Watch it: For a powerful story of resilience and determination in the face of tragedy. Why would we think there was less rape typical of any given week in the city? . I've never seen a hurricane like this in my 33-year career. Katrina becomes a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph maximum sustained winds. FRONTLINE home+WGBH+PBS, FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of wgbh educational foundation. 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. Some parishes order mandatory evacuations. "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. New Orleans residents are still trapped by the floodwaters, and dispatchers receive about 1,000 emergency phone calls from people needing to be rescued. Michael Brown, FEMA director: Listen 7:57. And he said definitively, "Mr. Mayor, the storm is headed right for you. The Army Corps of Engineers attempts to plug breaches in the 17th Street Canal and Industrial Canal levees. Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina. 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 that was that.". She says she tried to report the assault at the time, but authorities weren't listening. Watch it: To understand what went wrong in the governments response to Katrina. "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". There was nobody there to protect you," Lewis says. 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 majority of industrial buildings will become non functional. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New . "All I know is on Wednesday night I was convinced that there were no FEMA buses. ", Leo Bosner, FEMA watch officer: The 42 reports include assaults that happened inside New Orleans and outside the city, for instance, in host homes. Locals adopt it in their idea of the city. Do You Have News to Share? Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. " 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. In September 2006, the New Orleans Saints marched into the Superdome for their first game since Hurricane Katrina, providing the spark for a revival. In Louisiana, New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level. I am still going out into the streets every day to talk to people about their experiencesI call it getting phyllisophical. We have got to start getting people out.' Mayor Nagin estimates 50,000 to 100,000 people remain in the city. Now, other than media reports, I don't know what's happening at the other end. New Orleans's flood-protection system was improved by increasing in the heights of earthen berms and upgrading floodwalls and floodgates. She gripped my arm at the store, and she told me, the way you shared with everybody so openly, you helped me to heal. Its efforts fail. They were making suggestions about we need to do this and that. She made a report to a local sheriff's office; it has not yet passed the report on to the New Orleans police. "[I] got to the president. The Times-Picayune reports the Convention Center evacuees are still being loaded onto buses and evacuated and search-and-rescue operations continue. Remembers Covering Katrina Preserving History After Hurricane Katrina Katrina's Affect on Charter schools quiz: 10 Questions on Katrina. But while the Superdome has been reclaimed, those stories of trauma remain, and some roil pretty close to . U.S. Cities and States Are Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change. The National Weather Service writes that Hurricane Katrina is "one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States." Hurricane Katrina caused up to $161 billion worth of damage, largely due to the fact that the breached levees led to flooding in 80% of New Orleans. And then they'd gone around the room, and everybody's talking to the president and giving their opinions. And I had a piece of paper where I wrote down like a five-point plan of the things that we needed to do. 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. 11.1.2005. A New Orleans house submerged in floodwaters. "I didn't see any police officers -- I could have gotten away with murder," she says. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. Police Chief Eddie Compass admitted even his own officers had taken food and water from stores. It doesn't make any sense.". Listen 7:57. We, Yahoo, are part of the Yahoo family of brands. ' Gettridge told FRONTLINE. Pack carefully. It was late August, and some of the staff of the NREMT and I were attending the combined NAEMT conference and EMS Expo in New . 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. Mayor Mitch Landrieu last week hailedNew Orleans as Americas comeback city,citing efforts to reduce crime, decrease homelessness and improve educational outcomes for area students. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently changed life for thousands of people across the country. ". " After Katrina passed, we thought we're pretty much out of the woods. Why haven't the bosses decided to move the people out?' by JOHN DORN. ISIS is in Afghanistan, But Who Are They Really? As the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, explore three different FRONTLINE documentaries about the disaster, its lingering aftermath and the lessons learned. It hit land as a Category 3 storm with winds reaching speeds as high as 120 miles per hour. By the end of the day it is 335 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. Their back-up generators flooded. Ten years ago this Saturday, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast. Surviving the Superdome. 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. But I am happy to help, even if it takes me an extra two hours at the grocery store. 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. Airborne debris will be widespread and may include heavy items such as household appliances and even light vehicles. 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. Gettridge,a fifth generation New Orleanian, would go on to die from a heart attack in 2014 at the age of 91 at the home he had successfully rebuilt. Buckles, who wrote and directed the documentary . And Mayor Nagin expressed his concerns. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. At daybreak, rescuers set out on boats to help others still stranded. Interstate 10 is shut down with damage to 40 percent of its Twin Span Bridge over Lake Ponchartrain. To get food out. If we arent talking about what we still need, how can we be sure people wont forget? Some 11,000 National Guardsmen are now on duty in Louisiana and increased security begins to have an effect on lawlessness in New Orleans, although some violence continues. But problems persist. Reports put the population there in the tens of thousands. I said, 'OK, great.' She is at work on her next memoir, No More Wire Hangers, about domestic abuse in teenage relationships. 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. Two national crime-victims' groups have reported a spike in the number of reported rapes that happened to storm evacuees. "[Michael] Brown I did not see the first couple of days. And that is unacceptable. 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. Ten years ago this Saturday, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast. to support FEMA disaster relief efforts, but it will be two days before the troops arrive in the city. 