https://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/08/refuge-of-last-resort-five-days-inside-the-superdome-for-hurricane-katrina, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Out of 60 nursing homes in New Orleans, 21 had evacuated their residents in advance of Katrina. estimated population had increased to 376,971. 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. We had a very, lets just say, heated conversation with one of those guys about where they were positioning those trucks, said Thornton. Photo taken from the I-10-US 90 junction showing most of the white rubber protective membrane over the roof of the Superdome torn away by strong winds during Katrina. Some trapped inside also believe the curse is real. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary. According to NBC News, the average age of victims was 69, and "just under half of all victims were 75 or older." The men sat in stunned silence. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city the previous day, and an estimated 1.2 million people left ahead of the storm. A hurricane warning is issued for north central Gulf . Everybody is scared.. [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. A few of these groups wandered the concourse, stealing food and attacking anyone who stood up to them. A storm surge more than 26 feet (8 metres) high slammed into the coastal cities of Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, devastating homes and resorts along the beachfront. Although New Orleans levees and flood walls had been designed to withstand a category 3 hurricane, half of the network gave way to the waters. 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. [21] The Astrodome started to fill up, so authorities began to transfer people to the nearby Reliant Arena, Reliant Center, and George R. Brown Convention Center in Downtown Houston in the following days. The fact that Black homeowners were more likely to face flooding than white homeowners wasn't an accident or bad luck. 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. Mayor, youve got to get these people out of here, he said. Blood and feces covered the walls of the facility. All they could do was try to protect the generator. Water spills over a levee along the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on August 30, 2005, in New Orleans. What was the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans public education system? 70% of New Orleans occupied housing, 134,000 units, were damaged in the storm. Heres a look at some statistics from Hurricane Katrina. In response, guardsmanput up barbed wire at various areas around the building, protecting themselves from the general population. You better move back. Water poured onto the field. A fire erupted in a trash chute inside the dome, but a National Guard commander said it did not affect the evacuation. Its tenants, the New Orleans Saints, were talking about an open-air stadium on the Mississippi river or moving to another city. Cooper housing project. Before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, there were roughly 2,000 foster children registered in the state. The mass exodus from the Gulf Coast and New Orleans during and after Katrina represented one of the largest and most sudden relocations of people in U.S. history. Hurricane Katrina was a tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United States in late August 2005. We took him inside.. Governor Blanco herself stated, "They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. They would later learnwhat had happened: Levees at various locations in and around the city had failed, and the pumping stations, overwhelmed with water and damaged by the storm, werent working. So they hoofed it. Victims of Hurricane Katrina fight through the crowd as they line up for buses to evacuate the Superdome and New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005. 25% were caused by injury and trauma and 11% were caused by heart conditions. [32] New Orleans Police Department chief Eddie Compass appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and reported seeing "little babies getting raped" and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin also said he saw hooligans raping and killing people. 4:23 PM EST, Mon January 16, 2023. A violent, free-for-all riot seemed sure to break out with the next bit of bad news. [52] The Mountaineers won, 3835. A woman slumped over in a wheelchair in a back corner, a And despite the fact that many were long voicing their concerns about the effects of a hurricane in New Orleans, they were ignored until it was too late. That night, NOPD Chief of Police Eddie Compass arrived to see Thornton and Col. Mouton. The population of the festering, battered dome had gone from 15,000 to 30,000 in a short time as helicopters and vehicles capable of cutting through the water picked up stranded citizens and brought them to the only place left to go in the entire city. He escaped the chaotic shelter a few days . . The bullet went through his own leg. FEMA infamously brought in trailers, "hastily built and steeped in toxic resins," that were used to house people after the hurricane. For detailed information on the effect on Tulane, see, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome, Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, "Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Saints, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Tulane University, Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Hornets, "How New Orleans' Evacuation Plan Fell Apart", "Hurricane Katrina as Seen Through the Eyes of the Saints' Biggest Fans", "At least 10,000 find refuge at the Superdome", "Governor: Evac Superdome, Rescue Centers", "Trapped in the Superdome: Refuge becomes a hellhole", "Photo in the News: Hurricane Shreds Superdome Roof", "NFL 2005: Homeless Saints face long road in 2005", "Almost 10 years after Katrina, Michael Brown's still out to lunch: Jarvis DeBerry", "Refuge of last resort: Five days inside the Superdome for Hurricane Katrina", "From Superdome to Astrodome: Katrina's refugees will be moved to Houston in bus convoy", "Superdome evacuation disrupted after shots fired", "10 Years Since Katrina: When The Astrodome Was A Mass Shelter", "Astrodome to become new home for storm refugees", "Astrodome at capacity, but buses with evacuees keep coming", "Neighbouring states struggle to cope with influx of people", "Dome closed for a year, could be scrapped", "NFL, at Saints' urging, kicks in $20 million for dome repairs", "Superdome returns with glitz, glamor and Monday night football", "Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy", "Reports of anarchy at Superdome overstated", "Higher Death Toll Seen; Police Ordered to Stop Looters", "7 facts about Hurricane Katrina that show just how incompetent the government response was", "Four years on, Katrina