Storm surge from Katrina caused catastrophic damage along the coastlines of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Levees separating Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans were breached by the surge, ultimately flooding about 80% of the city. Wind damage was reported well inland, impeding relief efforts. Katrina is estimated to be reponsible for $75 billion in damages, making it the costliest hurricane in United States history; the storm has killed at least 1,386 people, becoming the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane.

Ehlonna: I’ve been through several hurricanes before, riding out several minor storms from home. None of those were the intensity of Katrina, however. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 changed the way I viewed hurricanes. When I saw pictures of Homestead, FL the morning after Andrew came through, I was stunned. When Andrew entered the Gulf of Mexico and was forecast to strike Louisiana, my family started to try to find a hotel room. The closest we could get was Memphis,TN. Since then, we have evacuated for every major hurricane to threaten Louisiana. We spent 20 hours on the interstate for Hurricane Georges to travel from New Orleans to Dallas with a cancer patient. Despite the difficulty of that evacuation, we continued to obey all evacuation orders. All of the storms we evacuated for in the past changed paths and did most damage in distant locales, so hurricane evacuations had taken on the air of an unplanned vacation – a chance to leave town for about 3 days.

Buttercup: So it would be fair to say that Andrew, was a big reason why you didn't hesitate to get out early. When did you first hear of Hurricane Katrina, and what was your initial reaction?

Ehlonna: We were aware of Katrina before it hit Florida. Initially, we didn’t take the storm seriously. It was only a minimal hurricane that would cause some localized flooding near landfall, but not the widespread damage that Florida had seen from other recent hurricanes like Charly and Ivan. When Katrina continued to cross the Florida peninsula, original speculation called for it to make a second landfall on the Florida panhandle, so we continued to monitor the situation occasionally, but didn’t feel a sense of urgency Friday night.

Buttercup: When did you decide to decide to evacuate?

Ehlonna: We went to bed Friday night about midnight believing that the storm posed no threat to us. It was projected to hit the Mississippi/Alabama state line as a category 3 storm. However, at 4 am on Saturday morning, the forecasters shifted the projected landfall to the city of New Orleans. An uncle called us early Saturday morning to warn us that the path had shifted and now threatened Louisiana. We nailed plywood boards over the windows, and moved any items that were on the floor onto tabletops and beds to protect them from minor flooding. We left that afternoon after securing a hotel room in Dallas.

Buttercup: Waking up and seeing Katrina go from an intense storm to a monster cyclone heading your way would be scary for anyone. Thinking about what i would take when evacuation comes, would be so tough.
What did you take?

Ehlonna: I took clothes for a short weekend vacation (as all the other evacuations turned out to be.) I took my laptop computer and warranty information, all my medications, a couple of novels (books are essential traveling gear), my good jewelry, all of my software cds, my pillow (I hate hotel pillows), makeup, personal toiletries, my university diploma, some religious items, and snacks, toys, a brush, and water for my dog. I always use a packing list when I travel. When I packed for Katrina, I used the same list I created for my trip to Disney World in May. That may give you a bit of insight into our mindset.

Buttercup: When you left, did you see alot of people in your neighborhood do the same?

Ehlonna: Many families in my neighborhood were either leaving or making preparations to leave on Saturday. Some waited to leave on Sunday, but there were a few who indicated they would not leave. Some of these people worked at area hospitals and would be on duty throughout the storm.

Buttercup: When you got onto highway, was it crowded with people trying to get out?

Ehlonna: The state had already implemented the contraflow plan (where all lanes on the interstates are converted to out-bound travel. i.e., cars travel west in the eastbound lanes), so we took back roads and state highways since we could not go west on the interstate exchange closest to my house (all traffic at that point was directed north). Traffic was heavy, but it was flowing – a major improvement over the Hurricane Georges fiasco. The trip to Dallas this time took roughly 14 hours, longer than average, but not unreasonable under the circumstances.

Buttercup: I remember seeing the contraflow on the news. Where did you go the first night?

