Big game in the Big Easy
On Sept. 25, 2006, the New Orleans Saints played their first game in the Louisiana Superdome since Katrina struck.
• Story
• Photos
• Coverage from WWL-TV
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On Sept. 25, 2006, the New Orleans Saints played their first game in the Louisiana Superdome since Katrina struck.
• Story
• Photos
• Coverage from WWL-TV
Follow the path of Hurricane Katrina - from the first gust to hit shore to the painful recovery, rescue and evacuation effort - through the eyes of The Dallas Morning News staffers who covered it:
On Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005, in a speech broadcast from New Orleans, President Bush promised federal aid, tax breaks and guaranteed loans to help rebuild the city. He also told the nation that the response to Hurricane Katrina was inadequate.
"The system, at every level of government, was not well-coordinated and was overwhelmed in the first few days," he said. "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, "and this great city will rise again."
On Sept. 13, 2005, ABC News reported that Rep. William Jefferson, a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, used National Guard troops to check on his property and recover his personal belongings.
In 2006, the congressman was later implicated in a bribery scandal.
On Sept. 12, 2005, two weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, FEMA director Michael Brown resigns.
On Sept. 11, 2005, the Department of Homeland Security released the following statistics:
• $758 million had been provided by FEMA to 364,000 households
• At least 49,700 people had been rescued
• Nearly 75,000 active military, National Guard and U.S. Coast Guard personnel were helping with recovery efforts throughout the Gulf Coast.
On Friday, Sept. 9, 2005, the Bush administration stripped Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, of duties overseeing relief efforts. He was replaced with Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen.
On Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005, New Orleans resident Toni Miller joined the thousands of residents who evacuated the city. Her story was told in a series of photos.
• Sept. 8 also marked the anniversary of the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston (audiovisual presentation features narration from newspaper accounts and video clips shot by the Thomas Edison Co.)
• Multimedia: A Year After the Heartbreak
On Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005, a bipartisan joint congressional committee was announced to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina. The panel was officially created on Sept. 15, 2005 and began taking testimony on Sept. 22. The resulting report, A Failure of Initiative: The Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, found failures at all levels of government
• Official 362-page report released to the public on Feb. 15, 2006 (PDF, 6MB)
• Full account of committee's work, including witness statements, appendices and supplements (html)
In the blur of Katrina photos, this one stood out: a shaggy dog covered in oil in flood-wrecked Chalmette, La.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005, as cleanup efforts were just getting off the ground, Dallas Morning News photographer Tom Fox took this photo but was unable to retrieve the dog.
Later that week, he returned and alerted rescue workers, who picked up a dog and took it to an animal shelter. He also took a picture of that dog, but readers from around the world noticed some differences.
On Monday, Sept. 5, 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers repaired the levee breach on the 17th Street Canal and began to pump water from the city.
On Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005, President Bush announced that additional active-duty forces would be deployed to the Gulf Coast. More than 10,000 troops would be sent in the next 72 hours, adding to the 21,000 National Guard troops already in the region.
On Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, the death toll rose above 100 in Mississippi. In Louisiana, an estimated 25,000 people were stranded at the Superdome and 3,000 were outside the convention center. As many as 75,000 other New Orleans residents were scattered throughout the city, many atop rooftops of submerged homes.
• Photos: Neighborhoods | Aerial views | Mississippi | Evacuees arrive in Texas | Devastation on the coast
• Stories: Breach worsens city's woes| Total evacuation ordered| More
By Tuesday morning, Aug. 30, 2005, two levees had been breached and 80 percent of the city was submerged in water up to 20 feet deep. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people remained in the city - on roofs, at the Superdome and near the city's convention center.
• Photos: Aerial views | Neighborhoods | Devastation on the coast | Mississippi and Alabama
• Stories: Mammoth strike | Those fleeing find refuge in Texas | More
At 6:10 a.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, Katrina made landfall in Plaquemines Parish as a strong Category 3 storm, with wind speeds estimated at 127 mph and a central pressure of 920 mb.
• Video: Anniversary coverage from WWL-TV
• Photos: More images from Aug. 29, 2005
• Multimedia: A Year After the Heartbreak
By 1 a.m. CDT on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005, Katrina had strengthened to a Category 4 storm, with 145 mph winds. By 7 a.m., it was a Category 5 storm, with 160 mph winds. The National Weather Service's 24th Katrina bulletin warned that the storm would hit land at Category 4 or 5 intensity and that some levees in the greater New Orleans area could be overtopped.
By 5 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2005, Katrina had become a major hurricane, with 115 mph winds elevating it to Category 3 status. By 10 a.m. Central Daylight Time, a hurricane watch had been issued for New Orleans and surrounding areas. By 10 p.m. CDT, a hurricane warning had been issued for the north central Gulf Coast, including the city of New Orleans.
The first Katrina advisory on Aug. 26, 2005, predicted the storm would "produce a significant heavy rainfall event over South Florida." The 11th and final advisory of the day, issued at 11 p.m. EDT, ends with these words: Stubborn Katrina continues toward the west-southwest ... expected to become an intense hurricane in the central Gulf of Mexico ...
The 9th advisory issued on the storm at 5 p.m. EDT on Aug. 25, 2005, is the first to refer to the storm as a hurricane. Maximum sustained winds are reported at 75 mph, making it a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
By 11 a.m. EDT on Aug. 24, 2005, the depression had strengthened into Tropical Storm Katrina, and a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning had been issued for the state of Florida. By 11 p.m., a hurricane warning was in effect for the southeast Florida coast.
At 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Aug. 23, 2005, the first advisory was issued by the National Weather Service about Tropical Depression Twelve. By 11 p.m. EDT, a tropical storm warning had been issued for portions of the Florida Keys and Florida's east coast.