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. "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.". I don't think that's the proper thing to do. One woman told me she was going to commit suicide after Katrina, and that she saw Spike Lees documentary, and I saved her life. Issues of race, class, government response and responsibility, and political rivalries interweave with personal stories of challenges faced and decisions made. Years later, much of the money committed to New Orleans residents had yet to reach them. 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. Thousands more were unable to evacuate, including the nearly 25,000 who sheltered in the Superdome. Go up there, face to face and say, "What is happening here? Patrice Taddonio. He co-wrote the novel,"The Spencer Haywood Rule," and he was co-producer of the "Katrina Cop in the Superdome," a 2010 documentary about the experiences of a black New Orleans police officer and other citizens as they sheltered in the Louisiana Superdome during the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005. 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,. In his speech, he calls on all federal, state and local agencies to review their performance. "What we did -- under Louisiana law the parish presidents, the head of the counties, have the authority to use private resources. "We'd heard the story of a man killing himself, falling . I went to the Adjutant General [Landreneau] and I went to Gov. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty. Under the best of circumstances, rape is one of the hardest crimes to solve. Photo. "I think that that was probably over-reported," he says. Explore FRONTLINEs collected and ongoing reporting on Russia's war on Ukraine. Conditions are deteriorating with bathrooms overflowing, no power for air conditioning and little food and water. Hurricane Katrina first made landfall on Aug. 25, 2005, in Florida, weakening to a tropical storm as it briefly passed over land. They cast a wide net over this important event and Half of telephone service is back. Power outages will last for weeks water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.". New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies . But we were working frantically to get it out. At least one half of well constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. 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. All I can tell you is that in the city of New Orleans we had maybe 250 guardsmen that we could account for. Thats why films like Trouble the Water are so important, and why its great that its making it to a wide audience via HBO. Troops poured in to restore order after almost a week of near-anarchy. 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.". And then somebody came and called me and said, 'The president would like to see you.' When Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans poet Shelton Alexander to evacuate his home, he took his truck and video camera to the Superdome. His death came nearly two years to the day after his wifes passing. I gave people clues on how to pack. A hurricane warning is issued for the Southeast Florida coast. Winds continue to damage or destroy buildings and blow out windows. Here's a [powerful] hurricane. 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 wasnt poor before Katrina, and Im certainly not poor afterward, but Trouble the Water pisses me off all over again, in a good way. And I wanted to cut to the chase because I knew what the real issue was. The Army Corps of Engineers projects it could take 80 days to pump the water out of the city. Sept. 27, 2005, 12:58 PM PDT / Source: The Associated Press. What I hope people will realize when they see Trouble the Water is that we still have so much to do here, and that Katrina really changed so many lives, but we are a really resilient people and we want our city to come back. And the impression given in those four days is basically indelible. [Governor Blanco] probably should have asked sooner. At 7 pm it makes landfall north of Miami. TV-PG. Abandoned cars remain on Interstate 10 in front of the heavily damaged Superdome September 14, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. That she could turn this 15 minutes of footage into an Oscar-nominated documentaryIm amazed by it. 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.". [Mayor Nagin] was upset with everything. Visit us at HISTORY.com for more info. At 7 am Katrina is a Category 5 with 160 mph maximum sustained winds. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, Congress appropriated an unprecedented $126.4 billion for relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts. Find out more about how we use your personal data in our privacy policy and cookie policy. 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 Thousands of displaced residents take cover from Hurricane Katrina at the Superdome in New . 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. The line to get in was already a quarter-mile long. By the end of the day, there are 30,000 people at the Superdome. Television reporters, live on the scene at the Convention Center, report on the growing crisis. Nature Documentary hosted by Helen Baxandale, published by Channel 4 in 2010 - English narration Cover Information . Anastasia is a petite, 25-year-old hairdresser who asked that her last name be omitted. Michael Brown, FEMA director: We all did. 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. I immediately hung up the phone, called my city attorney because they had always advised that you can't do a mandatory evacuation. They spend the next 24 hours trying to save themselves. The Army Corps of Engineers renews work to fix the breach in the 17th St. Canal. If you would like to customise your choices, click 'Manage privacy settings'. Michael Brown, FEMA director: Female victims, now displaced from New Orleans, are slowly coming forward with a different story than the official one. After her rape, Lewis says, there were no clinics open, so she washed herself with bleach. With Glovers story as a jumping-off point, FRONTLINE partnered with the Times-Picayune and ProPublica in 2010 to investigate six questionable shootings by police revealing that, in the midst of post-Katrina chaos, law-enforcement commanders issued orders to ignore long-established rules governing the use of deadly force. Then, the airman hesitated a minute, and asked Landreneau to hold. "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. More than 1,800 people died in what was the costliest . Newly rescued people are still being brought to the Superdome. People begin arriving at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center seeking shelter, food, and water. 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. 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. 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. Floodwaters keep rising. ". FEMA National Situation Update: At least 1,800 lives were lost in Hurricane Katrina, often considered one of the worst hurricanes in US history. There's no question.". 