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Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time - Season 1 Episode 1 - The Coming Storm - Full Movie
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00:00If you're still hearing us and you haven't left yet, or you haven't made plans on leaving,
00:07please leave. I hate to say this, but I just don't have enough body bags.
00:16Here it comes, approach the front door.
00:30In order to prevent something from happening again, you've got to understand why it happened in the first place.
01:00So what is coming up? Are they're back in the house? Yes, they are. They're trapped in.
01:10Hello! Are you upstairs?
01:15Katrina was a wake-up call.
01:18We got you, baby.
01:21But we had fell back to sleep.
01:23They are the lucky ones saved from what FEMA now calls the most significant natural disaster ever to hit the United States.
01:32Yeah, it was a disaster.
01:35We're going to be faced with disasters.
01:37But the tragedy of Katrina was man-made.
01:50We got a baby out here that don't have no formula, no water, and they want us to survive out here.
01:57Where's FEMA? Where's the man?
01:58Katrina was a hurricane of governmental failure.
02:05And it was a hurricane of mistruth and injustice.
02:10One of the police officers told me was it is a war zone out there.
02:15People are losing their minds.
02:18My, my, my grandma, or one of y'all, if y'all out there, you heard me,
02:23and y'all hear you, son, just let me know y'all are living, you know what I mean?
02:27It didn't have to happen like that.
02:40Not in America.
02:42We can't justify this.
02:45Can't justify what happened after Katrina.
02:47Tropical depression number 12 is churning tonight near the Bahamas.
03:09It's going to be moving very slowly for the next two to three days,
03:12moving in the general direction of Florida.
03:14If it does grow in strength and become a tropical storm, it'll be named Katrina.
03:25Katrina was unlike any other hurricane.
03:29Thousands of people in South Florida have their eyes on Katrina
03:32as the storm has now just reached hurricane status.
03:34Still pounding.
03:35Miami-Dade County area, southern Broward County.
03:38All of a sudden now, it's starting to come towards us.
03:45Katrina is expected to become a very intense hurricane.
03:50That's what's developing with a hurricane now in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
03:55As you know, hurricanes feed off of warm water.
03:58In the days before Katrina, everything was going well.
04:04Even the sun was shining.
04:05It was like my kids was swimming in a swimming pool.
04:10Let's see her little pool.
04:12She done for the day, huh?
04:13Yeah, so when we first found out they had the hurricane coming,
04:21that thought too much fazed the people in New Orleans, you know?
04:27So many times that hurricanes were supposed to be coming here
04:30and they never came or turned off
04:33or we might have got some of the water, some of the winds
04:36or, you know, we might have not got nothing.
04:39I just felt like, you know,
04:41if the hurricane did come through,
04:43maybe they just passed through
04:45and then the next day you're not going to go home and everything good.
04:49Because I still was preparing my suit for my autograph.
04:56In New Orleans, people start preparing months ahead of time.
05:01I still remember my piece that I was working on.
05:03I still see it laying on the table.
05:08Everything that we're looking at indicates
05:10this hurricane has the potential
05:12to strengthen even more than it already has.
05:16We're not trying to frighten people.
05:17No, no.
05:18This is one that we are, quite frankly, very frightened of.
05:20We're concerned, obviously, that concerns us a great deal.
05:23My siblings who live away from the city,
05:26they were talking about the storm.
05:29And they were like,
05:30come on, you got to get mama, y'all come.
05:31And I'm like, I ain't leaving.
05:35You know, this is, you know,
05:36every time it happens, they're trying to make me leave.
05:39I said, I'm not leaving my property.
05:44This spot, it had history.
05:47My grandmother was born two doors from here.
05:49And so my family has roots in this bad boy
05:55way before the 1800s, all right?
06:04New Orleans is identified by the wards.
06:07If you ask somebody where they're from,
06:09they'll say the lower nine, upper nine, the seven, the eight.
06:12New Orleans east, the Treme.
06:17What neighborhood you were from basically tells a story about us.
06:23The 7th Ward, that was our whole family.
06:27And in the lower ninth ward, there was a lot of poverty here.
06:31However, there was always a lot of community
06:35where people looked after each other.
06:39The people put their heart and soul into this city
06:43to make it grow and to make it a better city.
06:49That yearning,
06:50that culture,
06:52that music,
06:55that language
06:57that no one else could understand
07:00that close-knit community.
