New Orleans and Katrina Time Line

[CajunMama]

The Advocate in Baton Rouge ran this today...I found it quite interesting.

2theadvocate > News > KATRINA TIMELINE 10/23/05

KATRINA TIMELINE
What state, local and federal officials did - and didn't do - just before and after Hurricane Katrina struck southeast Louisiana has been a topic of constant and heated debate. Marsha Shuler of The Advocate's Capitol News Bureau compiled this timeline based on official sources and interviews with many of the people responsible for storm preparation and recovery. Where possible, exact or approximate times are listed in Central daylight-saving time.

Friday, Aug. 26

6 A.M.: Barely a hurricane, Katrina moves across southern Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico.

8 A.M:.Most State Police personnel are placed on standby.

1 P.M.: Katrina becomes a Category 2 hurricane with top winds of 100 mph. National Weather Service predicts further strengthening.

5 p.m. --State officials convene a conference call with emergency preparedness directors in southeast Louisiana to update them on the hurricane forecast and the state's plans.

5:02 p.m. -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares state of emergency, activating the state's emergency response and recovery system. Blanco issues her order a day before Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's.

9 p.m. -- State Police advise residents to evacuate from areas south of Intracoastal Waterway that are outside levee protection systems and vulnerable to Category 1 and 2 storms.

11 p.m. -- Landfall forecast for just east of New Orleans, the nightmare scenario.

Saturday, Aug. 27

4 a.m. -- Katrina is a Category 3 hurricane, with top winds of 115 mph.

6 a.m. -- State Police Commander Col. Henry Whitehorn activates Emergency Operations Center near State Police headquarters.

7:30 a.m. -- Blanco holds conference call with point people in state agencies and parishes.

10:24 a.m. -- Blanco asks President George W. Bush to declare a federal state of emergency for Louisiana. Bush later issues declaration giving the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA authority to coordinate "all disaster relief efforts" and free up federal money for Louisiana.

Louisiana National Guard mobilizes 2,000 soldiers and airmen, sends troops to help State Police with the evacuation.

Noon -- Evacuation begins for areas south of the Mississippi River that are protected by levees but vulnerable to Category 2 or higher storms.

Midday -- Mandatory evacuation called for Plaquemines Parish. Evacuation is voluntary for most of Jefferson Parish. St Bernard Parish officials recommend all evacuate.

12:50 p.m. -- Gov. Blanco tells State Police to start contraflow on selected interstate highways.

1:30 p.m. -- Gov. Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin strongly urge New Orleans residents to leave, particularly low-lying areas such as the 9th Ward.

4 p.m. -- Contraflow begins, sending all four lanes of Interstate 10 over the Bonnet Carre Spillway west toward Baton Rouge and Hammond to speed evacuation.

5 p.m. -- Nagin declares state of emergency and voluntary evacuation of New Orleans.

6 p.m. -- National Weather Service predicts a 45 percent chance that a Category 4 or 5 hurricane will hit New Orleans.

7:25 p.m. -- Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center, calls Gov. Blanco to personally stress the seriousness of the storm. Mayfield calls Gov. Barbour at 7:45 p.m. and Mayor Nagin at 8 p.m. Only one other time in his 35-year career has he taken a similar step.

Sunday. Aug, 28

1 a.m. -- Katrina is a Category 4 hurricane, with top winds of 145 mph.

8 a.m. -- Superdome opens as an evacuation center.

9:30 a.m. -- Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of the city except for prisons, hospitals, tourists, officials and media. He imposes a 6 p.m. curfew. Nagin says city buses will pick people up from 12 sites and take them to refuge, including the Dome. But he warns that the Dome is not a good place to go and he asks them to bring a three- to five-day supply of food and water, plus other supplies such as pillows. Nagin said firefighters and police will drive through neighborhoods announcing mandatory evacuation.

Sometime today -- Gov. Blanco renews her request to President Bush for disaster declaration, listing parishes expected to be affected.

10 a.m. -- Katrina is a Category 5 hurricane, with top winds of 175 mph

11 a.m. -- Bush monitors a briefing in which forecaster Mayfield warns that 20-foot surge would push water over New Orleans levees. Federal Emergency Management Director Mike Brown assures Bush that FEMA has 1,300 disaster assistance workers in position and that FEMA is ready for the storm.

Noon -- Highways are jammed with evacuees from southeast Louisiana.

Noon -- FEMA sends water, food and supplies to pre-position stations in Georgia and Texas. Urban search-and-rescue teams are staged in Shreveport and Meridian, Miss. Two teams each are on alert in Florida and Virginia and one in Maryland. Eighteen medical teams are staged in Houston, Memphis and Anniston, Ala.

