Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

The effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans was extremely severe, resulting from one of the most deadly natural disasters in U.S. history. By August 30 2005, one day after the Category 4 storm made landfall, 80 percent of the city of New Orleans, was flooded, with some parts of the city under 20 feet (6 m) of water. The flood was caused by several levee breaches due to a combination of a powerful storm surge, strong winds and excess water in the bodies of water surrounding the city. The event continues to have major implications for a large segment of the population as well as for the economy of and politics in the entire United States.

Below sea level

New Orleans, much of which sits below sea level, is surrounded by the Mississippi River to the south, Lake Pontchartrain to the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the east. Construction of the levees between New Orleans, the River, and the Lake began in 1879. The earthen barriers were originally erected to prevent damage caused by seasonal flooding and to allow the city to expand beyond the natural levees on which it had been initially constructed.

Unfortunately, the levees interfered with the normal process of the River depositing sediment and building up the land of the delta marshlands during the periodic floods. Interrupting a process that created the land of the Mississippi Delta over the course of thousands of years caused the land to dry out. In turn, the swampy lands of Southern Louisiana shrank like a sponge, the land began to sink and entire barrier islands disappeared as the land of the vast delta slowly settled into the sea.

The subsidence of the land of southern Louisiana can be attributed to the leveeing of the Mississippi River, the pumping of ground water from under the city, the failure to address the environmental impact of development on the Mississippi Delta, subsidence and environmental damage caused of oil and gas production, and the failure to maintain and/or upgrade the levee and flood wall system despite many studies that warned of impending disaster. [1]

Interestingly, the land of New Orleans and the surrounding communities was not below sea level when the communities were built. The area begin to sink precipitiously only after the current levee system was erected in the 1940s and 1950s and accelerated when the shipping canal flood walls completed in the mid 1960s.

Shea Penland, a geologist at the University of New Orleans and contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the levees, attributes one third of the land subsidence to the large number of canals through the delta. Barge traffic and tides erode the earth around the edge of the canals, and salty Gulf water seeps in along them, slowly salinating the ground and killing the vegetation that helps hold the land together. [2]

Flood walls and levees

To the surprise of many experts, the earthen levees did not fail during Hurricane Katrina. Instead, the flood walls lining the shipping canals gave way and flooded the city and surrounding areas with the water from Lake Ponchartrain, which was then several feet above sea level. These flood walls are little more than two feet thick and were engineered in the 1960s to withstand only a Category 3 hurricane. Additionally, destruction of Cypress trees and other vegetation that previously thrived in the brackish waters where the mouth of the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico crippled the natural salt water filtration system. This damage escalated the process of erosion and removed the natural storm protection system that historically helped weaken storms before they struck heavily populated inland areas.

The final trigger to the catastrophe was hurricane damage to these flood walls that contained the water of the shipping canals that traverse the city. Three flood walls were breached:

Along the Industrial Canal
Along the 17th Street Canal, and
Along the London Avenue Canal.

The pumping stations that were designed to remove flood waters from the city were overwhelmed and failed.

While it could be considered miraculous that the flood walls held at all during the Category 4 (or arguably Category 5) storm and for a short time after, they were no match for the secondary storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain. This failure of the flood walls which protected the city along the shipping canals caused a major flood that inundated the city and surrounding Parishes. By August 31, the water level in New Orleans reached the level of Lake Pontchartrain, with close to 90% of New Orleans under water.

Predictions

File:Msyelevst.jpg

Elevation map of New Orleans. Cool shades are below the level of Lake Pontchartrain.

In spite of repeated warnings, no large-scale corrective measures had been implemented when Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

"The design of the original levees, which dates to the 1960s, was based on rudimentary storm modeling that, it is now realized, might underestimate the threat of a potential hurricane. Even if the modeling was adequate, however, the levees were designed to withstand only forces associated with a fast-moving hurricane that, according to the National Weather Service’s Saffir-Simpson scale, would be placed in category 3. If a lingering category 3 storm — or a stronger storm, say, category 4 or 5 — were to hit the city, much of New Orleans could find itself under more than 20 ft (6 m) of water."

J.J. Westerink, The Creeping Storm, Civil Engineering Magazine, June 2003.

The eye of Hurricane Katrina was forecast to pass to the east of New Orleans. In that event, the wind would back into the north as the storm passed, forcing large volumes of water from Lake Pontchartrain against the levees and possibly into the City. It was also forecast that the storm surge in Lake Pontchartrain would reach 14 to 18 feet (4 to 5 m), with waves reaching seven feet (2 m) above the storm surge [3].

On August 28, at 10 a.m. CDT, the National Weather Service (NWS) field office in New Orleans issued a bulletin predicting catastrophic damage to New Orleans. Anticipated effects included, at the very least, the partial destruction of half of the well-constructed houses in the city, severe damage to most industrial buildings rendering them inoperable, the "total destruction" of all wood-framed low-rise apartment buildings, all windows blowing out in high-rise office buildings, and the creation of a huge debris field of trees, telephone poles, cars, and collapsed buildings. Lack of clean water was predicted to "make human suffering incredible by modern standards".