07:06Everything,
07:08everything changed that day.
07:14Time for the rest.
07:16WWL First News.
07:17Southeast Louisiana is now in the direct path
07:21of Hurricane Katrina.
07:24The way I remember it,
07:25it started moving further west.
07:29Hurricane Katrina continues to move west
07:30in the Gulf of Mexico.
07:32The big question is...
07:33Look at this cone of error here.
07:35It basically runs from Pensacola
07:36out to south-central sections of Louisiana.
07:41Fear started to seep into everybody here in the city
07:44and certainly at the station that I was working at.
07:48From WWL-TV.
07:50It was like,
07:50OK, this is really serious.
07:52This could turn out to be the big one.
07:55Here's the projected path on Katrina.
07:58Right now...
07:59What the weathermen were forecasting by Saturday
08:01was that this hurricane is too big to turn.
08:05It's going to hit us.
08:08At the LSU Hurricane Center,
08:11from early on the Saturday morning,
08:14we were running storm surge models.
08:16As Hurricane Katrina was approaching,
08:19and we knew then,
08:22we knew then and there,
08:25this was going to be a catastrophe.
08:31I had obtained a model
08:33from Louisiana State University
08:35of the potential for storm surge
08:38from that morning's hurricane predictions.
08:41storm surge is that elevated water
08:46that is pushed in advance of the winds of the storm.
08:51In New Orleans' case,
08:54that water comes in
08:55either from the Gulf of Mexico
08:57or from lakes to the east and to the north,
09:01especially Lake Pontchartrain.
09:02Flood walls and levees surround the populated areas
09:09to protect them from flooding.
09:12But it was very clear
09:15that Hurricane Katrina's storm surge
09:17could overtop levees
09:19and cause dramatic disaster.
09:21For years,
09:27I tried to warn about something like Katrina,
09:31that we were sitting on a ticking time bomb.
09:39Storms in the Gulf,
09:41you typically had three, four days to watch them.
09:45But on Saturday,
09:46Katrina took a swivel toward us,
09:49and that meant
09:50we were in full-throttle mode.
09:55This is not a test.
09:57This is the real deal.
10:01Board your windows with plywood if you can.
10:04Make sure your car has enough gas in it.
10:08Do all the things that you normally do
10:10to prepare for a hurricane,
10:12but treat this one differently
10:13because it is pointed toward New Orleans.
10:19We are advising people to evacuate
10:23probably at day breaks on tomorrow.
10:27St. Bernard.
10:29It's not looking good for us down here in St. Bernard.
10:32I don't think I can go anywhere.
10:35First of all,
10:36I really don't have the money.
10:38The reason I had a video camera,
10:41I've been performing slam poetry.
10:43So anywhere I would have went at that point in time,
10:50I was like still in the mode of like recording myself.
10:54This storm look like it's definitely coming, man.
10:57I mean like straight towards us.
10:59So it's a bad situation to be in.
11:01But I know God is going to keep us from the storm.
11:04He said he's going to protect us.
11:06Me being the Marines, you know,
11:09I'm a pretty good swimmer.
11:10Like survival skills,
11:12if the water came,
11:13like I know I could survive it.
11:15But I didn't want my mom to be here.
11:19You can see my mom, she's kind of tired.
11:21She went cooking.
11:22I actually told my mom,
11:23I said, mom, if I have to crack you over the head with a pot,
11:25knock you out, put you on my shoulder,
11:27then you're going to leave.
11:27She finally got out of there.
11:32But for myself,
11:33I didn't want to leave
11:35because I didn't know
11:35what we was going to be coming back to.
11:40We had three houses in that property,
11:43including a home that I was starting to remodel.
11:46Like on my crib,
11:48it's coming along.
11:50So I stayed behind
11:52and I just was praying.
11:57Saturday night,
12:01I received a BlackBerry ping from the mayor
12:04that said,
12:05SOS.
12:08Hurricane Katrina
12:10was now projecting to become a Category 5.
12:14And that meant a tale of destruction.
12:21That major hurricane barreling
12:23toward the Gulf Coast of the United States,
12:25Hurricane Katrina
12:26is now a Category 5 hurricane.
12:29Category 5,
12:30which are the strongest hurricanes we know of,
12:33only three times before in U.S. history
12:35have Category 5 storms
12:37hit the U.S. mainland.