During the day -- Coast Guard moves 40 aircraft and 30 boats and cutters into position in places such as Houston and Jacksonville.

5 p.m.--Contraflow ends; State Police estimate 500,000 vehicles were evacuated

6 p.m. -- Nagin-ordered curfew begins in New Orleans.

8:45 p.m.--State Police Troop B, based in New Orleans, evacuates.

The number of activated National Guard soldiers grows to 4,000. Among them are security and medical forces deployed to the Superdome. Dome gets enough water and food for 15,000 people for three days.

Monday, Aug. 29

4 a.m. -- Katrina weakens slightly overnight, making landfall about 6 a.m. near the mouth of the Mississippi River with top winds of 150 mph. The storm swamps Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, flattens much of the Mississippi Gulf coast and causes major damage in Washington, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes.

Before dawn -- Corps gets report from Industrial Canal's lockmaster that water is pouring over both sides of the waterway and into Orleans and St. Bernard parishes.

10 a.m. -- FEMA Director Brown says later (Sept. 27) that this is when he learned that New Orleans' levees had broken.

Late morning -- 17th Street Canal levee gives way, sending water from Lake Pontchartrain into the city.

2 p.m. -- City Hall confirms breach of levee.

About 11 a.m. -- Brown, in Baton Rouge, sends memo requesting additional 1,000 employees from Department of Homeland Security within 48 hours, and 2,000 more within seven days. Memo refers to Katrina as "this near-catastrophic event." He proposes sending workers for training to Georgia or Florida, then to the disaster area "when conditions are safe."

Afternoon -- FEMA issues statement asking first-responders to enter New Orleans only if there is proper coordination between the state and local officials.

Sometime today -- FEMA announces plans to send 500 commercial buses to help rescue stranded residents.

1:45 p.m. -- President Bush declares disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi.

4:40 p.m. -- In a news conference, Bush says: "For those of you who are concerned about whether or not we're prepared to help, don't be. We are. We're in place. We've got equipment in place, supplies in place."

8 p.m. -- Blanco calls Bush to tell him Louisiana needs help; reportedly says, "We need everything you've got."

At the Superdome, National Guard is instructed to search the 10,000 evacuees for weapons.

5,700 National Guard members have been called up and 4,500 are on duty.

7 p.m. -- Katrina is downgraded to a tropical storm as it travels north through Mississippi.

Tuesday, Aug, 30

Water continues to rise. Before it stops, 80 percent of New Orleans is covered with water.

Morning -- Blanco's office starts working on getting school buses for relief efforts.

Morning -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff later says he became aware there was no possibility of plugging a 500-foot breach in the 17th Street Canal levee and that the lake would flood the city.

3 p.m. -- Army Corps of Engineers says it will start attempting levee repairs.

6:30 p.m. -- Nagin warns that waters will continue to rise and pumps will soon fail.

Monday or today -- Brown later says that FEMA workers return to Baton Rouge from the Superdome because it is too hazardous to work there.

Today -- Brown says he asked the White House to take over the storm response from FEMA and state officials. FEMA activates National Response Plan to fully mobilize federal government resources.

10 p.m. -- After visiting the Superdome twice, Blanco orders evacuation of Superdome population, now 20,000. She gives no timetable. "The situation is degenerating rapidly," Blanco says. Dome has no electricity, holes in roof and overwhelmed bathrooms.

Wednesday, Aug, 31

12:45 a.m. -- FEMA makes the call that sets in motion waves of commercial buses from around the country heading to the storm-struck area to evacuate the stranded.

6:20 a.m. -- Blanco appeals to Bush for help in restoring order. She requests 40,000 troops, rescue teams, airlifts, housing, communication, food, ice, water and buses.

Between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. --Blanco calls Texas governor and Houston mayor seeking help in opening shelters. The Astrodome would become the first of many in the coming days.

Noon -- State Police and Louisiana National Guard are prepared to escort buses to evacuate people from New Orleans.

About 2 p.m. -- Blanco calls to talk to Bush directly.

Bush cuts short a vacation to personally direct the federal rescue effort, announces he will fly to Washington to work with task force that will coordinate 14 federal agencies involved in the relief effort.

Bush names Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore to oversee military operations. Louisiana National Guard Gen. Bennett Landreneau continues to coordinate National Guard operations.

About 1,600 patients are stranded at nine New Orleans hospitals along with 8,600 medical staff, visitors and family members as conditions worsen.

More looting reported in New Orleans.

Late afternoon -- Bush, in White House news conference, says FEMA has moved 25 search-and-rescue teams into the area. As for those stranded at the Superdome, "Buses are on the way to take those people from New Orleans to Houston."