Further predictions were that the standing water caused by huge storm surges would render most of New Orleans uninhabitable for weeks and that the destruction of oil and petrochemical refineries in the surrounding area would spill waste into the flooding. The resulting mess would coat every surface, converting the city into a toxic marsh until water could be drained. Some experts said that it could take six months or longer to pump all the water out of the city. Even after the area had been drained, and afterward all buildings would need to undergo inspection to determine structural soundness, as all buildings in the city would likely be at least partly submerged [4]. In a cruel twist of fate, many of the predictions from a FEMA simulated hurricane response exercise held in 2004. National Geographic published FEMA's predictions for the city and the country following such a disaster in October 2004 [5][6] (see Hurricane Pam, [7]) correctly predicted many of the calamities that actually occurred with Katrina [8].)

Evacuation order and refuges of last resort

In anticipation of destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a citywide mandatory evacuation on August 28, the first such order in the city's history. Neighboring areas and parishes followed suit. In a live news conference, Mayor Nagin predicted that "the storm surge most likely will topple our levee system," and warned that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico would be shut down. President George W. Bush had to call the Mayor and personally appeal for the mandatory evacuation. Bush also made a televised appeal for residents to heed the evacuation orders, warning, "We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities." [9]

Pre-disaster scenarios estimated that 100,000 or more residents would not have the transportation means to escape the city. In the interest of protecting these residents, a "refuge of last resort" had been designated in advance - the Superdome. Beginning at noon on August 28th and running for several hours, some City buses were redeployed to shuttle local residents to the refuges. Several hundred school buses were not deployed due to the City being unable to find drivers. By the time Hurricane Katrina came ashore early the next morning, the Superdome was housing over 9,000 residents along with 550 National Guard troops. The elevation of the Superdome is about three feet (1 m) above sea level, and the forecasted storm surge was predicted to cause flooding on that site. The Superdome had been used as a shelter in the past, such as during 1998's Hurricane Georges, and because it was estimated to be able to withstand winds of up to 200 mph (320 km/h) and water levels of 35 feet (10 m), it was considered one of the best options available at the time. The mayor told those coming to the Superdome to bring blankets and enough food for several days, warning that it would be a very uncomfortable place. [10]

The entire Southern Louisiana region was declared a disaster area before Hurricane Katrina made landfall land and FEMA prepositioned 18 disaster medical teams, medical supplies and equipment, urban search and rescue teams along with millions of MREs (Meals, ready-to-eat), liters of water, tarpaulins, and truckloads of ice.

Effects

Shortly before midnight on August 28, local television stations WAPT and WWL-TV reported the first deaths in Louisiana related to Katrina: three nursing home patients who died, probably of dehydration, during an evacuation to Baton Rouge.

On Monday August 29, area affiliates of local television station WDSU reported New Orleans was experiencing widespread flooding, was without power, and that there were several instances of catastrophic damage in residential as well as business areas. All metropolitan New Orleans television news services had evacuated their studios in the city and were broadcasting from remote locations. As of 2 p.m., the east side of New Orleans was under 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m) of water. Entire neighborhoods on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain were flooded.

At 11 p.m. on August 29, Mayor Ray Nagin conducted an interview with WWL discussing the damage to New Orleans. He described the loss of life as "significant" with reports of bodies floating on the water throughout the city, though primarily in the eastern portions. There was no clean water or electricity in the city, and some hotels and hospitals reported diesel fuel shortages. The estimate of restoration of power was at least four to six weeks for the city. A breach in the levee at the 17th Street Canal was causing further trouble; the pumps designed to pump water out of the city redirected into Lake Pontchartrain, which then circulated back through the breach. The I-10 pumps overheated, causing valve damage, also negating their effectiveness during the flooding. A representative from St. Bernard Parish reported "total devastation" with 40,000 homes flooded. The National Guard began setting up temporary morgues in select locations. He also said houses have been picked up and moved. In summary, he described the devastation as a "nightmare".

The Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin told ABC's "Good Morning America" that residents of New Orleans should not expect to return to their homes for "twelve to sixteen weeks". Nagin also told reporters on August 31 that the hurricane may have killed thousands of people in the city. Allen Breed of the Associated Press reports that New Orleans "descended into anarchy Thursday, as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out and storm survivors battled for seats on the buses that would carry them away from the chaos. The tired and hungry seethed, saying they had been forsaken"

Levee breaches

As of mid-day Monday, August 29, the eye of Hurricane Katrina had swept northeast and spared New Orleans the brunt of the storm. The City seemed to have escaped most of the catastrophic wind damage that was predicted.

However, at 11 a.m. the National Weather Service reported that a levee broke on the Industrial Canal, a 5.5 mile (9 km) waterway that connects the Mississippi River to the Intracoastal Waterway, near the St. Bernard-Orleans Parish line (Tennessee St.) and 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 m) of flooding was possible. This area, also known as the 9th Ward, reported 3 pump failures.

On August 30 at 1:30 a.m. CDT, CNN (via the Vice President of Tulane University Medical Center) reported that a wall on the 17th Street Canal, which connects Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River, suffered a two city-block wide breach.

John Hall, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, later said that the floodwall on top of the 17th Street Canal Levee had been overtopped by the storm surge. The water cascading over the wall eventually undermined the wall base, causing it to collapse outwards. Repairs were complicated by the presence of the low Hammond Highway bridge and a hurricane barrier on the Lake Pontchartrain]] side of the breach, which impeded access by barges and heavy equipment.

The 17th Street Canal Levee is on the border of Metairie and New Orleans proper, and when it collapsed it flooded most of the city under as much as 25 feet (8 m) of water. This breach allowed the water of Lake Pontchartrain, which at the time was some six feet (2 m) above sea level, to flow downward into northern New Orleans proper, which lies between two and ten feet (1 to 3 m) below sea level. A 200-foot breach was confirmed by New Orleans Fire Department officials to CNN at 3:16 a.m. CDT on August 30 [11].