12:39This thing is a very strong Category 5,
12:43170-mile-an-hour winds.
12:45People don't realize how big Katrina was.
12:48It covered the entire Gulf of Mexico.
12:50It's as perfect a hurricane
12:52as you've ever seen
12:55if you can call a hurricane like this perfect.
13:00She ain't turning.
13:02She coming now.
13:03Y'all pulling out, huh?
13:05Yeah.
13:06They done been around and seen so many,
13:08but they ain't never seen this kind.
13:11It's a 5, man, a full 5.
13:15A 5 is not a good situation.
13:18It's a cold red.
13:19Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
13:25We're here for our update on Hurricane Katrina.
13:30I am this morning declaring
13:33that we will be doing a mandatory evacuation.
13:39Every person is hereby ordered
13:42to immediately evacuate the city of New Orleans.
13:46This is very serious,
13:48and it's of the highest nature,
13:50and that's why we're taking this unprecedented move.
13:54Do hereby promulgate...
13:55When the mayor announced the mandatory evacuation,
13:59it was Sunday.
14:00It was kind of late
14:03because the storm was coming in that night.
14:07Never before in the history of New Orleans
14:09had a mandatory evacuation taken place.
14:14So we needed to do some legal work
14:17to ensure the city was not liable in the long term
14:20and that we were keeping the people
14:22we needed to keep in the city of New Orleans
14:25and at the same time ensuring everyone else left.
14:30So when the mayor makes the call
14:32to evacuate the city,
14:34we were more concerned from a police standpoint
14:36with the evacuation process
14:38giving people a warning.
14:40The city of New Orleans
14:41is under mandatory evacuation.
14:43Everyone is advised to leave the area.
14:46We have a Category 5 hurricane coming.
14:48What the mayor did was he sent the police force
14:52into the area using their PA systems
14:55telling people to evacuate,
14:58and if they were unable to evacuate,
15:00that buses would be stationed
15:02throughout each neighborhood
15:03to take them to the Superdome,
15:07which is a sports arena in New Orleans,
15:09as a refuge of last resort.
15:12The Superdome would be opened up
15:15as a refuge of last resort.
15:18But let me emphasize,
15:20the first choice for every citizen
15:23is to figure out a way to leave the city.
15:28If the mayor is saying,
15:31hey, you need to leave,
15:32yes, they do.
15:33It makes our job a lot easier.
15:35But how can they do that
15:38if they can't afford to?
15:43Within New Orleans,
15:44you have a high poverty rate.
15:47If you're going to tell poor people to leave,
15:50where are they going?
15:53Katrina hit
15:54at the worst time to be poor
15:56in America.
15:59By the end of the month,
16:02you ain't got no money.
16:05We didn't get hit with a big one
16:08for a long, long time,
16:09but this one felt different.
16:13We don't want to stay here, but...
16:15For this one,
16:15I had this strange feeling,
16:17this vision in my head,
16:19like, foreshadowing.
16:21This is what's going to happen, man.
16:22I've seen water.
16:25But I do know the water's going to come.
16:30The time to go is right now,
16:31get on the road.
16:33Because if you don't,
16:34the window's going to close on you.
16:35You're pretty so.
16:41On Sunday,
16:43we all went down
16:43by my mother's house.
16:45Then the 7th Ward
16:46to go and check on her.
16:49It was like five of us.
16:51We had the twins.
16:53The twins was like three and a half months.
16:55And then it was my brother
16:57and my niece, Precious.
16:58At the time, she had lupus.
17:01But she was doing...
17:03She was in good health.
17:05By the time we go to my mother's house,
17:08the clouds and stuff start coming in.
17:10We'll be sure how the skies is moving.
17:15So, that's what it's like right now.
17:18We're Category 5 about to come through.
17:20Man, I'm like ready to go.
17:26We're going to try to get to Baton Rouge, man,
17:28with a half a tank of gas.
17:30Hopefully, we don't get too trapped in traffic.
17:34One of my mom, a relative's cousin,
17:36he just walked through the cut
17:37and was like,
17:38I was like, man, where you going at?
17:39Man, my cussie got enough gas.
17:45Just enough to get us down.
17:46I don't know if we can get back,
17:47but if we can get some shelter,
17:49we'll be all right.
17:49So, I was able to get him
17:51and we was able to move forward,
17:53I would say.
