Hurricane Katrina Timeline

Friday, August 26
	GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA
	GULF COAST STATES REQUEST TROOP ASSISTANCE FROM PENTAGON

Saturday, August 27
	GOV. HALEY BARBOUR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN MISSISSIPPI
5AM CDT	KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE
	GOV. BLANCO ASKS BUSH TO DECLARE FEDERAL STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA:
	FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARED, DHS AND FEMA GIVEN FULL AUTHORITY TO RESPOND TO KATRINA

Sunday, August 28
2AM CDT	KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE
7AM CDT	KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE
9:30 AM CDT	MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES FIRST EVER MANDATORY EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS
AFTERNOON	BUSH, BROWN, CHERTOFF WARNED OF LEVEE FAILURE BY NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR
4PM CDT	NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ISSUES SPECIAL HURRICANE WARNING: In the event of a category 4 or 5 hit, “Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer. … At least one-half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. All gabled roofs will fail, leaving those homes severely damaged or destroyed. … Power outages will last for weeks. … Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.” [National Weather Service]
LATE PM	REPORTS OF WATER TOPPLING OVER LEVEE
LATE PM	APPROXIMATELY 30,000 EVACUEES GATHER AT SUPERDOME WITH ROUGHLY 36 HOURS WORTH OF FOOD
LATE PM	LOUISIANA NATIONAL GUARD REQUESTS 700 BUSES FROM FEMA FOR EVACUATIONS: FEMA sends only 100 buses.

Monday, August 29
7AM CDT	KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE
7:30AM CDT	BUSH ADMINISTRATION NOTIFIED OF THE LEVEE BREACH
8AM CDT	MAYOR NAGIN REPORTS THAT WATER IS FLOWING OVER LEVEE
11:13AM CDT	WHITE HOUSE CIRCULATES INTERNAL MEMO ABOUT LEVEE BREACH: “Flooding is significant throughout the region and a levee in New Orleans has reportedly been breached sending 6-8 feet of water throughout the 9th ward area of the city.” [AP]
MORNING	BROWN WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE POTENTIAL DEVASTATION OF KATRINA: In a briefing, Brown warned Bush, “This is, to put it mildly, the big one, I think.”
MORNING	MAYFIELD WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE TOPPING OF THE LEVEES: In the same briefing, Max Mayfield, National Hurricane Center Director, warns, “This is a category 5 hurricane, very similar to Hurricane Andrew in the maximum intensity, but there’s a big big difference. This hurricane is much larger than Andrew ever was. I also want to make absolutely clear to everyone that the greatest potential for large loss of lives is still in the coastal areas from the storm surge. … I don’t think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but there’s obviously a very very grave concern.”
MORNING	BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION
MORNING	BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN
11AM CDT	MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY REQUESTS THAT DHS DISPATCH 1,000 EMPLOYEES TO REGION, GIVES THEM TWO DAYS
11AM CDT	BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “… we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.”
4:30PM CDT	BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT
8PM CDT	RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME
8PM CDT	GOV. BLANCO AGAIN REQUESTS ASSISTANCE FROM BUSH: “Mr. President, we need your help. We need everything you’ve got.”
LATE PM	BUSH GOES TO BED WITHOUT ACTING ON BLANCO’S REQUESTS

Tuesday, August 30
11AM CDT	BUSH SPEAKS ON IRAQ AT NAVAL BASE CORONADO
MIDDAY	MIDDAY — CHERTOFF CLAIMS HE FINALLY BECOMES AWARE THAT LEVEE HAS FAILED:
MIDDAY	PENTAGON CLAIMS THERE ARE ENOUGH NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS IN REGION:
MIDDAY	U.S.S. BATAAN SITS OFF SHORE, VIRTUALLY UNUSED: “The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore. The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents. But now the Bataan’s hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty.” [Chicago Tribune]
MIDDAY	MASS LOOTING REPORTED, SECURITY SHORTAGE CITED
2PM CDT	PRESIDENT BUSH PLAYS GUITAR WITH COUNTRY SINGER MARK WILLIS
2PM CDT	BUSH RETURNS TO CRAWFORD FOR FINAL NIGHT OF VACATION

