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. And they hadn't. And I wanted to cut to the chase because I knew what the real issue was. . "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. In the 2005 documentary "In His Own Words: Brian Williams on Hurricane Katrina," Williams indicated that he wasn't a witness to the suicide. The only person I saw from FEMA was basically this guy named Marty [Bahamonde]. FEMA National Situation Update: And Mayor Nagin expressed his concerns. "Katrina will regenerate on Friday over Gulf of Mexico, head west-northwest then turn northward. Ten years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast and generated a huge disaster. One woman told me she was going to commit suicide after Katrina, and that she saw Spike Lees documentary, and I saved her life. Blanco tours the area Tuesday evening and announces that the Superdome should be evacuated. But by late morning, when FEMA director Michael Brown arrives in Baton Rouge, water is already coming over levees in the 9th Ward and there are reports of breaks in the Industrial Canal and 17th Street Canal levees. 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. Several parishes and the city of New Orleans announce emergency responders will stop venturing out once the wind exceeds 45 mph. Anastasia is a petite, 25-year-old hairdresser who asked that her last name be omitted. And the impression given in those four days is basically indelible. On Sept. 1, with desperate Hurricane Katrina evacuees crammed into the convention center, Police Chief Eddie Compass reported: "We . [He] came on site, I think it was Monday after the event. FEMA National Situation Update: And why it wasnt stopped sooner. "We're not downsizing anything," Benelli says. Gov. And he was the first guy that told us about the amount of devastation and the levee breaches. "To cries of 'Thank you, Jesus!' "They didn't have no food. We need you to take over logistics, distribution of commodities, etc. FRONTLINE home+WGBH+PBS, FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of wgbh educational foundation. We'll put a couple of medical teams on standby. It took me too long and I worked too hard to build what I had here.. 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. I said, 'We need to do this.' "The fact that something wasn't reported to the police doesn't mean it didn't happen," Benitez says. 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 . President Bush's Sept. 15th address to the nation. The vast majority of them were elderly. To get food out. "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. 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. New Orleans residents are still trapped by the floodwaters, and dispatchers receive about 1,000 emergency phone calls from people needing to be rescued. Documenting evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine. President Bush flies over the area on his way back to Washington. I don't think that's the proper thing to do. People begin arriving at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center seeking shelter, food, and water. Female victims, now displaced from New Orleans, are slowly coming forward with a different story than the official one. Some electrical substations serving downtown New Orleans are repaired, but Entergy, the local energy utitlity, must first ensure that buildings can receive the electricity safely before the power is restored. Mississippi and Louisiana governors declare states of emergency. Here's the things I think we need to focus on. 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,. [2] Approximately 10,000 residents, along with about 150 National Guardsmen, sheltered in the Superdome anticipating Katrina's landfall. 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 Cop in the Superdome. Henry Glover was last seen alive in the backseat of a white Chevy Malibu on Sept. 2, 2005, days after Katrina hit. 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. Rapid Transit Authority buses pick up citizens and bring them to the Superdome, where the Louisiana National Guard has stocked enough MREs to feed 15,000 people for three days. 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. Get It Published. But Mayor Nagin goes on radio and castigates state and federal officials for their inaction and demands they "fix the biggest god-damn crisis in the history of this country." It was there, she says, that an unknown man with a handgun sexually assaulted her. "I didn't see any police officers -- I could have gotten away with murder," she says. The storm initially formed as a tropical depression southeast of the Bahamas on August 23. At 7 pm it makes landfall north of Miami. 'Rebirth in New Orleans' reflects on . Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently changed life for thousands of people across the country. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently changed life for thousands of people across the country. Trachelle Addison cuddles her 2-week-old son, Jirra-e, in the stands of the Superdome, where some 25,000 refugees took shelter after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. 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. Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana: "We're all looking at each other like, 'Why aren't we getting orders to move on this? Around 8 a.m. the storm's eye passes eastern New Orleans. "[Michael] Brown I did not see the first couple of days. ", Richard Falkenrath, Homeland Security Adviser (2001-2004): And Michael Brown tells Louisiana officials, "What I've seen here today is a team that is very tight knit, working closely together, being very professional and making the right calls.". August 28, 2005. Katrina becomes a Category 3 with 115 mph maximum sustained winds. WGBH educational foundation, "A close eye will be kept this system could strengthen ", "Media reports attribute Katrina with four fatalities [in Florida], more than a million customers were without electricity", "Katrina will regenerate on Friday over Gulf of Mexico, head west-northwest then turn northward. These three documentaries and nearly 190 more are all streaming online at pbs.org/frontline. He Says He Paid a Price. Several thousand National Guard troops start reaching the thousands of evacuees at the Convention Center and elsewhere. August 28, 2015, 2:21 PM. A New Orleans house submerged in floodwaters. 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. After her rape, Lewis says, there were no clinics open, so she washed herself with bleach. 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. And he said: 'Mr. FEMA National Situation Update: So I can assume what the criminals were thinking, and that's exactly what happened.". Issues of race, class, government response and . Ten years ago this Saturday, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast. Last September, when Trouble the Water first premiered in New Orleans, I remember thinking, "I have to go down to Canal Place Cinema and support this." I talk to her every other day, and thats her main question How long is it going to be? In Louisiana, New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level. 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 . FEMA Situation Update: "I remember reading [that New Orleans had dodged a bullet]. And that this could potentially be the big one that we had planned for in Hurricane Pam.". Bring enough to sustain yourself, your family, your children. When presented with the additional cases collected by victims' advocates groups, Benelli acknowledges that the police simply doesn't know the extent of sex crimes after the storm. Team members said they delivered babies, treated gunshot and stab victims, and ultimately fled for their own safety. Producer Martin Smith: So, although you said that, you didn't feel that way at that time? "Drug and alcohol use is another contributing factor, and no police presence to prevent them from doing whatever they wanted to, to whomever they wanted to.". Newly rescued people are still being brought to the Superdome. Rescue efforts are delayed because of the inability of rescuers to communicate with each other. 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. And I had a piece of paper where I wrote down like a five-point plan of the things that we needed to do. Military planners are considering setting up a permanent rapid reaction unit designed to respond to domestic disasters. In September 2006, the New Orleans Saints marched into the Superdome for their first game since Hurricane Katrina, providing the spark for a revival. 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. We've all feared a catastrophic hurricane striking New Orleans. 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. I said, 'If you guys don't get together and work this out, this is going to get worse.' "I got a call, I think Saturday afternoon [from] Max Mayfield, the hurricane director. Then we kind of figure out ways that we could coordinate. Evacuating hospitals is a top priority: Patients and staff are stranded and supplies and power are dwindling. 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. "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. home+introduction+watch online+interviews+analysis+14 days