17:54We wasn't completely out of the woods,
17:55but just moving forward.
17:58Now, we about to leave out, man.
18:00We about to, me and cussie,
18:01headed to Baton Rouge.
18:04But I don't think 175 mile-power wins
18:07we can handle down here.
18:09During the time of Katrina,
18:14there was an evacuation order.
18:17And what frightened me
18:20was the number of people
18:22that were still in the city.
18:26Obviously, firemen need to be ready
18:28to rescue people.
18:29And if you're in a fire station
18:30that's not well located,
18:33you're not going to be able
18:34to rescue people.
18:35So, for our area of last refuge,
18:37we were going to Lake Marina Tower.
18:39That's the building
18:40we're going to be in,
18:41right up there.
18:44Lake Marina Tower
18:45is at the northernmost part
18:47of the Lakeview area.
18:50That was higher ground
18:52than most of the surrounding area.
18:54As the city was emptying out,
18:59I was on Interstate 10.
19:03These thousands of cars going past me
19:05and my photographer
19:06all going one direction,
19:07which was out of town.
19:09Then we got back on the eastbound lane
19:12and went into the city.
19:13We went to the Hyatt downtown.
19:18We stayed there because
19:19the mayor was staying there
19:21and the police chief
19:22was staying with him as well.
19:24The Hyatt Regency had areas
19:26where we could hunker down
19:27and actually spend the night.
19:29So we brought our families
19:31over to the Hyatt Regency.
19:33And at the time,
19:35my wife was eight months pregnant
19:37and I had a three-year-old.
19:40So I was happy
19:41that we had somewhere
19:42where they could be safe
19:44and I could do my job.
19:45Already hundreds of people
19:50have made their way
19:51to the Superdome,
19:52driving cars,
19:53walking,
19:54taking buses,
19:55getting here by any means they can.
19:58There's at least 2,000 people here
20:01and buses are continuing to pull up
20:03as we are here,
20:05bringing more people.
20:08I get a phone call
20:09pretty last minute
20:11letting me know
20:12that they had made a decision
20:13to open up the Superdome
20:14as a shelter of last resort
20:17and that the National Guard
20:20had gotten the mission
20:21initially to screen,
20:23making sure that
20:24anyone who came into the Dome
20:26wasn't bringing things
20:27that were potentially hazardous.
20:30You're thinking in terms of
20:32hopefully the Dome
20:33turns out to be a safe place
20:35for all of us to be
20:35and be prepared to maybe
20:37stay there for a day or so
20:39until it's safe for people
20:43to go back to their homes.
20:52The circumstances changed.
20:55When I got to Elan Highway,
20:56the traffic was so jammed up.
20:59We're sitting there,
21:00we're sitting there,
21:01and I've noticed the gas meter
21:02only going down a little.
21:04and that's when it starts to rain.
21:12They are experiencing
21:14some rain right now.
21:18The effects of this hurricane
21:19just starting to be felt here.
21:21It is time to run.
21:28And so things are going to continue
21:30to go downhill,
21:31and I think to the surprise
21:33of some of you in traffic right now,
21:35it's going downhill very quickly.
21:39The worst place actually
21:40that you could possibly be
21:42would be in an automobile.
21:43That thought was just running
21:48through my head like,
21:49man, what are we going to do?
21:51We're going to run out of gas.
21:54I'm stuck on side of the highway.
21:58My cousin, he couldn't swim.
22:01What are we going to do?
22:02Take a look at the twin spans
22:09in terms of rain.
22:10We've got some heavy cells around,
22:12especially over Lake Pontchartrain.
22:13A couple have just passed
22:14the twin spans.
22:15They continue to rotate
22:16out over the lake.
22:17Once you get toward
22:18eastern sections of the wall...
22:19I heard on the news
22:20that the Superdome
22:21would be a shelter of last resort.
22:23Of course, the city has opened up
22:25several shelters,
22:26the biggest one being the Superdome.
22:27So I was like,
22:28well, let me just turn around.
22:29I mean, how could we go wrong?
22:31The Superdome is huge.
22:32They have parking, you know,
22:34all around the place.
22:37We were some of the last
22:39to actually get in
22:41that particular night.
22:46Here we are,
22:47much of the general population.
22:52It's all black folks, boy.
22:56Good to see the black folks.
22:58That's all it is, man.