At 6:30 p.m. WWL-TV announced that the effort to sandbag (ongoing since 2 p.m.) the breach in 17th St. canal levee at the Hammond Highway bridge had failed, and it was expected that the pumping station at that location would fail.

At 10 p.m. CDT on August 30, Mayor Ray Nagin reported on WDSU that the planned sandbagging of the 17th Street Levee breach failed because National Guard Blackhawk helicopters that were expected at the breach were diverted to save some people in a church, and also reported that another 9 feet (3 m) of water was expected to fill the entire City. This means that even the French Quarter would flood within about 12 hours, up to the level of Lake Pontchartrain, three feet (1 m) above sea level. The failure to sandbag would add at least an additional four weeks to drain the city. He estimated that it would take about four months before the City would be habitable.

On August 30, the London Avenue Canal floodwall was breached at 6100 Pratt Drive, according to the Army News Service

NASA satellite imagery released on August 30 showed that Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas had substantially overflowed and had nearly blended into a single lake separated only by a narrow strip of land. Significant flooding along local rivers was also indicated

On Friday, September 2, it was estimated that ad hoc levee repairs would be complete by Sunday, September 4 and, once the City's system of pumps can be repaired and supplied with power, that unwatering the City would then take a minimum of 35 days (mid October) and up to 80 days (end of November) for some areas. Access from the lake to the 17th Street Canal was blocked, stopping water flow despite the canal breach still being open.

By Saturday, September 3, it had been discovered that the pumps used to drain New Orleans were no longer manufactured, so that the damaged parts would have to be remanufactured instead of replaced as had been hoped. It was estimated that at least a week would be required to dry out the pumps before repair could be attempted. Any residential structure submerged for two weeks will likely require demolition.

On September 4, Brigadier General Robert Crear of the US Army Corps of Engineers said that they had succeeded in closing off the 17th Street Canal. He added that it would take between 36 and 80 days to complete the task of emptying New Orleans of flood water. New estimates on September 10 indicate that it may be as few as three weeks before water is drained from the city, because of drier weather, favorable winds, and the use of deliberate breaches in the lower levees.

Damage to buildings and roads

On August 29, 7:40 a.m. CDT, it was reported that most of the windows on the north side of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans had been blown out, and many other high rise buildings had extensive window damage. The Hyatt was the most severely damaged hotel in the city, with beds reported to be flying out of the windows. Insulation tubes were exposed as the hotel's glass exterior was completely sheared off.

A number of brick façades collapsed into the street. At least three fires were reported in the New Orleans area, destroying several buildings. By September 2, fires had become a more widespread problem with some reports of arson.

The St. Bernard Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) said that on August 29 that the Parish's two shelters at Chalmette High and St. Bernard High were suffering much damage with flooding. He said Chalmette High shelter was losing its roof, and St. Bernard High had many broken windows. There were estimates of 300-plus evacuees at the two sites. "We cannot see the tops of the levees!" exclaimed OEP Director Larry Ingargiola.

At 11:00 p.m. of August 29, Mayor Ray Nagin conducted an interview with WWL-TV discussing the damage to New Orleans. He described New Orleans as "totally dark" with no clear way in or out, eighty percent of the City flooded, with some areas having water depths of 20 feet (6 m). Both airports were underwater, "three huge boats" had run aground, along with an oil tanker which was leaking oil. The yacht club was destroyed by a fire, and gas leaks were reported throughout the City. The Pontchartrain Expressway (Interstate 10 in Downtown, not to be confused with the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway) was "full of water" and the "Twin Spans" over the east end of Lake Pontchartrain were "totally destroyed".

As of 11:30 p.m. CDT, WDSU-TV reported at least part of the I-10 Twin Span had completely collapsed. On WWL-TV, Mayor Nagin stated that, according to a FEMA official, the entire length of the Twin Span had been destroyed

By September 2, NOAA had published aerial photography of many of the affected regions.

Communications failures

Coordination of rescue efforts August 29 and August 30 were frustrated by inability to communicate. Many telephones, including most cell phones, were not working due to line breaks, destruction of base stations, or power failures, even though some base stations had their own back-up generators. In a number of cases, reporters were asked to brief public officials on the conditions in areas where information was not reaching them any other way.

Amateur radio has been providing tactical and emergency communications as well as health-and-welfare enquiries

All local television stations were disrupted, but the news crews moved quickly to sister locations in nearby cities. Local newspapers moved out of the affected area. Broadcasting and publishing on the Internet became an important means of distributing information to evacuees and the rest of the world.

On September 4th, Mayor Nagin told CNN reporter Nic Robertson that a communications hub had been set up at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown New Orleans.

Aftermath

Stranded residents

File:Navy-KatrinaSurvivorFlyover.jpg

A U.S. Coast Guardsman searches for survivors in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.

Because of the extensive flooding caused by levee breaches, a number of residents were stranded long after Hurricane Katrina had passed, unable to leave their homes. Stranded survivors dotted the tops of houses citywide; according to the Miami Herald, flooding the 9th Ward sent 116 residents onto rooftops seeking aid. Many others were trapped inside attics, unable to escape [12]; some reportedly chopped their way onto their roofs with hatchets and sledge hammers. Due to a mains break, clean water was unavailable, and power outages were expected to last for weeks [13]. Around 10 p.m. CDT, August 29, search and rescue were begun with boats in Plaquemines, St. Bernard and N.O. East.