Ehlonna: The first night, and the next several nights, we spent in suites in Dallas. When it became clear that this would not be a brief evacuation, we found more affordable rooms in Houston, and then moved again to Dickinson, a small town between Houston and Galveston. We spent our final week in Texas City.

Buttercup: Where were you when you first saw the hurricane make landfall?

Ehlonna: In the hotel in Dallas.

Buttercup: Tell me in length.. What did you go thru? Where did you go? I remember you telling me that you didn't feel secure.. so explain that too. What are some of the things that happened to you?

Ehlonna: We stayed a little under a week in Dallas. Our accommodations there were very comfortable, but we knew we could not afford to keep the rooms for as long as we would be away from home. At first, we believed New Orleans had gotten lucky again. The storm turned at the last possible moment and would make landfall east of the city. But good news for New Orleans, we knew, would be bad news for our city of Slidell. Media reports eventually trickled in citing Slidell’s mayor as saying that the city was completely destroyed. My heart sank. I wondered where we would go and what would happen to our community. I thought about all the things we didn’t take with us, especially the photographs and sentimental items.
Some other relatives found a hotel in Houston for $200 a week. We were a bit wary at that point, but we knew we were lucky to find rooms in Houston at all, so we took them. The old adage about getting what you pay for is good advice. The room was small and dirty. There were what appeared to be bloodstains on the mattresses and the shower curtains. We cleaned every surface with bleach wipes before we would allow my three year old nephew to touch anything. We found a local Walmart and bought bedding for both of the beds and bath towels, not feeling confident that the linens in the new hotel room were clean. We inferred from the surrounding area that we were not in a very good section of town. People tended to mill about in the hallways, and unsupervised children frequently ran down the corridors. The morning after our first night there, another hotel guest informed us that several cars in the parking lot had been vandalized and their contents stolen.
An aunt told us about a Days Inn in Dickinson where the local Chamber of Commerce was allegedly paying the fees for Katrina evacuees. The hotel was obviously not well-kept, but it was better than the place in Houston, so we agreed to stay, even after learning that the owners lied about the aid for evacuees. Their “free continental breakfast” was coffee and cereal – and that only if you went to the office early enough to get some before it was gone. We never bothered with it. Although local people dropped off food and goods at the hotel office for evacuess, we never saw any of it because the owners kept it for themselves. Eventually locals learned about what was happening, and began parking in the parking lot to hand out their donations. The hotel was a rathole, but the local people were very generous to all of us who were displaced because of Katrina. One local family invited my family to their home for a barbeque and swimming. My father and brother snuck into Slidell to determine the extent of the damage to our homes and vehicles. We were very very fortunate to learn that the tree in front of my house fell away from the garage, and the roof of the house was intact. The fear changed over to survivors’ guilt. Why should we escape with such minor damage when so many others lost everything? The local authorities were originally telling us that we would have to stay out of town for three months, so we began to search for an apartment that would allow a short-term lease and allow us to keep the dog. We thought our luck was changing when we found a complex that agreed to a three month lease. We completed an application and walked through a model unit that was clean and modestly decorated. The unit we would lease was being cleaned, the manager told us, so we would be unable to view it at that time. We signed the lease agreement for the unit, sight unseen in desperation to be out of the motel. When my mother finally got the keys to our unit (just as the office was closing the next day) and saw the unit, she returned to tell us that the unit was nothing like the model we were shown. The unit was a second floor flat, accessible only by a dark, dirty stairwell. The front door was a hollow-core door, offering little security. Inside, cabinets hung from their hinges. Teenagers loitered in the streets and parking lot sitting on car hoods. We also felt that the area lacked sufficient lighting for safety. The local chamber of commerce helped us contest the lease and stop payment on the rent checks we had given to the rental office. My parents returned home after two weeks to begin cleaning the yard and kitchen. Electricity had been restored, but the water was still not safe for drinking or bathing. My sister, her boyfriend and I remained in Texas City for another week. Health officials were recommending several vaccinations for those returning to the New Orleans area, and we heard reports that some clinics were offering free vaccinations for Katrina victims. So we searched the Houston area for a clinic that was offering the vaccinations, but only found one clinic that had the vaccines. The inoculations would have cost well over $100, since I don’t have health insurance; the reports of free shots were rumors. We went to Brown Medical Center in Houston (a charity hospital) and were told our wait would be approximately six hours, and they only had one of the recommended vaccines. The three of us decided not to wait for only one vaccine, so we returned home without receiving the recommended vaccinations.