23:00When I first got there,
23:02I started gazing in the crowd.
23:04Hey, yeah,
23:04because you're in the Superdome.
23:07I looked around,
23:07I seen some whites here or there.
23:10But they did stick out
23:12like a sore thumb.
23:13It was mostly, like,
23:16black people.
23:17So I was like,
23:18oh, man,
23:19we're all in here together.
23:20We're here at the Louisiana Superdome.
23:28We're here at the Louisiana Superdome.
23:29Inside right now,
23:30an estimated 12,000 people
23:33are going to ride out the storm.
23:36Sunday night,
23:38as the storm's coming in,
23:39we hunkered down
23:40at the Hyatt Hotel.
23:44Most of the team
23:44was, like,
23:45on the 23rd or 27th floor.
23:47We were just going to ride it out there.
23:50That was the initial plan.
23:56The calmness
23:57before a storm
23:59is one of the
24:04most peaceful,
24:05scariest things
24:06that a person
24:10can experience.
24:11that quiet
24:14calmness.
24:16It was, like,
24:20deafening.
24:21It was an eerie feeling
24:23that you knew,
24:26oh, this is going to be bad.
24:32Right now,
24:33Hurricane Katrina
24:34looks like one of the biggest,
24:36baddest storms
24:37ever recorded
24:39in U.S. history.
24:42You know,
24:43because we have so many people
24:44that aren't able
24:45to leave the city,
24:46I cannot think
24:46of a worse-case scenario
24:48than what's panning out.
24:51What a tragedy
24:52this looks like
24:53it's going to be.
24:58It would make
24:58a disaster,
25:00a tragedy.
25:01a tragedy
25:04is when we
25:05fail to do
25:09what we should be doing.
25:19And the first tragedy
25:21of Katrina
25:22was
25:24not being prepared,
25:27not having
25:31in this city
25:32an exit
25:34strategy
25:35for the
25:36hundred thousand
25:38people
25:38that we knew
25:40didn't have
25:41no means
25:42of escaping.
25:46The evacuation
25:47is a difficult task
25:49at best
25:49out of New Orleans,
25:50so we studied it
25:51very closely,
25:52we studied it
25:53very closely,
25:54we studied it
25:54very closely,
25:55and this is one
25:56of our nightmare
25:56scenarios.
26:00Hurricane Pam,
26:01a federally funded
26:03exercise
26:03to plan
26:04for a catastrophic
26:05hurricane
26:06in southeast
26:07Louisiana.
26:10Hurricane Pam
26:11was an exercise
26:12that we had done
26:13the year before,
26:15bringing together
26:16state agencies,
26:18federal agencies,
26:20local officials,
26:21trying to understand
26:22what a catastrophic
26:24event would look like
26:25in New Orleans.
26:28One of the discussions
26:29during the Hurricane Pam
26:30exercise was how
26:32to deal
26:32with evacuees.
26:35And the first
26:36glaring fact
26:37was that there
26:38was going to be
26:39many tens
26:41of thousands
26:42who couldn't get out,
26:45at least 120,000.
26:48And within that
26:49were many disabled,
26:51elderly,
26:52and people
26:53who didn't
26:53own motor
26:53vehicles.
26:56So there was
26:56a lot of knowledge
26:58beforehand
26:59of the consequences
27:01of the storm.
27:04A massive storm surge,
27:0520 feet of water
27:06in the city,
27:07and hundreds
27:08of thousands
27:08stranded.
27:09I have seen
27:16destruction
27:17from hurricanes,
27:19and I didn't
27:21want to be in it,
27:23but I just really
27:24didn't have a choice.
27:27My mother was
27:28in a wheelchair,
27:30so wherever
27:32we went,
27:33she went.
27:34I decided
27:37to go
27:38by my brother's
27:39house
27:39in the Lower Ninth
27:41Ward
27:41to stay with him
27:42and some other
27:44family members.
27:46It was my moms,
27:48my sisters,
27:50my family.
27:51You know,
27:52we were going
27:52right out the storm
27:53at my little brother
27:54house.
27:56My brother
27:57had one of those
27:58historic homes.
28:00It was lifted up
28:01on piers,
28:02and he had
28:03very high ceilings.
28:05And so,
28:06it was high ground.
28:11I would have
28:12had to have left
28:13by ambulance.
