That night, around 6 p.m., Thornton got a phone call. According to Talk Poverty, "a Black homeowner in New Orleans was more than three times as likely to have been flooded as a white homeowner. Inside the Dome, though, a small group of women and men fought to retain whatever order they could. By 4:30 p.m., the winds were dying down and Thornton and Mouton went outside and surveyed the building. At one point, a desperate man, who had all the belongings he had brought to the Superdome stolen, tried to escape and had to be calmed by National Guardsmen. However, tens of thousands of residents could not or would not leave. Before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, there were roughly 2,000 foster children registered in the state. Some of those who left later returned, and by 2020 the population reached just over 390,000, or about 80 percent of its pre-Katrina population. Thornton, pacing inside, turned to one of the mechanics. Many local agencies found themselves unable to respond to the increasingly desperate situation, as their own headquarters and control centres were under 20 feet (6 metres) of water. Nagin told the men to get him a list of supplies they needed, and he would get it from FEMA. Unfortunately, it was made significantly worse than it had to be. Every sink was broken. estimated population had increased to 376,971. After passing over Florida, Katrina again weakened, and was reclassified as a tropical storm. The hurricane and its aftermath claimed more than 1,800 lives, and it ranked as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Thornton, whod been cooped up in the Superdome for going on five days, looked down on her city, at the soft waves lapping against the houses in the moonlight. 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. More women are coming forward with stories of sexual. Three people died in the Superdome; one apparently jumped off a 50-foot high walkway. [Mouton] saved thousands of lives.. Deaths in the Superdome. Those without cars were in theory going to be picked up by city buses at stops throughout the city and taken two hours north of New Orleans. And since the hurricane evacuation plan stipulated that "the primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles," according to "Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared" (the Senate committee's report), this left the state's most impoverished and vulnerable families, the large majority of whom were people of color, without anywhere to go as Hurricane Katrina hit. [44] The San Antonio Express-News reported that sources close to the Saints' organization said that Benson planned to void his lease agreement with New Orleans by declaring the Superdome unusable. After Hurricane Katrina, which damaged more than 100 school buildings, the state seized control of almost all urban schools and turned them over to independent charter groups. Meanwhile, foster families struggled with making sure that their children had their medication. According to National Geographic, "some argue that indirect hurricane deaths, like being unable to access medical care, should be counted in official numbers.". This was especially clear in the poor evacuations of nursing homes. What were Hurricane Katrinas wind speeds? Food rotted inside the hundreds of unpowered refrigerators and freezers spread throughout the building. The bullet went through his own leg. They knew what that meant: The Superdome was now running on its backup generator, which could power the lights but not much more. Children slept in pools of urine. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the garage, up the stairs and to the helipad. The storm was coming. 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. [13], On September 2, 475 buses were sent by FEMA to pick up evacuees from the dome and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, where more than 20,000people had been crowded in similarly poor living conditions. There was water pouring in every crevice, Thornton said. Finally, Mouton spoke. Out of the at least 1,800 deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina, nearly half were elderly people. The emergency generator later failed, and engineers had to protect the backup generator from floodwaters by creating a hole in a wall and installing a new fuel line. Families torn apart by the storm wouldnt re-connect for months in some cases. At St. Rita's Nursing Home, residents were reportedly abandoned by the staff, and 35 people drowned as a result. All Rights Reserved. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people in New Orleans were evacuated to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. 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 . Early the next morning Thorntonwoke from a fitful sleep, then went out into the hallway outside his office. It took two days for 1,000 more FEMA officials to arrive, but once they did, FEMA "slowed the evacuation with unworkable paperwork and certification requirements." In addition, many of the underlying systemic inequalities and problems that resulted in the severity of the disaster still have not been addressed. You have to fend people off constantly. Mahogany describes her actions before deciding to evacuate her home, her trip to the New Orleans Saints' Superdome, her horrific time at the Superdome, and finally her decision to leave New Orleans. Well, Thornton replied, our generator has 10 inches to spare. The flooding destroyed New Orleans, the Nation's thirty-fifth largest city. Plus theyll be out in the heat.. Mouton found out that there were sandbags available on Franklin Avenue inLakefront. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. The skies darkened, and the wind started to pick up. Theyd evacuate the group in shifts later that night, they decided, taking them west to a helipad at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, outside Baton Rouge. Insurance companies have paid an estimated $41.1 billion on 1.7 million different claims for damage to vehicles, homes, and businesses in six states. Thornton and Mouton were walking away from the meeting when they heard a loud bang. A fire erupted in a trash chute inside the dome, but a National Guard commander said it did not affect the evacuation. The arrival of 13,000 U.S. National Guard troops and 7,000 U.S. military troops deployed by President George W. Bush helped with evacuations and resupplying food and water to those stranded at the Superdome and convention center, all of whom were finally evacuated on September 3. There was a plan. The National Weather Service writes that Hurricane Katrina is "one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States.". "[38] On that same day, 10 deaths were reported at the Superdome by CBS News. The men sat in stunned silence. Hours before three major levees were breached, President Bush announced that New Orleans had "dodged a bullet," despite the fact that Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco had already requested federal assistance two days before the hurricane hit, according to The Society Pages. People try to get to higher ground as water rises on August 30, 2005, in New Orleans. Thousands of displaced residents take cover from Hurricane Katrina at the Superdome in New . By 2007, 99% of the 1.2 million personal property claims had been settled by insurers. NPR reports that before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FEMA Director Michael Brown and other top Homeland Security officials received emails on their blackberries warning that Katrina posed a dire threat." [4] However, when looking into the origins of the claims about 200mph (320km/h) wind security in the Superdome, CNN reported that no engineering study had ever been completed on the amount of wind the structure could withstand. The air conditioning ducts would have mold in them by now. . Taking them in through the exterior door would have been quicker, but Thorntoncouldnt risk the flood of water if they opened the back door. Brown. It's also believed that many of these deaths could have been preventable if emergency and hospital services hadn't been as disrupted as they were. [35], On September 4, NOPD chief Eddie Compass reported, "We don't have any substantiated rapes. Nearly half the fatalities in Louisiana were people over the age of 74. But over the Gulf of Mexico, some 165 miles west of Key West, the storm gathered strength above the warmer waters of the gulf. . Miller told a reporter. This is ready to break. Results: Hurricane Katrina was responsible for the death of up to 1,170 persons in Louisiana; the risk of death increased with age. In an analysis of 971 fatalities in Louisiana and 15 additional deaths of storm evacuees, 40% of deaths were caused by drowning. And as Vox writes, this wasn't necessarily by choice "but rather because they were too poor to afford a car or bus fare to leave." 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. Governor Blanco herself stated, "They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. The low-income development has been replaced by two-story, townhouse-style buildings. From Morgan City, Louisiana, to Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama, Hurricane Katrina's wind, rain, and . Thornton and his skeleton crew he only had 18 management staff and security officers there, along with the National Guard had to figure out how to best prepare the building to serve as a shelter. Katrina caused over 1,800 deaths and $100 billion in . Supplies were dangerously low, with one mother saying officials told her to reuse diapers by scraping them out when they got dirty. FEMA photo/Andrea Booher. His assailant hit him with a metal rod taken from a cot. Thornton finally spoke. Then the male employees, and, finally, the men who worked security would be the last to leave. It was already known that the generators would not provide lights or air conditioning for the whole dome if the power failed, and also pumps providing water to second-level restrooms wouldn't function. About 16,000 people. 