Buttercup: It is amazing to me how many people will try to rip you off when you are at your lowest. You said something about seeing your house.. or your neighborhood on the news. What was it like to see your house or neighborhood still standing?

Ehlonna: We saw an uncle’s home in Chalmette on the news. For several days, there was no mention at all of Slidell or any city other than New Orleans because the media was still preoccupied with the superdome. We felt horrible for my uncle because only the very tip of his roof was visible above the waterline; we knew they had lost everything. My father and brother had taken some pictures of our house when they snuck into Slidell, so we knew that our house was standing and had not flooded. We were angry that there was so little information about our city. The eye of the storm came ashore less than 10 miles from my house, and none of the media were saying anything about us!

The floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina cover the gutters of these houses in Chalmette, La. This is not my uncle and aunt’s street, but the water depth is similar. Photo by Wade Frey

Buttercup: Wow, that is an amazing picture. Really says alot. When did you know you was going home?

Ehlonna: We were running out of money after three weeks of paying for hotels and eating out everyday, and St. Tammany parish finally gave the all clear for residents to return home. So at that point, there was no question of staying longer. We only received FEMA aid for our last week in Texas; the first two weeks were on us.

Buttercup: On your way home, where were you when you first start seeing devistation with your own eyes? And tell me about what you saw on your way home.

Ehlonna: The first tree damage I saw was just outside of Baton Rouge, which was a surprise because most of the storms I’ve seen never caused damage that far inland. I started seeing blue tarps near Hammond, where structures had some roof damage. When we got to the interstate exit closest to my house, I got my first real look at the widespread damage to the city. Billboard signs were leaning at 45 degree angles, and trees that had fallen were sawed off at the edge of the roads. Every business sign was blown out, leaving only the frames standing. The Racetrac gas station canopy lost almost all of the metal siding on the canopy; an Arby’s restaurant lost part of a wall; a strip mall that had begun construction just before Katrina was now a twisted mass of metal and broken glass; the local electric company lost its entire western wall, exposing file cabinets and office furniture to plain view; and a Bank One lost a rear wall. In residential areas, trees had fallen onto and into houses. Carpet, appliances, and furniture lined streets, along with huge piles of tree branches.

A huge pine tree in Baton Rouge, La. Split this house in half. This is typical of the damage many houses sustained from falling trees. Photo by David Barback

This billboard in Slidell, La. is bent to the ground under the force of Katrina’s winds. Photo by Al Reisz

Broken limbs and branches from Hurricane Katrina completely cover Fremaux Ave. near Slidell, La.’s Olde Towne historical district. Photo by Al Reisz

Gause Blvd. (Hwy 190) in Slidell, La. is completely impassable after the floodwaters receded. This is one of the main commercial corridors in our city. Photo by Scott Threlkeld of The Times-Picayune

This Racetrac gas station was rumored to have exploded in the storm. The actual damage to the structure isn’t too much better. Photo by Jackie Bennett

Arby’s on Gause Blvd. in Slidell, La. Sustained major damage from Katrina’s winds. As of January 10 it has not opened yet. Photo by Jackie Bennett

The frame of this strip mall in Slidell, La. was just being completed when Katrina struck. The twisted metal frame in front had to be removed, and no real progress has been made since then. Photo by Ehlonna

The entire second floor of this Days Inn in Slidell, La. was destroyed when Katrina blew through on August 29, 2005. The Best Western located right behind had minimal damage. Photo by Ehlonna

Power lines lie on the shoulder of Robert Blvd in Slidell, La. a few days after Katrina hit. Photo by Dexter Thurber

Buttercup: Seeing all that just blows my mind. When you started getting closer to your house, what was going through your mind?