28:16Being that I
28:17just had surgery,
28:20there were no
28:20ambulances coming
28:21in the neighborhood
28:22and picking up
28:23people that were
28:24recently out
28:25of the hospital.
28:26So,
28:27we stayed.
28:29For whatever
28:30reason,
28:31that you're
28:31forced to stay,
28:33you stay
28:33and you endure it.
28:36The poor,
28:37the sick
28:38and older people,
28:40you know,
28:40the elderly people,
28:41you know,
28:42those people should
28:43have been
28:43the first ones out.
28:45There was a plan
28:47called the Hurricane
28:48Pam plan,
28:49which involved
28:50getting together
28:52different bus
28:53systems
28:54to move people
28:55to safety
28:56north of the city.
28:58What happened,
28:59however,
29:00was that
29:00the mayor
29:01of New Orleans,
29:02Ray Nagin,
29:03basically punted
29:05because of
29:06financial reasons.
29:08Were we
29:10concerned that
29:11this would be
29:12something that
29:12would bear down
29:13on us
29:14at the category
29:15level that it did?
29:16Not at all.
29:18So,
29:18we did not
29:19execute
29:20a plan,
29:21per se,
29:22for the buses
29:23to bring people
29:26out of the city.
29:28We did not
29:29have a plan
29:29for our buses
29:30to be used
29:31in that manner.
29:34Most hotels
29:35are sold out.
29:36For others,
29:36rooms are unaffordable
29:37and leaving impossible.
29:40I can't get out.
29:40How am I getting out?
29:43You knew all of this
29:44was going to happen.
29:45All you should have
29:48known.
29:55The main outer core
29:57is approaching
29:57right now.
29:59Get ready.
30:0012.38 right now
30:14and all it's doing
30:14is raining.
30:18That night,
30:19about 12 or 12.30
30:20started raining hard.
30:22The winds was blowing.
30:23Oh, the wind is
30:24picking up kind of a bit,
30:25baby.
30:26Time to go back
30:27in the house.
30:27Going into midnight,
30:31I think everybody
30:32was just trying
30:33to rest a little bit.
30:35I probably dozed off
30:36a time or two
30:37because I still
30:38wasn't too worried
30:39at the time.
30:43In the middle
30:43of the night,
30:44beginning to be
30:45the early morning hours,
30:47I was in a regular room
30:49in the Hyatt,
30:50sleeping,
30:51when all of a sudden
30:53we heard the wind
30:54of Hurricane Katrina.
30:57Oh, man,
31:01I'd never seen
31:01the blow like that,
31:02ever.
31:03It was like somebody
31:04opened up the flaps
31:05on the wind machine.
31:06Boom!
31:13Hurricane force wind
31:15should extend
31:15as much as
31:16100 miles radius
31:18beyond that eye
31:19of Katrina.
31:20Working away in here,
31:22start to fall apart.
31:23and then that wind
31:24starts
31:25and
31:26the destruction
31:28starts
31:28at that point.
31:34You can hear the sound
31:35of glass breaking
31:36and metal twisting
31:37as the eyewall
31:38moves ashore.
31:41We have seen
31:42Transformer
31:43blue flashes
31:44out on the horizon
31:45and that's an indication
31:47that the powers
31:48are going out
31:49in many areas.
31:50Just like that,
31:50the middle of our story,
31:51the street lights
31:52went up.
31:55Of course,
31:56the electricity
31:56goes off.
31:58And for many people,
32:00there's no more TV,
32:02no more radio.
32:05It was just
32:06total darkness.
32:08We felt isolated.
32:10It was so scary.
32:15Scary.
32:19Around 5
32:21in the morning,
32:22Katrina started
32:23to move ashore.
32:29The storm
32:30wasn't a Category 5
32:31when it made landfall.
32:32If you're just
32:33tuning in here
32:34in Louisiana,
32:34we're waking up
32:35to a Category 4 hurricane,
32:37but it is just
32:38below Category 5.
32:40When it made landfall,
32:43the storm goes
32:44on the east side.
32:46The eye of the storm
32:48missed New Orleans
32:49by 35 miles.
32:51But it went
32:53directly through
32:54St. Bernard Parish.
32:58I was in a
32:59Valley Canal
32:59in St. Bernard.
33:02My boat's up
33:02against the levee,
33:04and that's where
33:05the hurricane hit us.
