Timeline of Hurricane Katrina

Before landfall

August 23 2005 - The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issues a statement saying that Tropical Depression Twelve had formed over the southeastern Bahamas.
August 24 morning - The storm system is upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina.
August 25 - The storm is upgraded to become the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season.

First landfall

Thursday, August 25

6:30PM - Katrina makes its first landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. At least 11 deaths in Florida are attributed to the storm.

Friday, August 26

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco declares a state of emergency for the state Louisiana [1].

Saturday, August 27

Katrina is upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls for a voluntary evacuation of the city.
Governor Blanco asks President Bush to declare a federal state of emergency in Louisiana. [2]
President Bush declares a state of emergency in Louisiana under the authority of the Stafford Act [3].

Sunday, August 28

12:40AM CDT - Katrina becomes a Category 4 hurricane.
Gov. Blanco sends letter to President Bush through FEMA Region VI Director requesting that Bush declare an expedited major disaster for Louisiana. In the 4-page letter, she makes specific requests for aid as well as requesting "direct Federal assistance for work and services to save lives and protect property" and agrees to reduced liability [4] (Note, the letter was published on 27 August 2005 on Lexis Nexis but was dated 28 August 2005. Bush received the letter on Saturday and responded on that same day). Blanco & Bush also had phone conversations; [5] describes the apparent confusion over authority for Bush to send National Guard troops.
10AM CDT - National Weather Service issues a bulletin predicting "devastating" damage.
10AM CDT - Mandatory evacuation is ordered for New Orleans City by Mayor Nagin.
1PM CDT - Katrina becomes a Category 5 hurricane with a highest sustained wind speed of 175 mph and gusts up to 215 mph.
President Bush declares a state of emergency in Alabama [6] and Mississippi [7], and a major disaster in Florida [8] under the authority of the Stafford Act.

Second landfall

August 29 6:10AM CDT - Katrina makes second landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph
August 29 - Katrina makes third landfall near Louisiana/Mississippi border.
August 29 8AM CDT - New Orleans: Rising water on both sides of the Industrial Canal [9].
August 29 9AM CDT - New Orleans: 6-8 feet of water in the Lower Ninth Ward [10].
August 29 11AM CDT - New Orleans: 10 feet of water in St. Bernard [11].
August 29 2PM CDT - New Orleans officials publicly confirm 17th Street Canal breach [12].
August 29 - AP: "FEMA director Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments." [13]
August 29 President Bush declares a major disaster for Louisiana [14], Mississippi [15], and Alabama [16] under the authority of the Stafford Act.

Immediate aftermath

August 30 1:30AM CDT - CNN reports that a levee on the 17th Street Canal, which connects into Lake Pontchartrain, suffered a two city-block wide breach. It is later reported that a total of three levees are breached.
August 30 Noon CDT - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff becomes aware that the New Orleans levee breaches cannot be plugged [17].
August 30 - FEMA official Bill Lokey briefs the press that "I don't want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just not happening." [18]
August 30 10PM CDT - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announces that the planned sandbagging of the 17th Street levee breach has failed.
August 30 - 80 percent of New Orleans is underwater.
August 30 - Many instances of looting reported in the city of New Orleans.
August 30 - FEMA refuses to allow volunteer firefighters into New Orleans.
August 30 - The U.S. military starts to move ships and helicopters to the region at the request of the FEMA.[19]
August 31 - President Bush heads back to Washington from vacationing in Crawford, Texas. Though he does not stop in Louisiana, Air Force One flies low over the Gulf Coast so that he can view the devastation. [20]
August 31 - President Bush declares Gulf Coast a Public Health Emergency. [21]
August 31 - Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana orders that all of New Orleans, including the Superdome, be evacuated.
August 31 - New Orleans's 1,500 member police force is ordered to abandon search and rescue missions and turn their attention toward controlling the widespread looting and a curfew is placed in effect. Mayor Ray Nagin calls for increased federal assistance
August 31 11PM EDT - U.S. government weather officials announce that the center of the remnant low of what was Katrina has been completely absorbed by a frontal boundary in southeastern Canada, with no discernible circulation.
September 1 - President Bush tells ABC's Diane Sawyer: "I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday" (ABC)
September 1 - Governor Blanco says that the death toll may be "in the thousands".
September 1 - The shelter in Houston's Astrodome is ruled full and could not accept any more people.
September 1 - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announces that 4,200 National Guard troops trained as military police will be deployed to New Orleans over the next three days. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco requests the mobilization of 40,000 National Guard troops.
September 1 - California swift water rescue crew units each rescue hundreds in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. [22]
September 1 - FEMA halts California swift water rescue crews from conducting further rescues. [23]
September 1 - DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff is informed by NPR's Robert Siegel during an interview on All Things Considered that 2000 people are at the New Orleans Convention Center with no food or water. Chertoff has no knowledge of the situation, and initially dismisses it as a rumor: "I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the Convention Center who don't have food and water. " [24]
September 1 - Ted Koppel on ABC News Nightline interviews FEMA Director Brown who declares that FEMA only became aware of crisis at the Convention Center on this date. Koppel questions how FEMA could not have known that 1,000s were without food, water, or toilets for days. [25]
September 2 - The Bush administration sent Gov. Blanco a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. [26]
September 4 - The Superdome is completely evacuated.