Ehlonna: Having had the advantage of seeing pictures of my house before I left Texas, I was thankful that we had come through Katrina with as little damage as we had. Seeing the trees down all over the place and damage to neighbors’ houses made me feel immense sorrow for the people who hadn’t been as fortunate as my family.

Buttercup: Did you notice any damage outside of your house?

Ehlonna: About half of the large tree in front of our house had fallen across the walkway, and a branch from one of my next door neighbor’s trees fell onto my car and smashed the windshield.

A stroke of luck that the half of our tree that fell, fell across the lawn and walkway. Photo by Ehlonna

The branch from my neighbor’s tree that fell on my car! Photo by Ehlonna

Piles of tree debris on my street. Photo by Ehlonna

Piles of downed trees and rotten food in plastic bags line my street nearly a month after Katrina. It doesn’t smell any better than it looks. Photo by Ehlonna

A large tree knocked out the whole wall on this house, just two doors down from me. Photo by Ehlonna

Debris removal trucks are finally spotted on my street. Photo by Ehlonna

Buttercup: When you walked into your house how did you feel and did you see any difference? any damage?

Ehlonna: Because we live on a natural ridge in our subdivision, we did not flood like many of the neighbors did. We were also lucky that the roof sustained only minor shingle damage at the edge where trees brushed against them. Given the lack of structural damage, the interior of the house had no damage. My initial reaction upon walking inside was feeling overwhelmed about how much work we were facing to get everything put away again, but conscious that many other families had a lot more to clean up.

Buttercup: What was it like the first few weeks you were home? Anything interesting you noticed or saw?

Ehlonna: The first couple of weeks I was home was an adjustment period. Most restaurants were still closed. The two restaurants (yes, two restaurants in a town of 30,000) that were open had extremely limited menus. Armed National Guard troops patrolled the major streets, and the Chicago police department provided security at Target. I was upset at the number of trees we had lost, but relieved at how many survived the storm. I couldn’t imagine coming home to a place with no trees. My first glimpse of the hardest hit area of Slidell took my breath away. Lakeshore drive was obliterated. A street where house after house was built on pilings over the lakeshore was now littered with splintered wood and broken glass. Some camps had floated off their piers and landed across the street. One house had severe damage to all of the walls, but the studs managed to hold up the roof. A huge sailboat sat in the middle of Eden Isles Blvd for several weeks. Most everyone saw pictures of the I-10 twin spans that were damaged in the storm surge. Those bridges are our main route to New Orleans, and for many people, our jobs. Hurricane Katrina was not selective in her destruction; she destroyed private homes, government buildings, and several churches. Rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic, and Vietnamese were all affected by this storm.
The storm surge from Lake Ponchartrain beached this boat in Eden Isles, south of Slidell. Photo by Capt. Jack Voelker

The boatslip in back of this Eden Isles home did little to protect this boat from Katrina. The roofing material was completely stripped away and a brick wall on the house was no match for Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Ehlonna

A boat is thrown up on a heavily damaged camp on U.S. Hwy 11 in Slidell, La. Photo by Ehlonna

This fishing camp on U.S. Hwy 11 was washed off its piers and came to rest right at the edge of the road. The camp will most likely need to be demolished. Photo by Ehlonna

Another camp on Hwy 11 in Slidell shows how violent the storm surge from Katrina was. Photo by Ehlonna

Lakeshore Drive in Slidell, La bore the full brunt of Katrina’s surge. There were once fishing camps all along this road on the pilings in the lake. Only one structure survived. Photo by Ehlonna

This car was flipped like a toy in a pile of debris on Lakeshore Dr. (Rats Nest Road) in Slidell, La Photo by Ehlonna

This sailboat was grounded on Lakeshore Dr. Slidell for a few weeks after Katrina. Photo by Al Reisz

The site of what used to be Vera’s Restaurant – a favorite seafood place for locals in Slidell, La. at the end of Lakeshore Dr. The damaged Twin Span bridge is visible in the background. Photo by Liande Wainie

The I-10 Twin Spans in Slidell, La. after Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge washed away sections of the bridges. Photo from CNN

Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Slidell, La. was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Chuck Cook.