33:07It was something
33:07you'll never forget.
33:08From my boat,
33:12what I see
33:13is the surge.
33:15It's coming out
33:16with full force.
33:19And the waves
33:20hit them levees
33:21every seven seconds.
33:25The height of the levee
33:26is just as big
33:28as a wave
33:28or the hurricane.
33:31It was no way
33:32that was going to hold.
33:35The water started
33:36to come in
33:37over the levees.
33:38even though
33:41the eye
33:42of Katrina
33:43didn't even
33:44hit New Orleans.
33:45In the back
33:47of my mind
33:48was the waves
33:51from the Gulf
33:53of Mexico
33:54heading the wetlands
33:56of coastal
33:57Louisiana.
33:59Since the 1930s,
34:01we've lost over
34:02a million acres
34:02of our coastal wetlands.
34:04And that's our
34:05outer line of defense
34:06for storm surge.
34:07That's what really
34:07used to knock
34:08the stuffing out
34:09of the storm surge.
34:11And as a result,
34:12every year,
34:12the potential surges
34:13get worse and worse
34:14and worse.
34:15So this storm,
34:16a Category 4,
34:17Category 5,
34:18is our worst nightmare.
34:19In the Lower Ninth Ward,
34:29there was rain,
34:31but it wasn't
34:31a torrential rain
34:33when it comes
34:35to flooding.
34:36The Lower Ninth Ward
34:37usually did pretty good.
34:41In the Lower Ninth Ward,
34:43we didn't really flood.
34:45We got flood water
34:46in the streets.
34:48But the swamp
34:49kind of protected us
34:50because the water
34:51would drain
34:51into the swamp.
34:55The swamp was located
34:56on the other side
34:57of the railroad tracks
34:58on Florida Avenue.
35:00It was our wonderland.
35:05You see cypress trees
35:07with moss hanging on them.
35:09I couldn't tell you
35:13the exact year.
35:16One day, you know,
35:17you walk back there
35:18and you notice
35:19that the trees were dying.
35:22The cypress trees.
35:23And the cypress trees
35:24were the trees
35:25that kept the swamp alive.
35:33When I initially arrived
35:34in the 70s
35:36to do my graduate studies,
35:38south and east
35:40and west of New Orleans
35:41were huge cypress swamps.
35:44And for thousands of years,
35:47the best protection
35:48from hurricanes
35:50that we've had
35:51were these coastal wetlands.
35:55Here's the wetland.
35:58Here's the lake or bay.
36:00The storm surge comes along
36:02and then it hits the wetlands.
36:05The trees form like a maze.
36:10The water's got to go around this tree,
36:12then go around that tree,
36:13then go around that tree.
36:15And so the storm surge
36:17gets rapidly reduced.
36:21But it didn't take me long
36:22to realize that Louisiana
36:25is losing its wetlands
36:28at a hell of a rate,
36:34including the wetlands
36:35around the Lower Ninth Ward
36:38and St. Bernard.
36:42Within my lifetime,
36:44all around here,
36:46where we were at
36:46was all oak trees
36:47and woods.
36:48and within my lifetime,
36:51it all disappeared.
36:55Now we have
36:57no trees
36:58that break the water.
37:00We have nothing
37:01to slow it down anymore.
37:03Nothing at all.
37:05Between 60% and 80%
37:10of the wetland loss
37:12is a consequence
37:14of the oil and gas industry
37:15and their activities
37:17in coastal Louisiana.
37:23It's the oil industry.
37:26They're the ones
37:27who cause death.
37:30But each one of y'all
37:31came up in here
37:33in a coffin.
37:33All of y'all
37:35buying their products.
37:38You can't throw blame
37:40at them
37:40without accepting
37:42your blame.
37:44That's what
37:45make it a tragedy.
37:49Because we are so
37:50drunk on prosperity.
37:54We are destroyed
37:55that first natural
37:57line of defense.
38:03at like 6 in the morning,
38:10you can see people
38:12starting to peel
38:14the covers off
38:14of their heads
38:15because they heard
38:16the same thing
38:16that I heard.
38:17going like
38:19I'm like,
38:21what is that?
38:23What's up?
38:25And boom,
38:26you hear just
38:27rumbling.
38:30And that's
38:31when we first
38:31seen the water.
38:34Oh, man,
38:34they got water
38:35coming.