In some instances, stranded residents were able to communicate their location through cellular phones, requesting help. In one such instance, MSNBC quoted resident Chris Robinson, in a phone call from his home east of downtown, "I'm not doing too good right now. The water's rising pretty fast. I got a hammer and an ax and a crowbar, but I'm holding off on breaking through the roof until the last minute. Tell someone to come get me please. I want to live."

Civil disturbances

Main article: Civil disturbances and military action in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

Superdome refuge

An aerial view of the flooding near downtown New Orleans. The Superdome is at center.

As the largest center of refuge, rescued residents were brought to the Superdome to await further evacuation. Many others made their way to the Superdome on their own, hoping to find food, water, shelter, or a ride out of town. Despite increasingly squalid conditions, the population inside continued to grow, according to Ray Bias, a nurse with the American Ambulance Association. The situation inside the building was described as chaotic; reports of fights, rape, and filthy living conditions were widespread. As many as 100 were reported to have died in the Superdome, with most deaths resulting from heat exhaustion, but other reported incidents included an accused rapist who was beaten to death by a crowd and an apparent suicide. [14][15] [16]

[17]

On the evening of August 30, Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau, adjutant general for the Louisiana National Guard, said that the number of people taking shelter in the Superdome had risen to around 15,000 to 20,000 as search and rescue teams brought more people to the Superdome from areas hard-hit by the flooding [18]. As conditions worsened and flood waters continued to rise, on August 31, Governor Blanco ordered that all of New Orleans, including the Superdome, be evacuated. [19] The area outside the Superdome was flooded to a depth of three feet (1 m), with a possibility of seven feet (2.3 m) if the area equalized with Lake Pontchartrain. It was decided that FEMA — in conjunction with Greyhound, the National Guard, and Houston Metro — would immediately relocate the by-then 22,000–25,000 Superdome evacuees across state lines to the Reliant Astrodome in Houston. Roughly 475 vehicles assembled to ferry evacuees with the entire evacuation expected to take two days [20]. The following article graphically sums up the visions of hell endured by those, including local residents, police officers under Police chief Eddie Compass and rescue workers in and around the Superdome. [21] By September 4, the Superdome had been completely evacuated. With the roof damaged by water and wind, water and electricity spotty at best, damage to the overall interior and exterior structures, and a "potential biohazard" from human waste and trash, the Superdome's fate is uncertain.[22]

The New Orleans Convention Center

The New Orleans Convention Center was also opened up to evacuees, but by Thursday, September 1, the facility, like the Superdome, was overwhelmed and declared unsafe and unsanitary. Reports indicated that up to 20,000 people had gathered at the convention center, many dropped off after rescue from flooded areas of the city. Others were directed to the center by police as a possible refuge. However, even though there were thousands of evacuees at the center, FEMA claimed to have no "factual" knowledge of the use of the Convention Center as a shelter until the afternoon of September 1. Those able to walk the distance could have left the Convention Center, and the city, via the Crescent City Connection Bridge, but were prevented from doing so at gunpoint by Gretna, LA sheriffs [23]. Unruliness among some evacuees also contributed to the difficulty of relieving conditions at the center; in one case, a supply helicopter was unable to land due to crowding. Eventually, soldiers managed to toss supplies to the crowd from 10 feet (3 m) off the ground. [24] By Friday, September 2, military support at the convention center had established a steady supply of water and emergency rations as evacuation efforts were in progress; buses arrived later that day to pick up the refugees and take them elsewhere. By September 4, the Convention Center had been completely evacuated.

Evacuation efforts

As evacuation orders were given on August 31, relief organizations scrambled to locate suitable areas for relocating refugees on a large scale. Among early candidates was the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, which was announced as the primary relocation area for Superdome refugees. Officially, the Astrodome shelter was to be reserved for Superdome evacuees only; however, on September 1, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that the first busload to arrive at the Astrodome was actually a "renegade" bus. The bus was driven by a private citizen, Jabbar Gibson, who commandeered one of many abandoned school buses, picked up stranded citizens, and drove them to Houston. [25]

Authorities in Houston decided to admit them, and eventually admitted other evacuees as well. Houston agreed to shelter an additional 25,000 evacuees beyond those admitted to the Astrodome. San Antonio, Texas also agreed to house 25,000 refugees, beginning relocation efforts in vacant office buldings on the grounds of KellyUSA, a former air force base. Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas was also mobilized to house incoming refugees, and smaller shelters were established in towns across Texas and Oklahoma. Housing efforts were not limited to those sponsored by state and federal government; shelter was provided by hundreds of individuals and organizations. Arkansas is also expected to take in up to 100,000 evacuees in various shelters and state parks throughout the state.

Expected to last only two days, the evacuation of remaining refugees proved more difficult than rescue organizations anticipated as transportation convoys struggled with damaged infrastructure and a growing number of evacuees. On the afternoon of September 1, Governor Kathleen Blanco reported that the number of evacuees in the Superdome was down to 2,500; however, the AP reported that by evening, eleven hours after evacuation efforts began, the Superdome held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn. [26] Evacuees from across the city swelled the crowd to about 30,000, believing the arena was the best place to get a ride out of town.