Buttercup: Do you know any info on some of the things that happend that the media did not report at length?

Ehlonna: I haven’t seen much in the mainstream media about Avery Estates subdivision. This subdivision is only four miles from my house, but it was hit with a 20 foot storm surge from Katrina. The subdivision is leveled. What houses were left standing are uninhabitable. A member of my church choir lived in a two story house near the back of the neighborhood. He decided to ride out the storm at home and reported that he had 13 inches of floodwater in his ATTIC. A small boat knocked against his roof and he was able to climb into that boat, rescue a neighbor, and make it to higher ground.

This is a photograph of the end of Apple Pie Ridge Road, an area bordering the Fritchie Marsh and which received the same sort of devastation as Avery Estates. This area was full of mature shade trees and houses on both sides of the street. Only one house remains standing on this street. Photo by The Times Picayune

I am not certain how much national press has been given to New Orleans City Park. City Park is an oasis of green in the middle of the city of New Orleans – a 1300 acre park, funded almost entirely by admission prices to special events, equipment rentals, and fundraising. The park is home to one of the largest collections of Live Oak trees in the country, many of them over 200 years old. Katrina ripped branches from and uprooted many of the trees, and the botanic gardens were drowned in the floodwaters that covered parts of the city for two weeks, but the historic wooden carousel horses were spared serious damage. The park received some generous donations from private individuals and corporations and made enough progress to open for a scaled-down version of its annual Celebration in the Oaks, a display of Christmas lights and exhibits. The cleaning efforts continue with the help of volunteers from the community.

The Roosevelt Mall in New Orleans City Park suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina. Photo by New Orleans City Park

The Botanical Gardens suffered some of the worst damage from Katrina’s contaminated floodwaters. Photo by Susan Poag

The stone pedestrian bridge in City Park survived Katrina’s floods and wind. Photo by Colleen Perilloux-Landry

Storyland in New Orleans City Park was filled with play sculptures from many children’s stories. This was a favorite play spot for generations of children in the metro area. Photo by Susan Poag

The hardwood floors buckled and the mechanical equipment was damaged, but the hand-painted horses in New Orleans City Park’s carousel are in good shape. Photo by New Orleans City Park

I also have not heard much about St. Bernard Parish, located southeast of New Orleans and fronting the Gulf of Mexico at its far eastern edge. St. Bernard is its own entity in the state, governed by its own parish council. I have heard national media mistakenly call it a subdivision of New Orleans. It is a suburb, certainly, but not a subdivision. While national media was hung up on the roof coming off the superdome, people in St. Bernard were drowning because the federal government (FEMA) assumed they were ok. Every building in St. Bernard parish had damage of some kind. The government is operating out of temporary trailers, and some areas of the parish still do not have basic utilities. Many neighborhoods are still cleaning up toxic materials from a large oil spill. The first outside help to arrive in St. Bernard parish was Canadian police officers –on the scene before any representative of the U.S. federal government or FEMA arrived. It is notable that St. Bernard parish is a majority Caucasian population. While some in New Orleans and around the country are trying to label the government response (or lack thereof) as evidence of racism and a conspiracy to take African American land, St. Bernard is clear evidence that the federal government’s failures were due only to ineptness and apathy. Those who suggest that the levees were blown up to kill African American residents in the lower ninth ward are conveniently ignoring the population of St. Bernard Parish.

