According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Katrina is the costliest U.S. hurricane on record, inflicting some $125 billion in total damages. A storm worth worrying about had entered the gulf. But inside the Superdome, things were deteriorating rapidly. It ran into the reserve tank. 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." The skies darkened, and the wind started to pick up. The moonlight was shining on the water., She paused. 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. You better move back. They knew what that meant: The Superdome was now running on its backup generator, which could power the lights but not much more. Governor Blanco herself stated, "They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. Her husband would be on the last helicopter. The Black population of New Orleans has also fallen, since out of the 175,000 Black residents who left New Orleans, over 75,000 never returned. He needed to start getting people out. They would back the fuel resupply truck up to the door, smash a hole in the wall, and run a line directly from the truck to the generator. The storm initially formed as a tropical depression southeast of the Bahamas on August 23. [39] However, that number also counted four bodies that were near the dome. All sources confirm deaths, although the numbers of the dead vary. Please check your email for a confirmation. 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. The line to get in was already a quarter-mile long. We need to get these people into the parking garages, where at least they can get out of the building and into some fresh air.. Engineers also didn't consider sinking land and soil quality, which led to a misjudgment of soil stability. After a traffic jam kept buses from arriving at the Superdome for nearly four hours, a near-riot broke out in the scramble to get on the buses that finally did show up. The streets were still flooded, perhaps even worse than before. But it worked. Cooper held about 1,000 families and was the city's largest housing project. We wont be able to feed these folks. They found a 50-foot fuel line and screwed it into the reserve tank of the generator, then ran it out to the truck, which was parked in several feet of water outside the exterior door. [25][26][27], On September 7, speculation arose that the Superdome was now in such a poor condition that it would have to be demolished. At noon, they opened the doors and thousands of New Orleanians started shuffling in, carrying ice chests, kids toys, clothes, and whatever belongings they could carry. Then the male employees, and, finally, the men who worked security would be the last to leave. Some 1.2 million Louisianans were displaced for months or even years, and thousands never returned. . We took him inside.. Heres a look at some statistics from Hurricane Katrina. [9] Although 80 percent of the roof had been destroyed, ultimately, the damage to the roof proved not to be catastrophic, with the two repairable holes and the ripping off of most of the replaceable white rubber membrane on the outer layer. He started bawling. We're not a hotel. [32] While numerous people told the Times-Picayune that they had witnessed the rape of two girls in the ladies' restroom and the killing of one of them, police and military officials said they knew nothing about the incidents. 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. All Rights Reserved. [5] Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau of the Louisiana National Guard, said that the number of people taking shelter in the Superdome rose to around 15,00020,000 as search and rescue teams brought more people from areas hit hard by the flooding.[6]. Evacuees crowd the floor of the Astrodome in Houston on September 2, 2005. And with everyone scattered, it became incredibly difficult to reunite children with their birth parents. There were no designated medical staff at work in the evacuation center, no established sick bay within the Superdome, and very few cots available that hadn't been brought in by evacuees. The NOPD was gone. President Bush was otherwise occupied during this time. We took him to the terrace and said, Look. , As he saw the floodwaters rising around the stadium, the man broke down. [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. Four died of natural causes, one had a drug overdose, and one committed suicide. They found the building in better shape than the Superdome fewer windows were blown out and the building, unlike the Superdome, had a roof. Though downgraded to a category 3, the storms relatively slow forward movement (around 12 mph) covered the region with far more rain than a fast-moving storm would have. These are some messed up things that happened during Hurricane Katrina. It was previously used in 1998 during Hurricane Georges and again in 2004 during Hurricane Ivan, on both occasions for less than two days at most. Never did we think wed be here for nearly a week.. That night, NOPD Chief of Police Eddie Compass arrived to see Thornton and Col. Mouton. They got it to the city and waited for their supplies. [1], Hurricane Katrina was the third time the dome had been used as a public shelter. Local legend has it the 73,000-seat stadium was built atop a cemetery, cursing the football team that calls it home the Saints to an eternity as cellar-dwellers. Weve got about an hour of daylight. I was able to see how bad it was, even though it was night. By the following afternoon Katrina had become one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, with winds in excess of 170 miles (275 km) per hour. A man pushes his bicycle through flood waters near the Superdome in New Orleans on Aug. 31, 2005. If it rose, theyd evacuate. Ive been through a lot of hurricanes. As the already strained levee system continued to give way, the remaining residents of New Orleans were faced with a city that by August 30 was 80 percent underwater. Finally. Several hundredof Thorntons part-time employees had shown up as well, unable to evacuate, and hed placed them in one of the club lounges along with the families of some New Orleans Police Department officers. Is everyone here? . In the hours before the storm hit and thenafter it left when the levees failedand everything changed the people who remained in New Orleans streamed toward a place where usually they would go to watch football, the massive structure at the citys heart, the Superdome. Even though the dome never lost power, air conditioning, and running water during any of those storms, Superdome manager Doug Thornton recommended after Hurricane Georges for the dome to not be used as a shelter for anybody but special-needs evacuees. Two men paddle through the streets past the Claiborne Bridge in New Orleans on August 31, 2005. Residents of Saucier, Mississippi, line up to get gas on August 31, 2005. 