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October 2005                                                                                Volume 9 - Number 1

Timelines for Hurricane Katrina...

Timeline of Katrina related activities on Aug 30
By:  Deena Disraelly

1:30AM CDT – A levee on the 17th Street Canal, connected to Lake Ponchartrain, is suffers a two city-block breach that results in flooding of 80% of New Orleans.  The local pump fails soon after.(Newsweek, 2005)

1:55AM CDT – Saint Tammany Parish closes all roads and invokes a curfew. (TP, 2005(10)) Later in the day, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard warned residents to stay away until at least Monday, September 5th and outlines his plans for recovery of the parish, including “Operation Lockdown” and “Operation Snowplow”. (TP, 2005(1))

Morning – Lake Ponchatrain Causeway opened to emergency vehicles after a stability inspection.  The Crescent City Connection remains the only way out of New Orleans for other vehicles. (TP, 2005(7))

9:40AM CDT – Times Picayune evacuates its building, resumes its operations in Houma. (TP, 2005(9))

Midmorning – Officials at the Superdome confirm that four people have died at the stadium – one fell and the remainder were ill. (Maggi, 2005)

12:08PM CDT – President Bush cuts short his vacation; he plans to return to Washington DC two days early, on Wednesday, to personally oversee response to Hurricane Katrina.  His speech was made at Naval Base Coronado while he was there to commemorate the United States victory over Japan in World War II. (Associated Press, 2005)

1:42PM CDT – Coast Guard announces that its helicopter crews have aided in the rescue of more than 1,200 people in the New Orleans area.(Ahlers, 2005)

Midday – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff becomes aware that the levee breaches could not be repaired and the Lake Ponchatrain was flooding the city. (McQuaid, 2005)  He activates the National Response plan, calling Hurricane Katrina an “Incident of National Significance” and issues a memo to cabinet members, designating Michael Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response as his Principal Federal Official. (Chertoff, 2005)

Midday – Disaster Medical Assistance Teams from Nevada, Massachusetts, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, North Carolina, Arkansas, and New Mexico, members of the National Disaster Medical System, deployed to Gulf States to aid in hurricane response. (FEMA, 2005)

Midday – FEMA requests that Gulf state evacuees do not return until the “all-clear” has been given. (FEMA, 2005)

Midday – New Orleans hospitals (Maggi, 2005), special needs individuals, and prisons (TP, 2005(6)) in Orleans and Jeffersons parishes are evacuating.

Midday – Air Force lifts stop transfer order for Tyndall Air Force Base; order remains in place for Keesler Air Force Base, where approximately 95% of buildings were damaged but no deaths occurred. (Randolph, 2005)

Midday – A third levee, this one at London Street, breaches as well, increasing the speed at which New Orleans floods. (Newsweek, 2005)

Midday – Officials announce plans to evacuate the Gulfport, Mississippi Armed Forces Retirement Home. (Miles, 2005)

Midday – American Red Cross begins mobilizing volunteers nationwide to assist the Gulf states.  Some workers are already in the region manning shelters, however, most are not expected to deploy until days after the announcement. (Simmons, 2005)

4:11PM CDT – US Minerals Management Service announces that more than 95% of the Gulf’s oil and 88% of the gasoline production has been shut down. (Sayre, 2005)

4:30PM CDT – Officials request that any individuals with flatboats aid in the rescue of standed residents. (TP, 2005(11))

5:00PM CDT – USS BATAAN and two Naval helicopter squadrons deploy to Gulf region to aid in assistance. (USS BATAAN, 2005)

5:30PM CDT – President Bush makes statement about Hurricane Katrina.  (TP, 2005(2))

6:35PM CDT – Mayor Ray Nagin announces that attempts to fill the levee breaches with sandbags are failing.  He warns that pumps will fail as water level continues to rise and urges remaining residents to evacuate. (TP, 2005(5))  The Army Corps of Engineers continues to look for alternative ways to fill the breaches.