Overwhelmed by incoming refugees, by the evening of September 1, CNN reported that the Reliant Astrodome in Houston was ruled full and could not accept any more people. At the time it sheltered just over 11,000, less than half the number that New Orleans had been told to send. The adjacent Reliant Center and Reliant Arena was soon opened as an additional shelter on September 2, as well as the enormous George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

Lawlessness delayed evacuation efforts. Lt. Kevin Cowan, spokesperson for the Louisiana National Guard points to difficulties in the second evacuation, "There are still a lot of people out there to be rescued. Unfortunately with these common thugs and criminals out in the streets that are taking pot shots at the rescuers and the helicopters, it is only delaying that. Unfortunately people may be dying from this nonsense."

Evacuation efforts were hastened on September 2 by the wider dispersal of evacuees among newly-opened shelters. Louis Armstrong International Airport, which had recently reopened to allow flights related to relief efforts, began to load evacuees onto planes as well. At one point, the evacuation was interrupted when priority was given to remove 700 guests and staff from the Hyatt located near the Superdome in order to provide housing to relief and security personnel. By the end of the day, 94,308 refugees were housed in 308 shelters in the region. [27]

On September 3, some 42,000 refugees were evacuated from New Orleans, including those remaining in the Superdome and Convention Center. Efforts turned to the hundreds of people still trapped in area hotels, hospitals, schools and private homes. [28] [29]

On Sunday, September 4, it was reported that US officials had asked the European Union for help with the relief effort. According to EU officials, US government representatives asked for first aid kits, blankets, water trucks and 500,000 prepared meals.[30]

On September 6, the mayor of New Orleans issued order of forced removal of people refusing to leave the city. As of September 7 rescuers were taking only those who wanted to leave because speed is of the essence, with the intent that rescuers will come back later and forcibly take those still alive.

Health effects

There is growing concern that the prolonged flooding will lead to an outbreak of health problems for those who remain. In addition to dehydration and food poisoning, there is also potential for the spread of hepatitis A, cholera and typhoid fever, all related to the growing contamination of food and drinking water supplies in the city compounded by the city's characteristic heat and stifling humidity. Survivors may also face longer-term health risks due to prolonged exposure to the petrochemical tainted flood waters and mosquito-borne diseases such as yellow fever, malaria and West Nile Virus.

As of September 2, an emergency triage center has been set up at Armstrong airport. A steady stream of helicopters and ambulances are bringing in the weak, elderly, sick and injured. Baggage equipment are being used as gurneys to transport persons from the flight line to the hospital set up in the terminal. The captain in charge described the site as "organized chaos" but the emergency medical staff assembled from around the country is keeping pace. Equipped to handle anything from bruises to critical cases requiring ventilators, the site is triaging survivors and then sending them on to medical centers in the surrounding states.

By Saturday, the situation at Armstrong airport started to stabilize. Up to 5,000 people had been triaged in the past two days and fewer than 200 remained at the medical unit.

Hospital evacuations continued into Saturday. Reports from the Methodist Hospital highlighted the suffering in the city with people dying of dehydration and exhaustion while the staff worked unendingly in horrendous conditions. The first floor of the hospital flooded and the dead were stacked in a second floor operating room. Patients requiring ventilators were kept alive with hand powered resuscitation bags. [31].

On September 6, E. coli was detected in the water supply. According to the CDC five people have died from bacterial infections caused by the toxic waters [32]. The deaths appear to have been caused by the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, of the Cholera family.

Loss of life

There are no reliable figures from New Orleans proper as of September 5. Many hundreds, possibly thousands of residents may not have survived the storm and its immediate aftermath. On September 4th, Mayor Nagin informed CNN reporter Nic Robertson that the death toll could rise in the thousands after the clean-up is completed. Some survivors and evacuees reported seeing dead bodies lying in city streets and floating in still-flooded sections, especially in the east of the city. The advanced state of decomposition of many corpses, some of which were left in the water or sun for days before being collected, could severely hinder efforts by coroners to identify many of the dead.

Bodies at refugee centers, such as an old woman in a wheel chair who had been covered with a cloth, or a man dead on the interstate, were being shown on news stations like CNN and Fox News on Thursday September 1 and possibly earlier. These people died waiting for relief, food, water, or medicine, rather than as a direct result of the storm or flood.

Although not directly caused by the storm, there also have been at least five gunmen or snipers killed by police. Several police casualties have also been reported, mainly from running gunbattles with criminals, and at least two suicides [33].

As of September 9, body collection throughout the city has begun. Many corpses are having their locations recorded but not retrieved. There is still a focus on living residents who refuse to evacuate. It is believed the full extent of deaths will not be known until the water level recedes significantly.

Medium-term repercussions

Education

Due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina, the vast majority of schools in the city of New Orleans as well as southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi were shut down until further notice. Many of these schools suffered extensive structural damage, and schooling on all levels was put on hold. School districts in many areas housing evacuees allowed children taking refuge to attend classes temporarily, as they were classified as "homeless" [34]. This was even true for out-of-state students evacuated in several states as far away as Michigan and California. In addition, many colleges offered reduced or free tuition to displaced students.

For a listing of colleges offering admissions to displaced students, please see Colleges offering admission to displaced New Orleans students (WikiNews).

Professional and college sports

New Orleans' two major professional sports teams, the National Basketball Association's New Orleans Hornets and the National Football League's New Orleans Saints, as well as the Tulane University sports teams, were displaced. The Saints, which were based out of the Superdome, temporarily moved their operations to San Antonio, Texas, and their home opener against the New York Giants was moved to Giants Stadium. Despite cancelling the fall semester, Tulane will play some of their teams under their banner while based at several other schools. On September 6 media outlets such as CNN, quoting official sources, reported that the Superdome is likely to be demolished due to the damage sustained by the storm and its subsequent use as a shelter.[35] New Orleans' Minor league baseball team, the New Orleans Zephyrs, do not play again until April 2006 (their season completed just before Katrina hit) so it is unclear what their plans will be.

