/Corbis. 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. I don't know why. I've heard some terrible stories since that the stuff wasn't getting there. Nicola Mann and Victoria Pass. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip). 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. "We'd heard the story of a man killing himself, falling . 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. I said, 'All of us are going to leave right now, and they're going to work this out right now. The expected storm surge is 15 to 20 feet, locally as high as 25 feet. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. ISIS' growing foothold in Afghanistan is captured on film. She is at work on her next memoir, No More Wire Hangers, about domestic abuse in teenage relationships. Since many New Orleans streets are still filled with stagnant, fetid waters smelling of garbage and raw sewage, the military was considering using planes to spray for mosquitoes.". "I was told that they could mobilize immediately 2,500 National Guards members. 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 . The storm flooded New Orleans, killed more than 1,800 people, and caused . [2] Approximately 10,000 residents, along with about 150 National Guardsmen, sheltered in the Superdome anticipating Katrina's landfall. Gallery. Hurricane Katrina | Deaths, Damage, & Facts | Britannica Then we kind of figure out ways that we could coordinate. We were moving school buses in. Even $20, if thats all you can afford in the recession, that helps. Katrina Cop in the Superdome. ", "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!' He escaped the ch. Lewis and others had taken refuge in the Redemption Elderly Apartments, in the Irish Channel section of New Orleans. I am still going out into the streets every day to talk to people about their experiencesI call it getting phyllisophical. In New Orleans chaos . There are still areas that look like Katrina hit yesterday. 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. Half of telephone service is back. New Orleans's flood-protection system was improved by increasing in the heights of earthen berms and upgrading floodwalls and floodgates. Nature Documentary hosted by Helen Baxandale, published by Channel 4 in 2010 - English narration Cover Information . 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. By the evening of August 25, when it made . He also announces that the Superdome will be "a shelter of last resort for evacuees with special needs." If we arent talking about what we still need, how can we be sure people wont forget? He estimates 5,000 to 10,000 people are still in the city, with many of them still waiting to be rescued. Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana: The outer ends of the hurricane also produced tornados . That is why the first place we picked to do an exercise and planning was New Orleans. To get medical teams and search teams out the door and get 'em down there. The interviews done as part of this project reflect the disaster's painful, chaotic, and murky aftermath. Hurricane Katrina becomes Category 2 by 11 am, with 100 mph maximum sustained winds. Troops poured in to restore order after almost a week of near-anarchy. [Secretary of Homeland Security Michael] Chertoff is there. 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 . We talked about it. . 32 Harrowing Photos of the Hurricane Katrina Aftermath - Essence Here's a [powerful] hurricane. [Mayor Nagin] was upset with everything. About 16,000 people . The skies darkened, and the wind started to pick up. He announces FEMA is moving supplies and equipment into the hardest hit areas. "I'm not gonna go on television and publicly say that I think that the mayor and the governor are not doing their job, and that they don't have the sense of urgency. Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. background photo copyright 2005 corbis ISIS is in Afghanistan, But Who Are They Really? They didn't have communication. Over 1,800 people lost their lives in the hurricane and an estimated 1 million people were displaced from their homes. ", Gov. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. Under the best of circumstances, rape is one of the hardest crimes to solve. Neville says she was sexually assaulted early the morning of Aug. 31st, while she was sleeping on the roof of Drew Elementary School in the Bywater Neighborhood, where she and others had taken refuge. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the. In one notorious incident known as the Danziger Bridge case, police opened fire on a group of civilians, who were later found to be unarmed and searching for food and medicine. National surveys show that half of all sexual assaults are never reported. Rescuers drop them off wherever there is high ground; many are dropped at interstate overpasses and the Superdome. President Bush flies over the area on his way back to Washington. Buckles, who wrote and directed the documentary . The account of her rape was verified by a trained forensic nurse at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, where Lewis sought treatment. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies . home+introduction+watch online+interviews+analysis+14 days "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. An estimated 25,000 angry and exhausted people are still at the Convention Center; buses begin arriving to evacuate them. 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. 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. In fact, at the headquarters of the Louisiana National Guard, located in the Lower NinthWard, soldiers were not yet aware that the levees were giving way. And based upon that ["Hurricane Pam" planning exercise], I knew they needed to evacuate. and catcalls of 'What took you so long?,' a National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled through axle-deep floodwaters Friday into what remained of New Orleans and descended into a maelstrom of fires and floating corpses. People begin arriving at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center seeking shelter, food, and water. " Troops poured in to restore order after almost a week of near-anarchy. . " August 28, 2005. City officials say 80 percent of New Orleans is flooded. A timeline of the warnings, some of the decisions leading up to the disaster, and what went wrong with the government's response. I aint about to leave, Gettridge said. 