Chertoff's office reports he is pleased with the response of the federal government.

Before midnight -- 200 FEMA buses are at a LaPlace staging area, preparing for a major evacuation effort.

About midnight -- Blanco issues executive order allowing commandeering of school buses for use in evacuation efforts.

Water still flows through 17th Street Canal levee; repairs encountering more problems.

Thursday, Sept. 1

7 a.m. -- Bush says in nationally aired TV interview: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did not anticipate a serious storm."

Morning -- Brown tells an interviewer he is not aware of the 15,000 to 20,000 people stranded at the convention center. Later says he's mistaken; FEMA actually knew on Wednesday but couldn't reach them until Thursday.

Red Cross President Marsha Evans asks permission to enter New Orleans with relief supplies, but state officials deny permission.

10 a.m. -- The first buses and some helicopters arrive at the Superdome to evacuate the most vulnerable. More than 70 buses leave for Houston. Some 1,500 St. Bernard residents remain at Chalmette ferry landing awaiting rescue. Evacuation of 350 patients at LSU's Charity and University Hospitals begins.

Bush asks Congress for $10.5 billion in emergency assistance for Gulf Coast communities.

Thousands of National Guard troops converge on southeast Louisiana from all over the country and Gov. Blanco calls for "no less than 40,000 troops." At midday 13,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen are on active duty in Louisiana. Number supposed to increase to 20,000 overnight.

Federal officials promise 30,000 National Guard and regular military troops from other states to the storm-stricken region; 17,000 troops eventually will be in Louisiana.

Defense department assembling a force of about 7,000 active duty soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors to help FEMA.

State Transportation Secretary Johnny Bradberry says the break in the 17th Street Canal levee should be fixed by Friday afternoon.

About 9 p.m. -- Nagin blasts Bush and Blanco on WWL-AM. "Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country."

Mortuary teams are being assembled. Blanco says death toll could swell into thousands.

Friday, Sept. 2

8 a.m. -- Commercial airliners begin flying rescued Katrina victims to out-of-state shelters designated by FEMA. Buses of all kinds are moving people. Nearly all of them will end up outside the state.

10:30 a.m. -- Bush praises FEMA director Brown: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Brown quit as FEMA director Monday, Sept. 12, three days after being relieved as the government's Katrina disaster point man.

10:40 a.m. -- State Police estimates 5,000 to 10,000 people awaiting evacuation at Interstate 10 and Causeway Boulevard.

Early afternoon -- Bush and Blanco meet on Air Force One at New Orleans Armstrong Airport. Bush asks Blanco to give him control of 13,268 National Guard troops and law-enforcement officers working the storm response. She asks for 24 hours to think over the idea. That night, the Bush administration asks her to sign a memo turning over response effort to the federal government. She later refuses.

At the airport, Bush describes the initial $10.5 billion aid package as a small down payment for disaster relief.

Mayor Nagin lashes out at federal officials: "They don't have a clue what's going on down here."

Red Cross renews request to enter city with relief supplies. State officials say they need 24 hours to provide an escort and prepare for the Red Cross' arrival. But 24 hours later, city evacuation is under way and Red Cross doesn't enter New Orleans until Oct. 2.

National Guard arrives in New Orleans in force and arrives at Convention Center with food and water.

Superdome evacuation largely complete. But evacuation continues into Saturday as more stranded residents show up at the Dome.

Hospital evacuations completed.

Saturday, Sept. 3

Relief convoys pour into New Orleans.

Bill Lokey, chief FEMA coordinator, says agencies are overwhelmed by Katrina's scope. "It's beyond our immediate capabilities for sure," he says.

Bush promises 7,000 more Marines and regular Army troops will arrive within 72 hours. Some 4,000 active duty troops are already here. Some 21,000 National Guard already here or on the way.

Bush signs initial $10.5 billion disaster aid package for Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana storm response. Congress eventually approves a total of $62 billion.

FEMA deploys all 28 of its national urban search and rescue teams -- seven to Louisiana and 11 to Mississippi. The other 10 are in staging areas in Dallas and Houston.

By 1:15 p.m. -- Thousands gathered at Interstate 10 and Causeway intersection evacuated by helicopter and bus.

End of day -- Evacuation of Superdome, Convention Center and Chalmette port completed with help from National Guard, state police and some federal troops.

Sunday, Sept. 4

59 bodies are at a new morgue in St. Gabriel; the Louisiana death toll eventually will exceed 1,000.

Jefferson Parish residents are allowed in to see their property.

Break in 17th Street Canal nearly closed. Eighty percent of New Orleans is flooded.


http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/102 ... e001.shtml