New Orleans tourism

The hurricane struck just days before Southern Decadence, a festival known as the Gay Mardi Gras, which is the second-largest money-maker for New Orleans businesses after Mardi Gras itself. It was predicted that outside of the obvious costs of the direct effect of the storm, the city would lose millions of dollars in tourist monies because of the cancellation of this festival and presumably others in following months, in particular the 2006 Mardi Gras. New Orleans was also a top business convention destination, and due to the long planning cycles for such events, the hospitality industry worried that many conventions would avoid New Orleans for several years.

Long-term repercussions

Reconstruction of New Orleans

Over 150,000 properties in New Orleans were damaged or destroyed by wind, water, and fire in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This section attempts to outline the immense reconstruction efforts that will be needed after the water has been drained from the City.

The Army Corps of Engineers has determined that it will take around 40 days to drain the water from New Orleans[36]. The wind damage was not as severe as had been projected by meteorologists and most buildings survived intact. However, the failure of several levee systems caused extensive flooding in New Orleans and surrounding parishes and will result in extensive water damage to most affected buildings. Many buildings that withstood the storm and the direct force of the flooding are likely to be damaged beyond repair by the deleterious effect of long immersion. Among the threats to buildings is the rapid propagation of mold. [37]. It is unclear how planning for reconstruction will proceed.

The flood waters are contaminated by a very high number of sources, and interactions between these sources and the urban environment will remain very hard to predict. It is likely that most of the mixture of chemical and biological contaminants will tend not to disperse naturally for a matter of months or - in the case of persistent pollutants - several years. Currently major pollution sources have been identified as leaking oil and chemical facilities and toxic dump sites. The film of contamination from these pollutants that will remain in domestic and street environments will be pervasive and ubiquitous, thus presenting considerable difficulties in ensuring a complete decontamination of affected areas. The degree of development of the areas is likely to be closely related to a resulting high level of contamination with synthetic chemicals, some of which may be persistent, many of which may present health risks to humans. Textiles such as carpets and seating in houses, cars, offices and other public areas often have an increased capacity to absorb pollutants, thus presenting considerable risks to health. Disposal of large amounts of various mixed waste streams will present affected areas with huge organizational and capacity problems for quite some time to come and will affect the pace of redevelopment.

Meanwhile, a growing number of people, including Dennis Hastert [38], question whether federal funds should pay to rebuild New Orleans. It should be pointed out however that cities in the past have been destroyed or severely damaged and rebuilt, such as Lisbon in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Still others consider New Orleans's unique cultural heritage and history as important to the United States as, for instance, that of Venice is to Italy, and maintain that to not rebuild and reoccupy the City would be an immeasurable loss in that regard.

Relief effort

Many branches of the armed forces were involved with the relief effort, including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, and the Marine Corps.

Foreign assistance

Individuals around the world donated to a variety of NGOs helping relieve the affected areas. The American Red Cross is the largest such organization, and Yahoo, Google and later Amazon set up donation pages for the Red Cross; there are many more.

On August 31, 40 members of the Vancouver Urban Search & Rescue Team were flown to Lafayette by a WestJet Airlines aircraft, along with several thousand pounds of rescue gear, to assist with the rescue and recovery effort in the state.

On September 1, three Republic of Singapore Air Force CH-47SD Chinooks with 38 crewmen arrived in Fort Polk, Louisiana to assist the Texas Army National Guard in their relief operations. The Chinooks are from a Singaporean overseas detachment military base in Fort Prairie, Texas, where the RSAF conducts training for its crewmen.

On September 2, the Canadian government announced that it was deploying three warships—HMCS Athabaskan (DDH 282), HMCS Toronto (FFH 333) and HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332)— and Coast Guard vessel Sir William Alexander to the Gulf of Mexico to assist in relief efforts. Several H-3 Sea King Helicopters will accompany the Canadian ships. Canadian aircraft will also be deployed as part of a NAFTA military assistance pact.

A German Army Airbus plane landed in Florida on Saturday with 10 tonnes of food rations to be transported to the disaster area. Offered help includes German air force hospital planes and pumping services. [39]

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela ordered a million barrels of gasoline as well as 5 million dollars in aid to the United States. It has yet to be accepted. [40]

Prime Minister John Howard of Australia has pledged 10 million dollars in aid to the United States.

Criticism of relief effort

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Critics of the relief effort have said that the government — at all levels — had not done enough to minimize casualties before the storm, as well as provide relief to victims.

Criticisms of federal response

New Orleans' top emergency management official called the effort a "national disgrace" and questioned when reinforcements would actually reach the increasingly desperate city. New Orleans' emergency operations chief Terry Ebbert blamed the inadequate response on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "This is not a FEMA operation. I haven't seen a single FEMA guy", he said. "FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans." [41] At the time, the main staging area was only 6 miles away along the adjoining I-10 at the Causeway intersection, and FEMA had apparently been at the Superdome three days earlier.

File:Ray nagin bw.jpg

Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, LA

Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, in an interview broadcast on WWL (AM) on the early morning of 2 September, expressed his frustration at what he judged to be insufficient reinforcements provided by the President and federal authorities. The interview was picked up by the news media such as CNN later that morning. He ended the interview in tears. Complete Transcript MP3 Audio Windows Media Streaming Audio.