25% were caused by injury and trauma and 11% were caused by heart conditions. But now, in the moonlight, she finally understood what had happened. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and. According to CBS News, it took until March 2006 to find all of them: "All but 12 were found alive. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. About850 patients with serious medical conditions some in hospice care would arrive to ride out the storm there; most of them from parts of the city not protected by the levee system. A few of these groups wandered the concourse, stealing food and attacking anyone who stood up to them. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the public school system of New Orleans was one of the lowest-performing districts in the state of Louisiana. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary. On August 29, at about 6:20 AM EDT, the electricity supply to the dome failed. [22][23][24] The last large group from the Superdome was evacuated on September 3. Governor Blanco's comment regarding M-16s was likely in response to the reports of snipers shooting at police and rescue workers. In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was responsible for the design of the levee system in New Orleans, acknowledged that outdated and faulty engineering practices used to build the levees led to most of the flooding that occurred due to Katrina. In addition, a Bleacher Report article quotes Thornton saying "We're not a hospital. Hurricane Katrina was a 2005 storm that affected the southeast coast of the United States. A FEMA medical team at the Superdome on August 31, 2005. Nearly 56% of the losses occurred in Louisiana and nearly 30% occurred in Mississippi. They were acquitted in 2007. [17][18] 25,000 evacuees were taken to the Astrodome in Houston, while another 25,000 were taken to San Antonio and Dallas. The Industrial Canal was later breached as well, flooding the neighborhood known as the Lower Ninth Ward. But finding the children was only part of the battle. After levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans failed, much of the city was underwater. A storm surge more than 26 feet (8 metres) high slammed into the coastal cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, devastating homes and resorts along the beachfront. The buildings air conditioning system would no longer run, nor would the refrigeration system keeping massive amounts of food from spoiling. At least 1,833 died in the hurricane and subsequent floods. According to PBS, two weeks after the storm, 25% of the children remained unaccounted for. In the United States, Louisiana has the "highest rate of beds per 1,000 persons ages 85 or more," but over half of the nursing homes in New Orleans decided against early evacuation. 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. Their first game, against Mississippi State University, was played on September 17 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The National Flood Insurance Program paid out $16 billion in claims. And despite the fact that this was meant to be a temporary shelter, they ended up being stranded in the stadium for a week. 2. On April 25, 2006, workers in the Lower Ninth Ward rebuild the levee that was breached by Hurricane Katrina along the Industrial Canal. The facility housed 15,000 refugees who fled the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. There was a plan. NOLA.com reports that FEMA also "turned away offers of personnel and supplies from the Department of Interior and denied a request from the state Wildlife & Fisheries agency for 300 rubber boats.". 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. 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 if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Outside, there was anarchy. A lightning bolt strikes above a destroyed church in the Lower Ninth Ward on August 5, 2006. Soon after they arrived, officialsenacted contraflow, shutting down all roads leading in and opening up every lane out of the city. [16], At midnight that same day, a private helicopter arrived to evacuate some members of the National Guard and their families. By 7 p.m. everyone was inside and had been checked. Although they were meant to be used for 18 months, they were still in use up to six years after the hurricane. There is feces all over the place.. The job was far from over; it took two days to get everyone out and onto buses. Why did Hurricane Katrina lead to widespread flooding? Many of them boarded without having any idea of where they were headed. [2] Approximately 10,000 residents, along with about 150 National Guardsmen, sheltered in the Superdome anticipating Katrina's landfall. Did you encounter any technical issues? Later that day, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco ordered New Orleans to be completely evacuated. And according to Vox, when the Louisiana National Guard asked FEMA for 700 buses to help with the evacuation, only 100 were sent in response. That night a National Guardsmangot jumped as he walked through a dark, flooded locker room. 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. According to NBC News, the average age of victims was 69, and "just under half of all victims were 75 or older." 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.