Wednesday, August 31
11:20AM CDT	FEMA STAFF WARNED BROWN THAT PEOPLE WERE DYING AT THE SUPERDOME
11:20AM CDT	TENS OF THOUSANDS TRAPPED IN SUPERDOME; CONDITIONS DETERIORATE: “A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered a restroom. Blood stained the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers. ‘We pee on the floor. We are like animals,’ said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. … By Wednesday, it had degenerated into horror. … At least two people, including a child, have been raped. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for. There is no sanitation. The stench is overwhelming.”" [Los Angeles Times, 9/1/05]
11:20AM CDT	PRESIDENT BUSH FINALLY ORGANIZES TASK FORCE TO COORDINATE FEDERAL RESPONSE
11:20AM CDT	JEFFERSON PARISH EMERGENCY DIRECTOR SAYS FOOD AND WATER SUPPLY GONE:
11:20AM CDT	80,000 BELIEVED STRANDED IN NEW ORLEANS
11:20AM CDT	3,000 STRANDED AT CONVENTION CENTER WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER
11:20AM CDT	PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY DECLARED FOR ENTIRE GULF COAST
11:20AM CDT	BUSH SURVEYS DAMAGE FROM AIR FORCE ONE: President Bush flew over New Orleans on Air Force One. “During the 35-minute tour, Bush clearly saw from his vantage point the damage to the football stadium in New Orleans as well as the flooded neighborhoods, wiped out bridges and slabs of foundations where houses used to stand.” [Fox News]
11:20AM CDT	CHERTOFF “EXTREMELY PLEASED WITH THE RESPONSE” OF THE GOVERNMENT
EARLY AM	BLANCO AGAIN TRIES TO REQUEST HELP FROM BUSH: “She was transferred around the White House for a while until she ended up on the phone with Fran Townsend, the president’s Homeland Security adviser, who tried to reassure her but did not have many specifics. Hours later, Blanco called back and insisted on speaking to the president. When he came on the line, the governor recalled, “I just asked him for help, ‘whatever you have’.” She asked for 40,000 troops.” [Newsweek]
4PM CDT	BUSH GIVES FIRST MAJOR ADDRESS ON KATRINA
7PM CDT	CONDOLEEZZA RICE TAKES IN A BROADWAY SHOW: “On Wednesday night, Secretary Rice was booed by some audience members at ‘Spamalot!, the Monty Python musical at the Shubert, when the lights went up after the performance.” [New York Post, 9/2/05]
8PM CDT	FEMA DIRECTOR BROWN CLAIMS SURPRISE OVER SIZE OF STORM

Thursday, September 1
7AM CDT	BUSH CLAIMS NO ONE EXPECTED LEVEES TO BREAK: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”
7AM CDT	CONDOLEEZZA RICE VISITS U.S. OPEN: “Rice, [in New York] on three days’ vacation to shop and see the U.S. Open, hitting some balls with retired champ Monica Seles at the Indoor Tennis Club at Grand Central.” [New York Post]
7AM CDT	STILL NO COMMAND AND CONTROL ESTABLISHED
2PM CDT	MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES “DESPERATE SOS” TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: “This is a desperate SOS.”
2PM CDT	MICHAEL BROWN CLAIMS NOT TO HAVE HEARD OF REPORTS OF VIOLENCE: “I’ve had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they’re banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I’ve had no reports of that.”
2PM CDT	CONDOLEEZZA RICE GOES SHOE SHOPPING: “Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes…” A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, ‘How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!’
2PM CDT	NEW ORLEANS “DESCEND[S] INTO ANARCHY”: “Storm victims were raped and beaten, fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. ‘This is a desperate SOS,’ the mayor said.”
2PM CDT	MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY LEARNS OF EVACUEES IN CONVENTION CENTER

Friday, September 2
EARLY AM	ROVE-LED CAMPAIGN TO BLAME LOCAL OFFICIALS BEGINS: “Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan…to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” President Bush’s comments from the Rose Garden Friday morning formed “the start of this campaign.”
EARLY AM	BUSH WATCHES DVD OF THE WEEK’S NEWSCASTS CREATED BY STAFF WHO THOUGHT BUSH “NEEDED TO SEE THE HORRIFIC REPORTS”: “The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.”
10AM CDT	PRESIDENT BUSH STAGES PHOTO-OP “BRIEFING”: Coast Guard helicopters and crew diverted to act as backdrop for President Bush’s photo-op.
10:35AM CDT	BUSH PRAISES MICHAEL BROWN: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” [White House, 9/2/05]
10:35AM CDT	BUSH USES 50 FIREFIGHTERS AS PROPS IN DISASTER AREA PHOTO-OP
12PM CDT	BUSH “SATISFIED WITH THE RESPONSE”: “I am satisfied with the response. I am not satisfied with all the results.”
AFTERNOON	FEMA’S NO. 2 OFFICIAL “IMPRESSED” WITH GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
AFTERNOON	BUSH COMMENTS ON SEN. TRENT LOTT’S HOUSE: “Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.” Time called the remarks “astonishingly tone-deaf to the homeless black citizens still trapped in the post-apocalyptic water world of New Orleans.” [White House; Time]