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. authenticate users, apply security measures, and prevent spam and abuse, and, display personalised ads and content based on interest profiles, measure the effectiveness of personalised ads and content, and, develop and improve our products and services. Where is all the things that we need to get out of here?"' The expected storm surge is 15 to 20 feet, locally as high as 25 feet. I said, 'We need to do this.' In New Orleans chaos . producer's chat+tapes & transcript+press reaction+credits+privacy policy "The fact that something wasn't reported to the police doesn't mean it didn't happen," Benitez says. Copyright All rights reserved. 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. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently . A final, official tally of those killed in the disaster is still not in. Gallery. "I got a call, I think Saturday afternoon [from] Max Mayfield, the hurricane director. National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield tells the Times-Picayune newspaper, "This is scary this is the real thing." Judy Benitez, of the Louisiana rape crisis group, says the non-report rate would be far higher given the nightmare of Katrina. If we arent talking about what we still need, how can we be sure people wont forget?. He came right back and he said, I dont know why, but theres probably a foot of water on Claiborne Street, Landreneau said. Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina fill the streets near downtown New Orleans, La., on Aug. 30, 2005. Around this time 17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, and permanently changed life for thousands of people across the country. Bring enough to sustain yourself, your family, your children. Katrina makes landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 3 storm with winds near 127 mph. The storm flooded New Orleans, killed more than 1,800 people, and caused . And we said, "Plan your route carefully. Commander Dave Lipin says they saw two women who said they'd been raped -- different women than those the police attended to. It took me too long and I worked too hard to build what I had here.. In an effort to get victims to come forward, the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault asked Charmaine Neville, a popular New Orleans jazz singer, to tape a public service announcement for national airplay. It is 45 miles northwest of Florida Keys. In all honesty, we begin looting. New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, as seen in the new documentary Katrina Babies. "A close eye will be kept this system could strengthen ". Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 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. Believing the authorities abandoned her after the storm, she wonders why they would care about her now. Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish emergency manager: The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the. She describes . He also announces that the Superdome will be "a shelter of last resort for evacuees with special needs." Producer Martin Smith: So we're just eating sandwiches and making nice while people are stranded on rooftops? FEMA Situation Update: And Michael Brown was there listening. And he basically asked me, 'Mr. Here's all these thousands of people that don't have any way to get out of the city. Around 9:30 a.m. Mayor Ray Nagin issues a mandatory evacuation. We knew what had to be done. 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. These defenses held for Hurricane Ida, a category 4 storm, in August 2021. 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. "All I could do was pray, pray for rescue, pray that I didn't have any type of transmitted disease," she says. Virtually all communication systems are out. As a shocking New Orleans documentary airs on HBO tonight, Phyllis Montana-LeBlancbestselling author and gutsy survivorexplains why the city is still drowning. A scene from 2006s 'When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts' (Photo: Everett Collection) This week marks a . My sense now is there are victims out there whose stories haven't been heard.". Twenty-five thousand miserable people - many of whom lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina - hunkered down with little food and little water, overflowing toilets, stifling heat and the . And he passes, literally, hundreds of school buses lined up to come and get these folks. That is why the first place we picked to do an exercise and planning was New Orleans. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. City officials say 80 percent of New Orleans is flooded. These three documentaries and nearly 190 more are all streaming online at pbs.org/frontline. By the end of the day, the projected storm surge is 18 to 22 feet, locally as high as 28 feet. 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. "To cries of 'Thank you, Jesus!' And the president comes, and we have this meeting. Oh, absolutely not. Tonight, the Oscar-nominated Trouble the Watera documentary by filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, premieres on HBO. And it was a very good meeting, I thought. We need you to take over logistics, distribution of commodities, etc. August 28, 2015, 2:21 PM. 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. 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." Over 1,800 people lost their lives in the hurricane and an estimated 1 million people were displaced from their homes. 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. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip). I aint about to leave, Gettridge said. ', So they went into another section of the plane, had a meeting. Military planners are considering setting up a permanent rapid reaction unit designed to respond to domestic disasters. I think we both should have asked sooner.". Nobody cared.". 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. With all due respect, Mr. President, if you and the governor don't get on the same page, this event is going to continue to spiral down, and it's going to be a black eye on everybody -- federal, state and local.' Flooding grows as water surges over levee breaks from Lake Ponchartrain; the 9th Ward is almost entirely submerged. And [FEMA Director] Michael Brown was with me at that time. He estimates 5,000 to 10,000 people are still in the city, with many of them still waiting to be rescued. / 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. 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." 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. "I remember reading [that New Orleans had dodged a bullet]. The Times-Picayune reports that an estimated 112,000 people do not own cars. 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 . And at that time I took some liberties I probably shouldn't take. 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". Then we kind of figure out ways that we could coordinate. 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 . And there seems to be this dance about who has ultimate authority. Another group, Witness Justice, a Maryland-based non-profit that assists victims of violent crimes, claims to have received 156 reports of post-Katrina violent crimes; about a third of those involved sexual assaults. 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.