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Buckles, who wrote and directed the documentary . Hundreds of people already have been rescued. They were making suggestions about we need to do this and that. No, they weren't. Persons, pets, and livestock exposed to the winds will face certain death if struck. A shaft of light falls throught an opening in the fully evacuated Superdome on Sept. 5, 2005 in New Orleans, La. 1) At least 1,800 people died due to Hurricane Katrina. Nicola Mann and Victoria Pass. Mayor, we had a good meeting. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty. Gallery. I gave people clues on how to pack. Henry Glover was last seen alive in the backseat of a white Chevy Malibu on Sept. 2, 2005, days after Katrina hit. We need you to take over logistics, distribution of commodities, etc. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and . You can change your choices at any time by clicking on the 'Privacy dashboard' links on our sites and apps. 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. Hurricane Katrina Superdome. It was called "Hurricane Pam" and the exercise was conducted with state and local emergency managers. "I know more sexual assaults took place. "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. ' Gettridge told FRONTLINE. More than 1,800 people died in what was the costliest . We began search-and-rescue missions using local state resources, waiting for the federal cavalry to arrive and believing that it would be here in 48 to 60 hours. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip). 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. These three documentaries and nearly 190 more are all streaming online at pbs.org/frontline. Already, these preliminary cases show a high number of gang rapes and rapes by strangers, both unusual characteristics. There are still gangs of armed criminals roaming the city; police and National Guard, now numbered at 16,000, have a better handle on the situation than earlier in the week. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the. The situation begins to improve. First categorized as a tropical storm, Katrina hit New Orleans, flattening buildings, breaking levees, and flooding the city with terrifying 125 mph winds. By Chris Edwards. 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. ISIS' growing foothold in Afghanistan is captured on film. Why would we think there was less rape typical of any given week in the city? The city's buses have been positioned around the city in locations that have never been flooded. Lt. Dave Benelli, commander of the sex crimes unit with the New Orleans Police Department, denies that. Phyllis Montana-Leblanc is a Hurricane Katrina survivor. special video+discussion+teacher's guide+readings & links [Secretary of Homeland Security Michael] Chertoff is there. And the mayor began to tell us some of the things that he needed. But I am happy to help, even if it takes me an extra two hours at the grocery store. [2] Approximately 10,000 residents, along with about 150 National Guardsmen, sheltered in the Superdome anticipating Katrina's landfall. A Tropical Depression with 35 mph maximum sustained winds is located 250 miles east-southeast of southeast Florida. 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. Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News/epa/Corbis. Interstate 10 is shut down with damage to 40 percent of its Twin Span Bridge over Lake Ponchartrain. Television reporters, live on the scene at the Convention Center, report on the growing crisis. 7:577-Minute Listen. The Times-Picayune reports that 4,600 active duty troops under the command of Gen. Russel Honor arrive in New Orleans. Ms. Blanco, she left and walked out. Reports put the population there in the tens of thousands. With camera lenses and lights abounding, the . Panels blew off and the roof was severely damaged, but it was the only shelter . One woman told me she was going to commit suicide after Katrina, and that she saw Spike Lees documentary, and I saved her life. Orders volun-tary evacuation where residents in low-lying areas encouraged to evacuate Sunday, August 28, 2005: Hurricane Katrina becomes a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds Superdome opens as a shelter of last resort Acadian personnel are deployed to the Superdome to help triage special needs patients and staff the rst aid station Nagin . Thats why films like Trouble the Water are so important, and why its great that its making it to a wide audience via HBO. Virtually all communication systems are out. "A close eye will be kept this system could strengthen ". Phyllis Montana-LeBlancthe breakout star of Spike Lees When the Levees Broke documentary and author of Not Just the Levees Broke: My Story During and After Katrina (and a consultant on David Simons new post-Katrina HBO drama)writes below about why viewers should still care about New Orleans four years later, and why Trouble the Water just may be the wakeup call we need. The mistake that I made was not doing that sooner and not giving them the orders that we needed them to do all of that immediately. 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. Lipin says when he arrived in Baton Rouge and turned on the TV, he was surprised by reports of rampant violence in New Orleans. 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. 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. Where is food? "I at least wanted a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes [on Saturday]. We have Brad Pitt and Chris Rocks wife here now, and I think collectively its making a huge, huge difference. But we need something really big, like a hospital, that shows where the $25 billion in recovery money is going. 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. Producer Martin Smith: Were they going back and forth with each other? Go up there, face to face and say, "What is happening here? Kathleen Blanco. 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. 49 But it was the subsequent flooding of New Orleans that imposed catastrophic public health conditions on the people of southern . And [FEMA Director] Michael Brown was with me at that time. "I went into New Orleans and stood beside Mayor Nagin and emphasized the need to leave. FEMA National Situation Update: Met in the little office at the Super Dome where the heliport is. background photo copyright 2005 corbis More than 1 million more in the Gulf region were displaced. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. Watch it: For a powerful story of resilience and determination in the face of tragedy. It hit land as a Category 3 storm with winds reaching speeds as high as 120 miles per hour. Tonight, the Oscar-nominated Trouble the Watera documentary by filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, premieres on HBO. The Times-Picayune reports the Convention Center evacuees are still being loaded onto buses and evacuated and search-and-rescue operations continue. In Louisiana, New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level. 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 why it wasnt stopped sooner. On June 4, 2006, Pamela Mahogany was interviewed for her personal experience involving the events following Hurricane Katrina. And he basically asked me, 'Mr. And you need to order mandatory evacuation. I think we both should have asked sooner.". Having largely emptied the cavernous Superdome, which had become a squalid pit of misery and violence, officials turned their attention to the Convention Center, where people waited to be evacuated as corpses rotted in the streets. 