Oil and mud cover this street in Chalmette, La. after the area was flooded for weeks following Hurricane Katrina and again after Hurricane Rita. An oil storage tank was pushed off its foundation by Katrina’s storm surge, contaminating the surrounding area with more than a million barrels of oil. Photo by Ted Jackson of The Times-Picayune

The Village Square Shopping Center in Chalmette, La. first flooded and then burned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This area is in the heart of Chalmette’s commercial district. Photo by Susie Pace

Stacked cars and dried mud are a common sight in Chalmette, La these days, but people never get used to seeing the dead animals on patios and, in this picture, truck beds. Photo by Ronnie Cardwell

This house on St. Marie St. in Lexington Place subdivision in Meraux, La floated off its foundation and into the middle of the street. Photo by Trisha Campbell

A shed floated into this home in Meraux, La. A thick layer of mud covers the street. Photo by Ronnie Cardwell

Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge lifted this car and deposited on the roof of this home in Violet, La. as the waters receded. Photo by Wilfred Sanchez

This house in Violet was pushed off its foundation by Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge. The rest of the street can be seen through the house. Photo by Lyndon Pousson

Delacroix in lower St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana was completely destroyed by hurricane Katrina. Not a single structure can be saved in this area. Photo by Gerald Hebert

Also, many small towns in coastal Mississippi were leveled. In their focus on New Orleans, I think the media forgets that Katrina veered east before it struck land; New Orleans did not suffer a direct hit by Katrina. The small towns on the Mississippi coast were on the dangerous eastern side of the eye of the storm and suffered a higher storm surge than New Orleans did. Places like Pearlington, Waveland, Biloxi, Bay St. Louis, and Pass Christian were established communities. Although there were reminders on the coast of Hurricane Camille in 1954, the area had recovered and boasted a strong economy. Biloxi and Gulfport were becoming nationally known for their casino barges. Beautiful historic homes over 100 years old stood beneath beautiful oak trees draped in Spanish moss on the scenic coast highway. Many of these homes were completely destroyed by the storm surge. The remaining homes and structures suffered major structural damage. Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederate States of America), suffered significant damage. Locals reported that in Hurricane Camille, trees snapped but were not pulled up by the roots as they were during Katrina.

The roof of this home in Bay St. Louis, MS washed several feet away from its foundation. Photo by Unknown

The roadbed of Beach Blvd. in Bay St. Louis, MS is destroyed (in the foreground), and the devastated structures are typical of the damage in the area. Photo by Mississippi Heritage Trust

This photograph is taken from inside a historic house on Beach Blvd. in Biloxi, MS. Many houses along the coastal highway were significantly damaged, if not completely washed away. Photo by Mississippi Heritage Trust

Beauvoir, , the home of the President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis as it appeared before Hurricane Katrina’s wrath. Photo by Mississippi Heritage Trust

Beauvoir as it appears after Katrina ravaged the Biloxi, MS coast. Engineers have determined that despite the damage to the home, it is structurally sound and can be saved. Photo by Mississippi Heritage Trust

The three story Biloxi Grand Casino barge was carried inland across Hwy 90 by Katrina’s storm surge and destroyed the 1856 Tullis Toledano House. The casino now sits where the house once stood.
Photo by Jennifer Steiner

This is all that remains of businesses on this section of beach in Biloxi, MS after a 30 foot storm surge inundated the area. Photo by Unknown/ www.omegasilver.com

This home on Seal Ave. in Biloxi, MS illustrates the catastrophic damage suffered by homes inland from the immediate coast. Photo by Mississippi Heritage Trust

A homeowner in Pass Christian, MS holds a photo of his house as it appeared before Katrina destroyed it. The front steps are all that is left. Photo by Unknown Photographer

The first floor of this home in Pass Christian, MS was gutted by Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge. The columns gave way a couple of days after this photo was taken, and the second story now sits on the ground. Photo by Mississippi Heritage Trust

A flagpole and historical marker from Hurricane Camille are all that remain of the Waveland, MS City Hall.