Second week aftermath

September 5 - The 17th Street Canal levee breach is plugged with 3,000 pound sandbags and truckloads of rock.
September 6 - Forced evacuation of New Orleans ordered by mayor.
September 6 - "Hundreds of firefighters who volunteered to help rescue victims have instead been playing cards, taking classes on the history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and lounging at an Atlanta airport hotel for days while they await orders." Some had been waiting for four days. [27] [28]
September 6 - Some firefighters handed their first assignment: "to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas." [29]
September 6 - Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) calls for Michael D. Brown's resignation. Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid begin to voice criticism of the disaster's handling, and of the Bush administration's management, delegation of control, leadership, and human consideration. [30]
September 9 - FEMA director Michael Brown is removed from directing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. He has been replaced by Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen, chief of staff of the U.S. Coast Guard. (CTV.ca)

Parallel political timeline

President of the United States, George W. Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Before landfall

August 23 - The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issues a statement saying that Tropical Depression Twelve had formed over the southeastern Bahamas.
August 25 - The storm is upgraded to become the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season.

First landfall

August 25 6:30PM - Katrina makes its first landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. At least 11 deaths in Florida are attributed to the storm.
August 27 - Bush declares state of emergency in Louisiana
August 28 10AM CDT - National Weather Service issues a bulletin predicting "devastating" damage.[31]
August 28 10AM CDT - Mandatory evacuation is ordered for New Orleans City.
August 28 1PM CDT - Katrina becomes a Category 5 hurricane with a highest sustained wind speed of 175 mph and gusts up to 215 mph.

Second landfall

Senator John McCain enjoys a birthday cake with President George W. Bush on August 29, 2005.

File:Bushplane.jpg

President Bush observes damage from Hurricane Katrina over New Orleans, August 31.

President George W. Bush meets victims of Hurricane Katrina on September 2, 2005, during his tour of Biloxi.

August 29 6:10AM CDT - Katrina makes second landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph
August 29 - Morning – President Bush shares birthday photo-op with Senator John McCain [32]
August 29 - 11AM — Bush visits Arizona to promote Medicare drug benefit: “This new bill I signed says, if you’re a senior and you like the way things are today, you’re in good shape, don’t change. But, by the way, there’s a lot of different options for you. And we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.” [33]
August 29 - Bush visits Rancho Cucamonga, California and talks about Medicare. [34]
August 30 - Bush visits a Naval Medical Center in San Diego. [35]
August 30 - Two levees in New Orleans were breached.
August 31 - Air Force One flyover the Gulf Coast, pilot take a dip for the President to take a glimpse at the devastation. He then return to the White House, ending his vacation prematurely. [36]
August 31 - Bush give an interview with ABC television saying I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did appreciate a serious storm but these levees got breached and as a result much of New Orleans is flooded and now we're having to deal with it and will. [37]
August 31 - Bush declares Gulf Coast a Public Health Emergency [38]
September 1 - U.S. Senate passes a relief package.
September 2 - Bush signs the $10.5 billion relief package after Congress passed it. [39]
September 2 - Bush tours the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast, saying that he is ordering additional active duty forces to the region. He also authorizes a drawdown of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. [40]

Second week aftermath

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