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. 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. 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. Benitez and others interviewed for this report believe that police authorities -- who were anxious to discount initially exaggerated reports of mayhem -- are downplaying violent crimes that happened in the anarchy after the storm. Top subscription boxes right to your door, 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. Review: The hellish Hurricane Katrina scenario of 'Five Days at Memorial' He didn't even know what efforts had been made on his behalf because he had no lines of communications open to him. hide caption. Rescue efforts are delayed because of the inability of rescuers to communicate with each other. 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 Hurricane Katrina Superdome. Why haven't the bosses decided to move the people out?' FEMA National Situation Update: Expressed my concerns, my frustration He needed to really get us resources to save people. Around 9:30 a.m. Mayor Ray Nagin issues a mandatory evacuation. In downtown New Orleans, some streets were merely wet rather than swamped. As Katrina hit, Alexander found himself in a desperate situation. Left to right: Mayor Ray Nagin, President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FEMA Director Michael Brown, Gov. There was nobody there to protect you," Lewis says. Crimes after Katrina may have been overblown - NBC News Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina. Here's all these thousands of people that don't have any way to get out of the city. When we didn't get any assistance from the state or from FEMA in the time period that we thought was appropriate, I got someone in an automobile and said, 'Go to Baton Rouge, go find out. The population of New Orleans was about 400,000 by 2020, some 20 percent below its population in 2000. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. 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. Several parishes and the city of New Orleans announce emergency responders will stop venturing out once the wind exceeds 45 mph. And that rap song she sings at the end of the film about growing up so poor, with her mother on drugs and being forced to stealit just shows that she is a strong woman, and so honest, real, determined, courageous, and intelligent. At 7 am Katrina is a Category 5 with 160 mph maximum sustained winds. 1) At least 1,800 people died due to Hurricane Katrina. She describes . It is 250 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. I immediately hung up the phone, called my city attorney because they had always advised that you can't do a mandatory evacuation. Surviving the Superdome. I talk to her every other day, and thats her main question How long is it going to be? Exacerbated by the recent BP oil spill in the region, the storm and its aftermath remains an open wound for local residents and others affected . And I had a piece of paper where I wrote down like a five-point plan of the things that we needed to do. , "Law and order all but broke down in New Orleans over the past few days. There's no question.". The Times-Picayune reports the Convention Center evacuees are still being loaded onto buses and evacuated and search-and-rescue operations continue. Five officers were ultimately indicted: one for the shooting, and four additional officers on charges related to burning Glovers body and obstructing a federal investigation. / HBO 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 Louisiana National Guard's Jackson Barracks flood. My sense now is there are victims out there whose stories haven't been heard.". And the mayor began to tell us some of the things that he needed. 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. And New Orleans itself has worked to rebuild. Team members said they delivered babies, treated gunshot and stab victims, and ultimately fled for their own safety. I don't think that's the proper thing to do. Lewis says she was raped on Monday, Aug. 29, the day of the storm. Pack as though you're going on a camping trip. And Michael Brown tells FRONTLINE that in order to quell panic, he misled the public in saying that everything was going fine at the local level. will never be the same. Before Hurricane Katrina hit, New Orleans residents gathered to ride out the storm in what seemed like a pretty safe place, the Superdome, the city's football stadium . Issues of race, class, government response and . Recalling her attack, she sobs, "They just left us to die. 'Nobody asked if we were okay': The lost children of Hurricane Katrina Watch it: For a powerful story of resilience and determination in the face of tragedy. And I said [to the president], "Here's my piece of paper. And he said definitively, "Mr. Mayor, the storm is headed right for you. On Sept. 15, 2005, in an address to the nation, President Bush declares, "It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces -- the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice.". Now, other than media reports, I don't know what's happening at the other end. U.S. Cities and States Are Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change. The only person I saw from FEMA was basically this guy named Marty [Bahamonde]. 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. [Congressman] Bobby Jindal is there, the senators Landrieu and [David] Vitter, and Congressman [William] Jefferson. And, in 2004, FEMA sponsored a disaster planning exercise in which the scenario was a major hurricane striking New Orleans. It is 250 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency manager: Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and .