This plaque was erected by the people of Waveland, MS to thank the people who helped them rebuild from Hurricane Camille. There is some poetic justice that the marker was spared Katrina’s wrath. Photo by Kevin Bailey

Buttercup: Thank you so much for the pictures. They really give you a glance at what happened. I cannot imagine the full impact of seeing this with my own eyes. And again i thank you for giving us a peek. Much has been said about evacuations and who is to blame for the mess. I am sure there is alot of people to blame. Without getting too political, let me know how you feel about what happened.

Ehlonna: I have heard a great deal of criticism directed toward the State of Louisiana’s political leadership. Now, usually, I am among those critics. I am not going to suggest here that the state’s and city’s response was flawless; but I am also unwilling to exonerate the federal government’s response to the disaster. An unprecedented disaster mandates an unprecedented response.
The state of Louisiana has a comprehensive evacuation plan (viewed at http://www.lsp.org/pdf/Web_StateMap.pdf ) which calls for low-lying parishes closest to the Gulf of Mexico to be evacuated first. Phase two evacuations include the east and west banks of New Orleans and areas south of Lake Ponchartrain. Phase 3 evacuations include areas north of the lake that are susceptible to storm surge flooding from the lake. The rationale behind the plan is that allowing people who are the furthest out (and therefore need more time to evacuate) to leave first, we will avoid the massive gridlock the area experienced during evacuations for hurricanes Georges and Ivan. The state evacuation plan orders phase one evacuations to begin at 70 hours before expected landfall. Katrina did not give us 70 hours advance warning. National media pundits have failed to adequately explain the state evacuation plan, and this feeds the impression that Mayor Nagin of New Orleans was procrastinating. I do not feel that this was the case. I think he gave as much consideration to the coastal communities as he could to allow them to evacuate before the interstates were clogged with traffic from New Orleans residents. When a hurricane is approaching land, the state government should not have to phone Washington with progress reports. Washington has time and resources to track things themselves. The state was busy coordinating with local governments to try to ensure an orderly evacuation, since one of the heads of local government (Aaron Broussard in Jefferson Parish) was originally refusing to cooperate with the state evacuation plan. Remember that Katrina was not originally expected to hit New Orleans. Mayor Nagin’s failure was his lack of vision to plan for the evacuation of thousands of residents who lacked the means and the method to evacuate. The photograph of the flooded school buses is now ubiquitous. Contraflow was initiated on the interstates 2 days before Katrina struck. This took considerable planning and preparation. The nation saw the disaster of Houston’s attempt to implement contraflow at the last minute in advance of Rita.
The federal government’s failure was, and still is, unconscionable. FEMA’s former director Michael Brown lied repeatedly about his awareness of the problems faced by Louisiana. In 2004, several state and federal agencies (FEMA included) conducted an emergency exercise called Hurricane Pam, in which a fictional category 3 hurricane made a direct hit on New Orleans. (Remember, Katrina was not a direct hit.) Each agency formulated detailed plans to respond to the effects of that storm. Scientists from local universities estimated the storm surge and flooding potential through various parts of New Orleans and also anticipated the lack of food and water for those who refused to evacuate or were unable to evacuate. The plans developed from Hurricane Pam called for the state and city to care for citizens for 3-4 days. FEMA assured the state that they would be ready to move in with all essential supplies by that time. But the first federal aid to New Orleans arrived five days after the storm. The first aid to St. Bernard Parish arrived several days later. FEMA and other federal agencies were well aware of the unique problems faced by southeast Louisiana. The New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper published a series of articles about the levee weaknesses in 2003. An article in the USA Today in 2000 explained what would happen if a category 3 or greater storm made a direct hit on New Orleans. Louisiana senators and representatives have tried to secure funding for coastal restoration projects for years, explaining the vital role healthy wetlands play in lessening the effects of a storm surge. The saddest part of the suffering endured by so many people along the coast is that it was predicted. Federal officials have been warned for many years about the catastrophic consequences of a major hurricane striking New Orleans. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed the levee system that was supposed to protect New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Concerns about the design were raised about the strength of those plans when they were drafted, but the Corps ignored the complaints. Warnings and fears were again ignored when the federal government built the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in the marshes southeast of New Orleans. The local levee boards have long been negligent in inspections, but the Corps of Engineers bears a greater responsibility in this disaster because their plans ignored several vital factors such as soil composition and strength.
Some critics have argued that Louisiana should be more fiscally responsible in allocating budgetary funds. There is merit to that argument; however, this position fails to account for the responsibility of the federal government. Arguing that Louisiana should bear sole responsibility and cost for recovery from Katrina is akin to arguing that New York should have born the cost of recovering for the 9/11 attacks. Every state in this country has had its share of unsavory politicians, and to argue that Louisiana is less deserving of federal assistance because of the reputation of its past and current political leaders is unfair to its residents. Louisiana should be paid the ten percent royalties that other states are paid for harvesting oil and natural gas. Giving Louisiana a steady stream of revenue from its natural resources would allow the state to finance some of the coastal restoration and flood-protection projects that have been endlessly postponed because of a lack of funding. New Orleans was Louisiana’s largest city before the storm and produced most of the state’s revenue. Therefore, to argue that New Orleans should not be rebuilt is to argue that Louisiana should lose its economic engine. Tourism is a big part of the revenue stream, and the variables that bring tourists to this city can not be reproduced in another location: 300 years of history and culture melded into a unique and vibrant port city. It is this unique culture that draws millions of tourists and hundreds of conventions every year. Quite simply: Louisiana would cease to exist without New Orleans. And the United States can not afford to lose the natural energy resources harvested off our coast, or the billion dollar seafood industry. No other community in this country has ever been asked to justify its existence. We should not begin to demand a justification now.