Additionally, many police, fire and EMS organizations from outside the affected areas have reportedly been stymied in their efforts to send help and assistance to the area. Official requests for help through the proper chains of command have not been forthcoming. Local police and other EMS workers are apparently traumatized themselves. At least two officers have apparently committed suicide, and many have apparently deserted and turned in their badges.[42][43]

There have been many reports of FEMA blocking relief efforts. Globalstar reported that a truck carrying more than 1,000 satellite telephones was barred from the disaster area. Aaron Broussard, the President of Jefferson Parish, which neighbors New Orleans, criticized the governments response on the September 4, 2005 edition of NBC's Meet the Press. Broussard described how FEMA blocked water deliveries from Wal-Mart, blocked the shipment of fuel to his area, cut emergency communication lines and described how the local sheriff posted armed guards to protect the lines after they were reconnected;

We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, 'Come get the fuel right away.' When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. 'FEMA says don't give you the fuel.' Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice [44]

Broussard broke down and sobbed uncontrollably on live television while telling the story of one of his employees who kept getting cell phone calls from his mother who was trapped by flood waters in a nursing home:

And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.

Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

Video of Broussard's Meet The Press interview

State and federal troops

Another criticism of the federal response comes in the form of the National Guard. Often the first defense for hurricane-hit areas, the Louisiana National Guard would often be the first to respond to a scene. However, many states have had their available National Guard numbers reduced by the Iraq War, so much that over half of the Louisiana National Guard was in Iraq. While the National Guard is usually activated through gubernatorial process, the president also has the authority to call national guard into action. President Bush did not do this. Additionally, New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson offered assistance to New Orleans 2 days before the hurricane hit, but paperwork was held up in Washington, D.C. until after the storm hit. [45] Congress has vowed to investigate the Guard's sluggish response as well as the lack of activation of many government plans such as the Civilian Reserve Air Fleet, which could have put commercial and private planes into action to help drop cargo or evacuate civilians.

President Bush, having ordered New Orleans a state of emergency two days before Katrina's strike, stayed on vacation two days after the hurricane made landfall. However, a president is never truly on vacation. That said, Bush has spent more time "not truly vacationing" than any other president, and this has been noted often. Bush's ranch has access to all the equipment available at the White House with full communication to cabinet members. Congress, as well, was on vacation.

The US Constitution, under the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibits the use of Federal troops or forces other than the Coast Guard for law enforcement unless the Governor of the state formally requests aid. Gov. Blanco did dispatch a letter to the White House on 27 August [46], but did not specifically request the use of the regular military.

Criticisms of city and local response

File:Flooded New Orleans school buses.jpg

The city and state evacuation plans called for these buses, now waterlogged, to provide transportation out of the city prior to landfall.

Many have also criticised the local and state governments, who have primary responsibility for local disasters. Mayor Nagin has come under criticism for allegedly failing to execute the New Orleans disaster plan, which called for the use of the city's school buses in evacuating residents unable to leave on their own. Having chosen the Superdome as the refuge of last resort, some have alleged that the Mayor did not preposition food and water. If the Superdome had not been opened up to the public, as requested by the Mayor, the casualties would have almost certainly have been far greater, but had he actually used the plan the city developed, the people would have been bused out of New Orleans and the catastrophe wouldn't have taken place.

Governor Blanco issued a voluntary evacuation order and acknowledged that she received a call from the President on August 27 2005, urging her to make it mandatory in order to get as many people as possible out of the path of the storm. According to a Washington Post report on Sunday, September 4, "Shortly before midnight Friday [September 2], the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans." The Bush administration's offer to have the federal government aid in the evacuation was rejected. 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. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request.

Others have also leveled criticism at Governor Blanco for not having activated Louisiana National Guard sooner. Past disasters have relied on some federal assistance but with the state and local governments taking the lead. These critics claim that there was inadequate preparation at the state and local levels in the case of Hurricane Katrina and as a result FEMAs role was handicapped. An ABC News Poll with 501 respondents, conducted on September 2, shows slightly more blame is being directed at state and local governments (75 percent) than at the Federal government (67 percent), with 44 percent blaming President Bush's leadership directly. [47]. A CNN/USATODAY/GALLUP POLL with 609 participants taken September 5-6 show that 13% hold President Bush as most responsible, 18% said "federal agencies"; 25% said "state and local officials"; 38% said "no one is to blame"; 6% had no opinion.

Op-ed criticisms

Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times on September 2: "Thousands of Americans are dead or dying, not because they refused to evacuate, but because they were too poor or too sick to get out without help - and help wasn't provided." He points out: "Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees. In fact, there had been repeated warnings about exactly that risk." In the same article, the former FEMA chief James Lee Witt is cited as saying at a Congressional hearing: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded. I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared."[48] Former NO resident and journalist Michael Hammerschlag blasts the multiple failures of leadership and stunning inability to repair any breech of flimsy canal levees. [49]

The New Orleans Times-Picayune published only its third issue since Hurricane Katrina struck, and included a sharp editorial demanding the firing of many of those possibly derelict in their responsibilities during the disaster, such as FEMA director Michael Brown. The text is available from Editor & Publisher magazine [50].