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. Their back-up generators flooded. A Louisiana State University computer model of a 115 mph storm strike shows the overtopping of levees protecting New Orleans and nearby areas. 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. He escaped the chaotic shelter a few days later with a truckload of people and video documentation of history.Check out exclusive HISTORY content:Website - http://www.history.com?cmpid=Social_YouTube_HistHomeTwitter - https://twitter.com/history/postsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/HistoryHISTORY, now reaching more than 98 million homes, is the leading destination for award-winning original series and specials that connect viewers with history in an informative, immersive, and entertaining manner across all platforms. Copyright All rights reserved. And nothing happened. FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. The Army Corps of Engineers projects it could take 80 days to pump the water out of the city. 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. "At that stage, we had mission-assigned the Department of Defense to start giving us everything they could in terms of air-lift capability. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Nature Documentary hosted by Helen Baxandale, published by Channel 4 in 2010 - English narration Cover Information . The account of her rape was verified by a trained forensic nurse at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, where Lewis sought treatment. He Says He Paid a Price. 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. 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 . Power outages will last for weeks water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.". ". In all honesty, we begin looting. An estimated 25,000 angry and exhausted people are still at the Convention Center; buses begin arriving to evacuate them. That is why the first place we picked to do an exercise and planning was New Orleans. Looting breaks out in parts of the city. August 29, 2005. 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. After Katrina, the spectacle of a Black refugee population in the Superdome, along with the short-lived plan from Mayor Nagin's committee to wipe out some Black neighborhoods, revived these . He didn't even know what efforts had been made on his behalf because he had no lines of communications open to him. Oh, absolutely not. Theres a river of water moving into this area.'. Meanwhile, Lewis, the 46-year-old home health-care worker, has still not reported her assault to the police, and she has no plans to. "All I know is on Wednesday night I was convinced that there were no FEMA buses. I don't think that's the proper thing to do. If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'. So I can assume what the criminals were thinking, and that's exactly what happened.". The Superdome is an intrinsic part of the city of New Orleans. ", Leo Bosner, FEMA watch officer: Its efforts fail. 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. She requests President Bush to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana. 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. The Times-Picayune reports that an estimated 112,000 people do not own cars. I've expressed many times that we're willing to investigate any sexual assaults that happened in this city at any time. In his speech, he calls on all federal, state and local agencies to review their performance. In all, more than 1,500 died either duringthe storm or inthe famouslybungled aftermath which saw local, state, and federal officials uncoordinated and overwhelmed. Several thousand National Guard troops start reaching the thousands of evacuees at the Convention Center and elsewhere. The expected storm surge is 15 to 20 feet, locally as high as 25 feet. FEMA was doing what it's supposed to be doing. U.S. Cities and States Are Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change. And I had a piece of paper where I wrote down like a five-point plan of the things that we needed to do. 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. Half of telephone service is back. 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. Hurricane Katrina becomes Category 2 by 11 am, with 100 mph maximum sustained winds. (Weather forecasters classify hurricane strength on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the strongest.) 11.1.2005. At least 1,800 lives were lost in Hurricane Katrina, often considered one of the worst hurricanes in US history. Now, other than media reports, I don't know what's happening at the other end. "There was a period of days when we weren't sure who was directing the federal response and were all the actions being taken. hurricane katrina anniversary: 40 powerful photos of New Orleans after the storm. She says she tried to report the assault at the time, but authorities weren't listening. Other people call me the Dr. Phil of the streets.. 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. And I wanted to cut to the chase because I knew what the real issue was. 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.". Note: In the last hours before Katrina made landfall, dozens of copies of the Hurricane Pam report are distributed to emergency planners. Winds continue to damage or destroy buildings and blow out windows. His death came nearly two years to the day after his wifes passing. The two of us are going to leave. We could either go with your suggestion' -- which, my suggestion was, if you don't give me the final authority give it to Gen. [Russel] Honor. And that is unacceptable. At landfall, Katrina's maximum winds were about 125 miles per hour (mph) to the east of its center. Thousands of troops poured into the city September. And in my opinion, it was this whole 'who has ultimate authority' and whether the federal government is going to come in and impinge upon the state's authority. 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. But they're designed for short hauls.". Here's the things I think we need to focus on. Under the best of circumstances, rape is one of the hardest crimes to solve. The price tag has not yet been determined. so you had a very dynamic situation.". August 27, 2015, 2:18 PM. ", In Washington, President Bush publicly acknowledges the inadequacy of the federal government's response: "Many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orlenas. "We'd heard the story of a man killing himself, falling . So many people have Katrina Fatigue, as I like to call itthe hurricane is four years out, and I applaud anything that brings another testimony into the public conversation; that shows people how bad it was, and how bad it still is. 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. "The police was stressed out themselves," Lewis says. And we said, "Plan your route carefully. The storm has ripped a hole in the Superdome where the power has gone out. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he'll follow the state evacuation plan and will not call for mandatory evacuation until 30 hours before projected landfall.