Saturday, September 3
EARLY AM	SENIOR BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL LIES TO WASHINGTON POST, CLAIMS GOV. BLANCO NEVER DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY
9AM CDT	BUSH BLAMES STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS:
8:05PM CDT	FEMA FINALIZES BUS REQUEST
8:05PM CDT	KANYE WEST TELLS AUDIENCE, “GEORGE BUSH DOESN’T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE.”
8:05PM CDT	CHERTOFF CLAIMS THAT NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED KATRINA
8:05PM CDT	THE LOUISIANA SUPERDOME IS FULLY EVACUATED: By the time the evacuation was finished, the Superdome was in such a poor state that “inside and outside…[it] was a sea of trash up to 5 feet deep. [AP, 9/3/05]

Monday, September 5
	FORMER FIRST LADY PATRONIZES POOR REFUGEES: Former First Lady Barbara Bush says, “Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.” [American Public Media, 9/5/05]

Thursday, September 8
	BUSH SUSPENDS DAVIS-BACON ACT: Bush halts the enforcement of a law that sets the minimum pay for workers on federal contracts.

Friday, September 9
	BROWN STRIPPED OF RELIEF DUTIES: FEMA chief Michael Brown is removed from his duty overseeing relief operations.

Tuesday, September 13
	BUSH TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR FLAWED RESPONSE

Wednesday, September 14
	INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIVE PANEL REJECTED: Senate Republicans voted down an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton “to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate” the government’s failures following Hurricane Katrina.

Thursday, September 15
	BUSH ADDRESSES NATION, SAYS HIS ADMINISTRATION WILL “LEARN THE LESSONS” OF KATRINA
	HOUSE ESTABLISHES KATRINA COMMISSION: A day after the Senate rejected an independent panel, the House of Representatives approved legislation to create the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina.

Tuesday, September 20
	ALLSTATE REFUSES TO REIMBURSE VICTIMS

October 3
	IRAQ WAR HINDERS KATRINA RELIEF: An inquiry into the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina finds that the effort suffered “near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war.”

October 13
	600,000 REFUGEES LIVING IN HOTELS

October 19
	CHERTOFF TESTIFIES, CLAIMS ADMINISTRATION WAS PREPARED FOR KATRINA

November 10
	VICTIMS SUE FEMA FOR AID

November 16
	EVACUEES GIVEN 15 DAYS TO LEAVE: 150,000 evacuees are given until December 1 to leave government-subsidized hotels and find other housing. “Housing advocates criticized the announcement, saying that FEMA failed to spell out long-term housing plans, ignored existing federal housing programs and will push some poor evacuees into shelters for the homeless because of lack of planning.”

November 23
	THOUSANDS REMAIN MISSING: Nearly three months after Katrina hit, the National Center for Missing Adults says over 6,500 people are unaccounted for in the hurricane’s wake. In addition, “more than 400 bodies remain unidentified.”

December 4
	“THE DISASTER IS STILL REALLY GOING ON, IN TERMS OF HEALTH CARE”: “Many hospitals in the New Orleans area are short-staffed and struggling to care for a growing population of patients who are returning to their homes three months after fleeing Hurricane Katrina.”

December 13
	VICTIMS TAKE OUT AD TO GET CONGRESS’ ATTENTION: Homeless victims of Hurricane Katrina took out ad space to “[plead] with Congress to pay for stronger levees.”

December 14
	HOUSTON ENDS VOUCHER PROGRAM: Houston Mayor Bill White said today he will stop giving Katrina refugees vouchers for a year’s worth of rent and utilities, declaring, “Houston is full.”

January 4
	NEW ORLEANS STILL NOT SAFE FOR DISPLACED

January 12
	PRESIDENT BUSH TRAVELS TO NEW ORLEANS; SPENDS LESS THAN 24 HOURS IN THE REGION “It’s a heck of a place to bring your family,” he said

January 24
	WHITE HOUSE REFUSES TO COOPERATE WITH A SENATE INVESTIGATION OF KATRINA: “The Bush administration, citing the confidentiality of executive branch communications, said Tuesday that it did not plan to turn over certain documents about Hurricane Katrina or make senior White House officials available for sworn testimony before two Congressional committees investigating the storm response.”

January 31
	PRESIDENT BUSH DOES NOT MENTION KATRINA ONCE IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

February 1
	GOVERNMENT AUDITORS “LAMBAST” SECRETARY CHERTOFF’S RESPONSE TO KATRINA

February 10
	MICHAEL BROWN TESTIFIES: Brown called “a little disingenuous” and “just baloney” assertions by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other top administration officials that they were unaware of the severity of the catastrophe for a day after Katrina struck on Aug. 29.