Many, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Democratic Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, have urged people and media to delay criticism of the government's response until those stranded in New Orleans can be rescued and relocated. Bill Clinton on September 5, 2005 said the Federal Government 'failed' the people of the coastal communities affected by the storm. The interview is available from CNN [51]. Laura Bush gave a press conference in Lafayette, Louisiana, on September 3 2005, in which she noted that "bad things are not happening here" and urged the news media to convey the message of how communities are working to help people. She refused to criticize the federal response to the crisis when questioned. She described the international offers of aid and assistance as "very sweet", but did not indicate whether they had been, or would be, accepted.

International criticisms

The Bush administration has come under serious criticism from some in the international community, as the time it took for US troops to respond was by most accounts, three to four days. Much of the international news media has questioned the availability of American troops due to the US-led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation. By many reports, the self-sustained combat brigades in Iraq have the equipment to produce the temporary infrastructure required to assuage the disaster in New Orleans. These troop units carry significant expertise and equipment to deal with communications, transportation, and health issues. There is also a lack of basic evacuation equipment, such as helicopters and naval resources for marine rescue. Currently over 150,000 troops are in Iraq.

Several foreign leaders have expressed frustration that they couldn’t get a go-ahead from the Bush Administration to administer help. President Bush said on the ABC News program Good Morning America that the United States could fend for itself; "I do expect a lot of sympathy, and perhaps some will send cash dollars," he said. "But this country is going to rise up and take care of it." [52]

The immediate response from many nations was to ask to be allowed to send in self-sustaining SAR teams to assist in evacuating those stranded. France had a range of aircrafts and two naval ships standing ready in the Caribbean. Russia offered four jets with rescuers, equipment, food and medicine, but their help was declined. Germany had offered airlifting, vaccination, water purification, medical supplies including German air force hospital planes, emergency electrical power and pumping services, their offer was noted and on September 4 they recieved a formal request. Similarly, Sweden has been waiting for a formal request to send a military cargo plane with three complete GSM systems, water sanitation equipment, and experts.[53] [54]

Some British tourists trapped in a New Orleans hotel have accused the authorities of preferential treatment for Americans during the evacuation as Katrina approached.[55]

Criticisms by celebrities

File:Kanyebush.jpg

Rapper Kanye West criticizes President Bush during Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.

On NBC's Hurricane Relief Telethon, broadcast live to the east coast of the United States, rapper Kanye West criticized the Bush administration for failing to do more for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Following a monologue delivered from a prepared script by comedian Mike Myers, West nervously made the following statement:

I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, 'They’re looting.' You see a white family, it says, 'They’re looking for food.' And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help – with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way – and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us.

The first part of West's criticism was most likely aimed at Yahoo!, which had photos of hurricane victims posted on its website. An Associated Press photograph of two African-American women was captioned, "Looters carry bags of groceries through floodwaters after taking the merchandise away from a wind damaged convenience store in New Orleans on Monday, 29 August 2005."

Another AP photograph of an African-American man was captioned, "A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, 30 August 2005..." [56]

The next photo, of a white couple, was labelled as follows: "Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store in New Orleans..." [57] This photo was from Agence France Press (AFP).

Many individuals picked out the differences between white people "finding" and black people "looting", and these observations erupted into controversy. After controversy on these photos erupted on sites such as Flickr and Salon, Yahoo released a press statement regarding the issue. AFP later requested that their picture be removed from major client databases, and Yahoo's link to the photo has since disappeared.

An article at Snopes contends that the photographer taking the picture of the African-American women actually witnessed the looting, while the photographer taking the picture of the white couple did not see them actually loot the bags, and in his words "I looked for the best picture. There were a million items floating in the water - we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. It had no doors. The water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow." He posted this at SportsShooter (to find his post search for "Chris Graythen").

After West's impromtu speech, Myers resumed hosting duties of the segment, reading once again from the prepared speech. After he handed back the floor to Kanye West, West said: "George Bush doesn’t care about black people." NBC then cut the feed.

The special was edited for West Coast audiences, and West's remarks about George W. Bush were removed. West's remarks have taken on a life of their own on the web. The blog, Boing Boing, has details of a protest mash-up containing his comment about President Bush.[58]

Recovery effort

On Monday, September 5, power began to be restored to buildings in the central business district of New Orleans on a priority basis. [59][60]

On Tuesday, September 6, the Port of New Orleans, the biggest U.S. port by tonnage handled, was able to receive and service relief ships. It was estimated that resumption of commercial shipments would take at least 14 days [61].

On Monday, September 12, officials [62] gave the following estimates for unwatering New Orleans given average seasonal rainfall:

Five hospitals in the New Orleans area had reopened as of Monday. One of those had a full schedule, including elective surgery. However, the mandatory evacuation had caused a dearth of patients, resulting in predictions of staff loss and reduced service. Two other hospitals were being used as recovery worker accomodations. [63]

Recovery of infrastructure

References

Levee maps from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Levee info from Nola.com

External links

Vulnerable Cities: New Orleans: A discussion of impacts of hurricanes and flooding on New Orleans.
NOVA scienceNOW: Hurricanes: New Orleans' unique vulnerability to hurricanes.
Extraordinary Problems, Difficult Solutions: The challenges and issues in rebuilding New Orleans, including possible uninhabitability from soil contamination.
Post Katrina Satellite Imagery: From Google Maps.
Draining New Orleans: New York Times interactive maps of the New Orleans' area.

http://mapper.cctechnol.com/floodmap.php - Block-by-block New Orleans flood map showing maximum and current water depth.

Lost and safe lists

The Katrina List database, for tracking or searching for refugees (and its associated wiki).
WWL 870AM List
Red Cross (also by phone at 1-877-LOVED-1S) (in French)
Survivors Reunited