remains cursed by rumour, cliche, lies and racism", "Saints' home games: 4 at LSU, 3 in Alamodome", "Errors cost Saints early, often in poor excuse for 'home' opener", "32nd annual Bayou Classic moved to Houston", "SOUTHERN JAGUARS FALL 50-35 TO GRAMBLING STATE IN BAYOU CLASSIC XXXII", Temporary home venues in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Effect_of_Hurricane_Katrina_on_the_Louisiana_Superdome&oldid=1113156691, Articles needing additional references from October 2014, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia introduction cleanup from February 2022, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from February 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 30 September 2022, at 02:13. Early the next morning Thorntonwoke from a fitful sleep, then went out into the hallway outside his office. People seek high ground on Interstate 90 as a helicopter prepares to land at the Superdome in New Orleans on August 31, 2005. This story has been shared 177,659 times. It had barely risen at all maybe an inch. Satellite view of the Superdome showing the damaged roof with the New Orleans Arena to the right on August 30, 2005. Outside, there was anarchy. The storm was coming. As buses finally started arriving to pluck refugees from the Louisiana Superdome yesterday, a horrifying picture emerged of the squalor, violence and mayhem that they faced during the days spent huddled in the stadium. It was a good option, but one never used. Though downgraded to a category 3, the storms relatively slow forward movement (around 12 mph) covered the region with far more rain than a fast-moving storm would have. First delivery to the Superdome on August 31, 2005. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. You have to fend people off constantly. In fact, the first hurricane-related deaths occurred the day before Katrina struck when three residents died whilst being evacuated to Baton Rouge. 2. Katrina made landfall that morning as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds in excess of 135 mph. 2008 Dec;2(4):215-23. doi: 10.1097/DMP.0b013e31818aaf55. Many Katrina evacuees made it to Houston, Texas, where they were housed in the Astrodome and other shelters. With no relief in sight and in the absence of any organized effort to restore order, some neighbourhoods experienced substantial amounts of looting, and helicopters were used to rescue many people from rooftops in the flooded Ninth Ward. Rumours spread in the press of reports of rapes, violent assaults, murders, drug abuse, and gang activity inside the Superdome, most of which were entirely unsubstantiated and without witnesses. On August 29, at about 6:20 AM EDT, the electricity supply to the dome failed. Winds of 125 mph and storm surges of 28 feet devastated much of Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. Levees at various locations in the city had failed, and the pumping stations, overwhelmed with water and damaged by the storm, werent working. The office asked him if he could open up the Superdome as a refuge of last resort for the city of New Orleans. Doug and Denise Thornton woke early to drive back to New Orleans. [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. Brown. A helicopter rescues a family from a rooftop on September 1, 2005. Hurricane Katrina not only left more than 1,800 human deaths in its wake, it also rendered thousands homeless as more than 800,000 housing units were destroyed or damaged in the storm. No electricity in New Orleans meant no air conditioning in the dome, filling it with a horrible, muggy heat. - The total damage from Katrina is estimated to be $125 billion (or $190 billion in 2022 dollars), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). After Hurricane Katrina struck, numerous federal officials, including President George W. Bush, claimed that there was little that could have been done to prevent the disaster. Evacuees crowd the floor of the Astrodome in Houston on September 2, 2005. Three people died in the Superdome; one apparently jumped off a 50-foot high walkway. Mouton suggested checking the water level every thirty minutes. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005 as a Category 3 storm. The groups went in shifts, sneaking down over to the garage, up the stairs and to the helipad. As some people tried to get supplies to survive, the media portrayed them as "looters," a term that the LA Times notes is more often applied to Black people than white people. Is everyone here? . Corrections? Katrinas death toll is the fourth highest of any hurricane in U.S. history, after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed between 8,000 and 12,000 people; Hurricane Maria, which killed more than 4,600 people in Puerto Rico in 2017; and the Okeechobee Hurricane, which hit Florida in 1928 and killed as many as 3,000. "[38] On that same day, 10 deaths were reported at the Superdome by CBS News. They couldnt find any vehicles to transport the patients safely. A man in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward rides a canoe in high water on August 31, 2005. for victims from Orleans and St. Bernard Parish, where 86% of Katrina deaths occurred. And,. They found the building in better shape than the Superdome fewer windows were blown out and the building, unlike the Superdome, had a roof. Police watch over prisoners from Orleans Parish Prison who were evacuated to a highway on September 1, 2005. Hurricane Katrina, tropical cyclone that struck the southeastern United States in late August 2005. Do you think this is going to work? he asked. Cooper held about 1,000 families and was the city's largest housing project. By 11 a.m. on August 30, Katrina had dwindled to heavy rainfall and winds of about 35 mph. The day . Her escape out. 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. We can't house people for five or six days. [7] Medical machines also failed, which prompted a decision to move patients to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Why did Hurricane Katrina lead to widespread flooding? Preparations by location South Florida. The storm initially formed as a tropical depression southeast of the Bahamas on August 23. Thornton remembers Compass telling him: Thats why I wanted to come over here and tell you so that you can get your families out.Thornton says Compass then told him he was taking his men out of the Superdome, before hugging him and saying he enjoyed working with him all these years. Two men paddle through the streets past the Claiborne Bridge in New Orleans on August 31, 2005. Parishioners gather during Sunday services in the rebuilt church on May 10, 2015. There wasnt much more he could do. Caleb Wells. Everyone remembers Kanye West's infamous comment that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people," but the issue ran far deeper than just the feelings of the president.
hurricane katrina superdome deaths