February 13
	GAO REPORT CONCLUDES THAT FEMA’S DISASTER AID PROGRAM IS RIDDLED WITH FRAUD

February 15
	BUSH, SENIOR ADMINISTRATION LEADERS SINGLED OUT IN “BLISTERING” HOUSE REPORT ON KATRINA: The House of Representatives releases a 600-page report that further criticizes the White House’s response. [The report] lays primary fault with the passive reaction and misjudgments of top Bush aides, singling out Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Operations Center and the White House Homeland Security Council. [Washington Post, 2/12/06]
March 1
	TAPES SHOWING BUSH BEING WARNED OF A POTENTIAL BREACH IN THE LEVEES ARE RELEASED

March 19
	THE BROADEST COUNSELING PROGRAM EVER GETS UNDERWAY: An estimated 500,000 people need some form of mental health service, but “even people trained to offer solace break down easily and often.”
March 21
	THE LARGEST CHILD-RECOVERY EFFORT IN U.S. HISTORY ENDS: Six months after Katrina, 5,192 children are reunited with their family members.

March 30
	BUSH ADMINISTRATION MISCALCULATES COST OF REBUILDING LEVEES

April 24
	HOUSING SECRETARY ALPHONSO JACKSON SAYS ONLY THE “BEST RESIDENTS” SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO HOUSING COMPLEX

April 25
	BUSH ASKS CONGRESS FOR ADDITIONAL $2.2 BILLION TO REPAIR LEVEES: The move comes after the government announced it had initially underestimated the amount needed to repair New Orleans’ damaged levees.

April 27
	SENATE RELEASES 800-PAGE REPORT: The only national bipartisan inquiry in the country faults the Administration for “bungling the storm response by neglecting warnings, failing to grasp Katrina’s destructiveness, doing too little or taking the wrong steps before the Aug. 29 landfall.”
	BUSH MAKES 11TH TRIP TO DAMAGED GULF COAST SINCE KATRINA LANDED: “If you are interested in helping the victims of Katrina, interested in helping them get back on their feet, come on down here.”

May 2
	FEMA CLOSES ITS LONG-TERM RECOVERY OFFICE IN NEW ORLEANS

May 8
	7.2 MILLION TONS OF DEBRIS YET TO BE REMOVED AS LANDFILL DEBATE RAGES

May 18
	DEATH TOLL OF LOUISIANA REACHES 1,577: “A continuing rise in reports of out-of-state deaths” has increased Louisiana’s official Katrina toll by 22 percent.

May 20
	NEW ORLEANS MAYOR RAY NAGIN IS REELECTED

June 1
	FEMA CLOSES THE LAST FOUR CAMPS THAT HOUSE AND FEED RECOVERY VOLUNTEERS

June 15
	TOTAL RELIEF PACKAGE REACHES $107 BILLION

June 16
	DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SAYS THAT NEW ORLEANS IS NOT PREPARED FOR ANOTHER DISASTER

June 19
	NEW ORLEANS CONVENTION CENTER REOPENS

June 26
	$2 BILLION IN TAX DOLLARS FOR RELIEF LOST TO WASTE AND FRAUD: “The estimate of up to $2 billion in fraud and waste represents nearly 11 percent of the $19 billion spent by FEMA on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as of mid-June, or about 6 percent of total money that has been obligated.”

July 3
	SEXUAL ASSAULTS AMONG KATRINA EVACUEES CLIMB ALARMINGLY: “We have families doubling and tripling up in substandard housing, families living with extended family members they wouldn’t normally choose to live with,” said Alisa Klein, a public health and violence prevention specialist with the nonprofit National Sexual Violence Resource Center in Harrisburg, Pa. “We’re seeing this increased vulnerability to sexual violence…”

July 21
	NEW ORLEANS RESIDENTS FACE HIGHER ELECTRICITY PRICES AMID BLACKOUTS: “Ten months after Hurricane Katrina, the city still does not have a reliable electrical system. Hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of repairs are still needed on a system devastated by flooding, the local utility is in bankruptcy and less than half the system’s pre-storm customers have returned.”

July 28
	U.N. CRITICIZES THE U.S. FOR FAILING TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF THE POOR

August 3
	GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION OF NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPTARTMENT IS LAUNCHED: Law enforcement officials from Gretna prevented the evacuees, most of them black, from crossing a Mississippi River bridge into the predominantly white suburb.

August 7
	FIRST WAVE OF NEW ORLEANS SCHOOLS OPEN: Eight new public schools open giving 4,000 students an early start on the school year.

August 8
	NEW ORLEANS STILL NOT BACK ON TRACK: One year after Katrina, New Orleans is showing signs of early rebirth…but the majority of indicators are troubling, pointing to much-needed progress in basic city services, infrastructure, and affordable housing for workers in order to boost market confidence and move the region’s economy affirmatively forward.