38:36We have rain
38:38inside the Superdome.
38:40I repeat,
38:41rain inside the dome.
38:42Now the thought
38:48process is
38:49if we're getting
38:49wet on the inside
38:51of the Superdome,
38:53then what's going
38:53on on the outside?
38:55It was a complete mess
39:18for a while there,
39:19you know,
39:20and when my boots
39:21up against the levee
39:22and I had to go
39:25off there
39:26up on the rigging
39:27and secure the lines
39:28a little better.
39:32So I got swiped
39:33off the rigging,
39:34wound up
39:35hanging on a rope.
39:37The wind
39:38springed me out,
39:39came back
39:40on the boat
39:40and came in the cabin,
39:43drank another cup
39:44of coffee
39:44and a shot
39:45of whiskey.
39:45then for a moment
39:51when the eye
39:53of the storm
39:53came in,
39:55everything calmed
39:56down.
39:59But then all
40:00of a sudden,
40:02all hell broke
40:03loose when she broke
40:03out the west.
40:11Second half of the hurricane
40:13was worse
40:13in the first half.
40:15The winds have
40:15really picked up here.
40:17It feels to me
40:18that this may be
40:19for us
40:20the worst part
40:20of the storm.
40:29So at the Lake Marina Tower,
40:32the nine of us
40:33firefighters woke up
40:34at the crack of dawn
40:35and the wind
40:36was howling outside.
40:39The windows were
40:41allegedly rated
40:42for 150 miles
40:43an hour.
40:50As you can see,
40:51our situation
40:52has deteriorated.
40:54But they blew out
40:56in the front
40:57and immediately
40:59vented out the back.
41:00in those early
41:06morning hours
41:06when Katrina
41:07hit,
41:08I was in the
41:09Hyatt Hotel
41:10along with
41:11the rest
41:12of the executive
41:12staff
41:13of the mayor.
41:16But then
41:17all of a sudden
41:18we heard
41:21windows begin
41:22to break.
41:22We had someone
41:26come over
41:27the PA system
41:28and they said
41:29we need
41:30everyone
41:30to evacuate
41:31to the third
41:32floor
41:33of the hotel.
41:35They made
41:36the right call
41:37in telling us
41:37to evacuate
41:38to the atrium
41:39because looking
41:40back at it,
41:41I mean,
41:41it was absolutely
41:43shredded.
41:43The storm
42:05had passed.
42:07We were all
42:09relieved.
42:10You know,
42:10we had survived.
42:11having seen
42:15what we did
42:15in the last
42:16couple of hours,
42:17this is looking
42:18relatively calm.
42:20I have seen
42:21a few cars
42:22out and about,
42:23a few police cars
42:24that seem to be
42:25making the rounds.
42:26But one of the
42:27things that's
42:28most interesting
42:28to me is the
42:29water level
42:29and the street
42:30underneath it.
42:32It looks
42:32definitely
42:33as though it
42:34has dropped
42:34to some
42:36considerable
42:36degree.
42:39After the
42:40storm hit,
42:40it was like
42:41four inches
42:43of water
42:44on the street
42:44and there
42:45wasn't flooding
42:45or anything.
42:47Right where
42:48we were
42:48was maybe
42:49about seven,
42:51eight inches
42:52in the streets,
42:52which wasn't
42:53a problem.
42:55But
42:56it was weird
42:57because
42:58we see more
43:00water coming
43:00up in the street
43:01than we normally
43:02do.
43:02We realized
43:06it's not a
43:07normal
43:08hurricane
43:09aftermath
43:10because
43:13all of a sudden
43:14the water
43:14started rising
43:15very quickly.
43:18And I said,
43:19where is water
43:19coming from?
43:21I had to leave
43:22out of my house,
43:23man.
43:24I don't know
43:25whether that water
43:25is coming over
43:26that levee or what.
43:27We were 19
43:30stories up
43:31in Lake Marina
43:32Tower.
43:33So, yeah,
43:34we had quite a
43:34view of the
43:35entire city.
43:37As you can see
43:38from here,
43:38it's pretty much
43:39complete devastation
43:40across the city.
43:44It was
43:45apocalyptic.
43:48and I realized
43:55that the situation
43:56was going to get
43:57far, far worse.
Recommended
44:48
10:09
1:12:25
1:58:27
1:57:37
2:05:30
52:26