Buttercup Thoughts:
The depth of the suffering and the height of the courage of the people of Slidell and other communities outside of New Orleans, including Mississippi, is an incredible story that the American people must know. But, in the shadows of the New Orleans story, the Mississippi Coast has become invisible and forgotten to most Americans. Congress has approved $29 billion for recovery and rebuilding on the Gulf Coast. Only time will tell how the money is divided. Three casinos already have reopened in Biloxi and others have vowed to be back before Katrina's anniversary on Aug. 29. In 2004, the dozen casinos on the Mississippi coast generated $1.2 billion in gross revenue. Let us never forget the impact Katrina has made on these Americans. Katrina's Death toll stands at 1,386 and the missing is close to 3700.

Thank you Ehlonna for sharing your story. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and the victims of this catastrophe.

Immediate aftermath
Tuesday, August 30
12 pm CDT - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff becomes aware that the New Orleans levee breaches cannot be plugged

10 pm CDT - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announces that the planned sandbagging of the 17th Street levee breach has failed. 80 percent of New Orleans is underwater.

Wednesday, August 31
Morning: Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana orders that all of New Orleans, including the Superdome, be evacuated.
Governor Blanco commandeers hundreds of buses from across Louisiana using her executive powers, and those buses eventually evacuate more than 15,000 people stranded in New Orleans. The school buses evacuate most people on Wednesday and Thursday
Governor Blanco says, in an interview on FNC, that she will request President Bush to send Federal troops to help restore law and order in New Orleans. The Governor says that she should have requested them sooner

11 pm EDT (0300 UTC) - U.S. government weather officials announce that the center of the remnant low of what was Katrina has been completely absorbed by a frontal boundary in southeastern Canada

This timeline is a preview to a interview i will be posting on this site. Ehlonna is an IMM on waterdeep. She lives in Slidell, Louisiana, a community on the northeast side of Lake Pontchartrain. She will share her amazing story with me. I know very little about her, but when the storm was going on, i would always ask her what was happening. I remember her being afraid of the situation she was put in because of the storm. I am almost done with the interview. I will try to have it up as soon as possible.