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. It was the most eerie sight Ill ever recall in my life. The Blackhawks had landed on the top parking level of the Superdome, and then the sandbags were driven down to the back door by the generator room. A 2008 report from the Louisiana Health Department put the total at . [2] Approximately 10,000 residents, along with about 150 National Guardsmen, sheltered in the Superdome anticipating Katrina's landfall. You need to go take a look. Although post-traumatic stress symptoms showed a decline in the years after the hurricane, "one in six still had symptoms indicative of probable post-traumatic stress disorder.". President Bush was otherwise occupied during this time. And we look up and see a metal beam, a massive beam, that had been windblown into the aluminum siding. The buildings air conditioning system would no longer run, nor would the refrigeration system keeping massive amounts of food from spoiling. Then the women and the children. On August 29, at about 6:20 AM EDT, the electricity supply to the dome failed. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Is everyone here? . Doug Thornton knew he had to get his people out. He started bawling. [34] However, after a National Guardsman was attacked with a metal rod, the National Guard put up barbed wire barricades to separate and protect themselves from the other people in the dome, and blocked people from exiting. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. 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. appreciated. President George W. Bush looks out the window of Air Force One on August 31, 2005, as he flies over New Orleans. A man in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward rides a canoe in high water on August 31, 2005. It looks like we cant stop the levee breaches and were being told there could be as much as six to eight feet more of water, Thornton recalls Compass saying. One crisis had been averted. After it made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, Hurricane Katrina produced widespread flooding in southeastern Louisiana because the levee system that held back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne was completely overwhelmed by 10 inches of rain and Katrinas storm surge. [28] Instead, the State of Louisiana and the operator of the dome, SMG, chose to repair and renovate the dome beginning in early 2006. katrina Why Did Hurricane Katrina Kt Women So Hard? The lights stayed on. Thornton held a status meeting at 5 p.m. with Lt. Col. Doug Mouton, an old friend who had arrived to take command of the 370 National Guard troops at the Superdome. With limited power, no plumbing, a shredded roof and not nearly enough supplies to deal with 30,000 evacuees, it became a symbol of how unprepared the city and country had been for a storm experts knew could arrive. To see all these downtown buildings completely shut down, Thornton said. [12], By August 30, with no air conditioning, temperatures inside the dome had reached the 90s, and the punctured dome at once allowed humidity in and trapped it there. In some areas, floodwaters reached depths of 10 to 15 feet, and didnt recede for weeks. Caleb Wells. It has been 10 years since Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed the city ofNew Orleans. This also disproportionately affected people of color. The air smelled toxic. Thats been the history. This place wont be here in six days.. Light was fading fast. Meanwhile, NOLA.com reports that New Orleans police officers were given authorization to shoot looters. Nearly 56% of the losses occurred in Louisiana and nearly 30% occurred in Mississippi. Tempers began to flare as hunger and thirst deepened. 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. According to an article in Time, "Over the years city officials have stressed that they didn't want to make it too comfortable at the Superdome since it was always safer to leave the city altogether. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Although the rebuilt levees are supposed to protect the city against a flood with a severity that comes every 100 years, the flood brought by Hurricane Katrina was one that, in theory, comes once every 400 years. Over the next two days the weather system gathered strength, earning the designation Tropical Storm Katrina, and it made landfall between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a category 1 hurricanea storm that, on the Saffir-Simpson scale, exhibits winds in the range of 7495 miles (119154 km) per hour. By 2021, the estimated population had increased to 376,971, according to the Census. [45] However, the Saints announced that they would be returning to New Orleans, with the first home game taking place on September 25, 2006 against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football. Her escape out. He needed to start getting people out. Four died of natural causes, one had a drug overdose, and one committed suicide. Preparations by location South Florida. A woman cries after returning to her house and business, destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, on August 30, 2005, in Biloxi, Mississippi. They worked furiously. The line to get in was already a quarter-mile long. The population of New Orleans fell from 484,674 in April 2000 to 230,172 in July 2006, a decrease of over 50%. Tulane University postponed its scheduled football game against the University of Southern Mississippi until November 26. Hurricane Katrina had intruded on the last safe place. NOAA report- Direct deaths: 520 - Indirect deaths: 565 - Indeterminate cause: 307- Total number of fatalities: 1392. Police watch over prisoners from Orleans Parish Prison who were evacuated to a highway on September 1, 2005. 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.