8:10PM CDT – City officials announce looting widespread throughout New Orleans and compounded by agencies’ inability to communicate and emergency responder dedication to search and rescue operations. (Anderson and Moller, 2005)

8:55PM CDT – National Guard troops, in conjunction with the Department of Transportation working to breach the hole in the 17th Street Canal levee using concrete barriers and sandbags. (TP, 2005(3))

9:02PM CDT – Louisiana State Attorney General’s Office denies that martial law has been declared; the declaration of a state of emergency allows for the suspension of certain civil liberties to aid in maintaining order. (TP, 2005(4))  WWL-TV may have reported that the region was under martial law earlier in the day.

10:15PM CDT – Louisiana Governor Blanco holds late press conference to order evacuation of the Superdome. (Scott, 2005)  

10:30PM CDT – Louisiana State Police announced intention to send forty officers to the New Orleans region. (TP, 2005(8))

References:
Ahlers, Mike.  “1,200 Rescued So Far”.  Published 30 August 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/30/sr.tues/index.html.
Anderson, Ed and Moller, Jan.  “Looting Difficult to Control”.  Published 30 September 2005 by Times Picayune.   Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08_30.html.
Associated Press (AP).  “Bush to Return to Washington Early”.  Published 30 August 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/30/bush.hurricane.ap/index.html.
Chertoff, Michael.  Designation of Principal Federal Officer for Hurricane Katrina.  Memorandum.  Issued 30 August 2005.  
FEMA press releases, 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from http://www.fema.gov/news/katrinanews.fema.
Maggi, Laurie.  “Evacuation of Downtown Hospitals Begins”.  Published 30 September 2005 by Times Picayune.   Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08_30.html.
McQuaid, John.  “Anatomy of a Disaster”.  Published 8 September 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/mcquaid090805.html.
Miles, Donna. “Gulfport Armed Forces Retirement Home Residents Evacuate”.  Published 30 August 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2005/20050830_2574.html.
“Newsweek: Gulf Hurricane Season 2005 – Chaos in the Crescent”.  Updated 8 September 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9244256/site/newsweek/.
Randolph Air Force Base.  “Stop Movement lifted for Tyndall; Keesler remains in effect”.  Published 30 August 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123011491.
Sayre, Alan.  “More than 95 percent of Gulf Oil Production Lost”.  Published 30 August 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from:  http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/083005cccawwlgulfoil.43c9d7c6.html.
Scott, Robert Travis.  “Late Blanco Statement”. Published 30 September 2005 by Times Picayune.   Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08_30.html.
Simmons, Lesly C.  “Red Cross Rushes Aid to Victims of Hurricane Katrina”.  Published 30 August 2005.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://inlandvalleyredcross.org/main_NRM/nrm_show.asp?topic=NWS_HEADLINES&flattopic=1&LngKey=en&subject=NWS_6AD6F23D-AFC9-4414-B3A2-4DBD9921B3C7.
Times Picayune.  “Broussard Warns JP Residents to Stay Away until Monday”.  Published 30 September 2005.   
Times Picayune.  “Bush Statement on Katrina”.  Published 30 September 2005.   
Times Picayune.  “Crews Frantically Work to Fix Breach”.  Published 30 September 2005.   
Times Picayune.  “Martial Law Clarified”.  Published 30 September 2005.   
Times Picayune.  “More Canal Breach Flooding Predicted”.  Published 30 September 2005.
Times Picayune.  “Officials Begin Evacuation of Orleans, Jefferson Prisoners”.  Published 30 September.
Times Picayune.  “Only Way Out of New Orleans is West”.  Published 30 September 2005.
Times Picayune.  “State Police Send Troopers to Region”.  Published 30 September 2005.   
Times Picayune.  “T-P Evacuating”.  Published 30 September.
Times Picayune.  “Turn Back from Tammany”.  Published 30 September 2005.  
Times Picayune.  “We Need Boats”.  Published 30 September 2005 by Times Picayune.   Retrieved 25 September 2005.
Note:  All Times Picayune articles were retrieved 25 September 2005 from: Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_08_30.html.
USS BATAAN Public Affairs.  “BATAAN Assisting in Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts”.  Retrieved 25 September 2005 from: http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=19815.