Katrina: What Happened When

It will take months to get the full story, but meanwhile here are some of the key facts about what happened and when officials acted.

Sunday, Aug. 28 2005 - 1 Day Prior

9:30 a.m. - With wind speeds reaching 175 mph, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin orders a mandatory evacuation of the city after speaking with Bush. The evacuation call comes only 20 hours before Katrina would make landfall – less than half the time that researchers had determined was necessary to evacuate the city.
—Gordon Russell, " Nagin orders first-ever mandatory evacuation of New Orleans ," New Orleans Times-Picayune , 31 Aug 2005.
—Lise Olsen, " City had evacuation plan but strayed from strategy ," Houston Chronicle , 8 Sep 2005.

8:30 p.m. - An empty Amtrak train leaves New Orleans, with room for hundreds of potential evacuees. "We offered the city the opportunity to take evacuees out of harm's wayÂ…The city declined," said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black. The train left New Orleans no passengers on board.
—Susan Glasser, " The Steady Buildup to a City's Chaos ," The Washington Post , 11 Sep 2005.
Two weeks later, Nagin denies on NBC's Meet the Press that Amtrak offered their services. "Amtrak never contacted me to make that offer," the mayor tells host Tim Russert. "I have never gotten that call, Tim, and I would love to have had that call. But it never happened."
—" Interview with Mayor Nagin ," Meet the Press, NBC, 11 Sep 2005.

Monday August 29, 2005 - Day of Katrina

11 a.m. - New Orleans is spared a direct hit, as the center of the storm passes over the Louisiana-Mississippi state line 35 miles away from the city. Maximum sustained winds are now reduced, but still a strong Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds.
—"Hurricane Katrina Advisory Number 27," National Hurricane Center , 29 Aug 2005.

Late Morning (exact time uncertain) - The vital 17th Street Canal levee gives way, sending the water from Lake Pontchartrain into the city in a second, slower wave of flooding. A full day will pass before state or federal officials fully realize what is happening.
—John McQuaid, " Katrina trapped city in double disasters ," New Orleans Times-Picayune , 7 Sep 2005.
Eventually, engineers will find five separate places where concrete floodwalls gave way. They will still be debating and studying the causes of the failures two weeks after the storm.
—John McQuaid, " Mystery surrounds floodwall breaches; Could a structural flaw be to blame ?" New Orleans Times-Picayune , 13 Sep 2005.

Tuesday August 30, 2005 - 1 Day After Katrina

3 p.m
US Sen. David Vitter said of the still-rising water:
Sen. Vitter: In the metropolitan area in general, in the huge majority of areas, it's not rising at all. It's the same or it may be lowering slightly. In some parts of New Orleans, because of the 17th Street breach, it may be rising and that seemed to be the case in parts of downtown.
I don't want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just not happening.
None of the officials present at the press conference correct the mistaken remark. And Blanco seems puzzled when a reporter asks the governor about the water pollution that will later emerge as a major public health risk:
Q: Does the water that's downtown -- does this represent what everyone feared before the hurricane would come, that you would have this toxic soup that has overrun the city?
Blanco: It didn't -- I wouldn't think it would be toxic soup right now. I think it's just water from the lake, water from the canals. It's, you know, water.
Q: Well, something could be underneath that water.
Blanco: Pardon?
—"The Situation Room; Hurricane Katrina Aftermath ; Rescue Efforts and Assessing the Damage," Transcript, CNN, 30 Aug 2005.

Wednesday August 31, 2005 - 2 Days After
Morning - Bush, still in Crawford, participates in a half-hour video conference on Katrina with Vice President Cheney (who is in Wyoming) and top aides. Later, he boards Air Force One and flies over New Orleans on his way back to Washington. His press secretary tells reporters: "The President, when we were passing over that part of New Orleans, said, 'It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground.'"
—"Press Gaggle with Scott McClellan " Aboard Air Force One, En Route Andrews Air Force Base, MD, 31 Aug 2005.
Looting intensifies in New Orleans. Nagin orders most of the police to abandon search and rescue missions for survivors and focus on packs of looters who are becoming increasingly violent. The AP reported, "Police officers were asking residents to give up any guns they had before they boarded buses and trucks because police desperately needed the firepower."
—"Mayor: Katrina may have killed thousands ," Associated Press , 31 Aug 2005

Late Afternoon - Bush, back at the White House, holds a cabinet meeting on Katrina and speaks for nine minutes in the Rose Garden to outline federal relief efforts. He 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," the President says.
—"President Outlines Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts ," The Rose Garden, 31 Aug 2005.

Time Uncertain - Red Cross President Marsha Evans asks permission to enter the city with relief supplies, but Louisiana state officials deny permission.
—"Red Cross: State rebuffed relief efforts: Aid organization never got into New Orleans, officials say" CNN.com , 9 Sep 2005.
Thirty-thousand National Guard Troops from across the country are ordered to report to the Gulf Coast, but many do not arrive for several days.
—"More Navy Ships, National Guard troops head to the Gulf Coast ," Associated Press, 1 Sep 2005.

Evening - Nagin delivers a rambling diatribe in an interview with local radio station WWL-AM, blaming Bush and Blanco for doing too little:
Nagin : I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. . .I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish. ... We don't have anything, and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.It's awful down here, man.. . . 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.
—"Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses,'" Transcript of radio interview with New Orleans' Nagin, CNN.com, 2 Sep 2005.

Friday September 2, 2005 - 4 Days After
The Red Cross renews its request to enter the city with relief supplies. "We had adequate supplies, the people and the vehicles," Red Cross official Vic Howell would later recall. Louisiana officials say they needed 24 hours to provide an escort and prepare for the Red Cross's arrival. However, 24 hours later, a large-scale evacuation is underway and the Red Cross relief effort never reaches New Orleans.
—"Red Cross: State rebuffed relief efforts: Aid organization never got into New Orleans, officials say" CNN.com , 9 Sep 2005.

Noon - A convoy of military trucks drives through floodwaters to the convention center, the first supplies of water and food to reach victims who have waited for days. Thousands of armed National Guardsmen carrying weapons stream into the city to help restore order. Commanding is Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, a cigar-chomping Louisiana native who soon wins praise for his decisive style of action.
—Allen G. Breed, "National Guardsmen Arrive in New Orleans," The Associated Press, 2 Sep 2005.

It's seems as though the federal government was ready...its just that it takes the federal government days to get things going...that must be looked at.

Howerver, the blame that goes directly to Bush continues to beridiculousand more rediculous. The local officials looked like pure idiots....it is all chronicled right here...if you are smart enough to read I don't have to spell it out for you.

Blame can be given to the federal government….but partisan opportunists who blame Bush for everything look more and more like political hacks every day…keep it up until just after November 2008.