NEWS: Bush administration requested control over N.O. Evacuation On Friday

Originally posted by elderban
The system that was put into place to aid in situations like these failed.

Originally posted by Valhall
What a crock of B.S.

THURSDAY is when Blanco made her "demand" for 40,000 Natl Guard troops...

Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans,

Originally posted by Rikimaru
Someone on the news said it best, It was a black community run by blacks and it failed.

Originally posted by Rikimaru
Someone on the news said it best, It was a black community run by blacks and it failed.

Saturday, August 27

10:00am, The first evacuation is called. Residents of Grande Isle, Louisiana's only inhabited barrier island are urged to flee.

11:00am, More evacuations ---voluntary and mandatory--- follow in five other low lying parishes outside New Orleans. In the city Mayor C. Ray Nagin tells residents to get ready - but he stops short of ordering evacuation.

Says Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco "It does not bode well for southeastern Louisiana."

1:00pm, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour declares a state of emergency. His emergency management director tells coastal residents not to wait for official evacuation orders.

8:00pm, President Bush monitoring Katrina, while vacationing in Texas declares state of emergency in Louisiana.

National Hurricane Center,Max Mayfield later calls Mayor Ray Nagin to urge mandatory evacuations.


Sunday, August 28th,

8:00am, Ten last resort shelters open, including the Superdome, for an estimated 100,000 New Orleans residents who cannot flee. People begin checking in immediately and are told to bring food, water and medicine for three to five days.

10:30am, Mayor Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans 485,000 residents after a personal appeal from President Bush. Hotels are exempted because, with all flights canceled, tourists had no way out.

11:00pm, Interstate 10 is gridlocked. President Bush expands the state of emergency to include Mississippi.


Monday, August 29th

6:10am, Power fails at the Superdome --- cutting off air conditioning and all but emergency lights.

8:00am, Vicious winds tear two holes in the superdome roof.

9:30am, The first breach is reported in one of the massive levees that shield New Orleans from the surrounding water.

First reports of homes flooded to ceilings.

4:00pm, Louisiana Gov. Blanco says as many as 20 buildings collapsed in New Orleans, with 40,000 homes flooded in one eastern parish and scores of people awaiting rescue on their roofs.

Up to 20 feet of standing water is reported on the city's east side. Emergency officials are unable to reach the hardest hit areas to save survivors or fully assess damage.

6:30pm, Another levee ruptures, this time along the vital 17th street canal, priming the city for horrifying floods.

Looting begins across the city.

9:00pm, At the Superdome, toilets at the Superdome begin to fail due to lost water pressure. Trash bins overflow and anxious residents are refused exit due to safety concerns.

11:00pm, Power outages now impact over 1 million people.

Tuesday, August 30th,

7:00am, Flood water continues rushing into New Orleans, and Army Corps of Engineers said the breach in the 17th street canal likely widened overnight. Most of the pumps remain powerless, unable to drain the rising tide.

9:00am, Water continues to rise, bodies seen floating.

Noon, In New Orleans, looting spreads, often in plain view of police and National Guard troops.

4:30pm, Gov. Blanco says all of New Orleans must be evacuated, including hotels, the Superdome and other shelters, as the danger of rising waters becomes clearer. Stragglers and sick people evacuated from hospitals drive the Superdome population to between 15,000 and 20,000.

11:00pm, As water continues to rise, Blanco announces the city will be vacated with-in two days.

Wednesday, August 31st,

8:00am, Mayor Nagin says the rising flood will render New Orleans unihabitable for months and says decomposing bodies will eventually create serious disease problems.

Looters and gangs become more visable as police focus on search and rescue operations. Guns and food, especially, are cleaned out of stores.

8:30pm, Nagin orders 1500 police to leave their search and rescue missions and return to the streets to stop the looting.

10:00pm, The first buses leave the Superdome, bound for Houston.

Thursday, September 1st,

8:30am, A report of shots fired at a military helicopter prompts rescuers to stop airlifting the sick out of the Superdome, meanwhile as arson fires break out at the arena, the National Guard continues evacuating the healthy by bus.

10:30am, Chaos and dispair rise at the New Orleans Convention Center, where thousands of refugees, stranded for days filth and unburied corpses, wait for help.

11:30am, Sniper shoot at helicoptors attempting to evacuate patients from hospital roofs.

We have a Mayor who ignored pleas from the President and the National Hurricane Center until it was to late to do a full evacuation.

BATON ROUGE-Today Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. The full text of the letter follows:

Originally posted by Joseph Knecht
Phoenix...

Could you explain this...?

Dated Aug. 27th.

BATON ROUGE-Today Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. The full text of the letter follows:

The full request can be found here.
www.bayoubuzz.com...

8:00pm, President Bush monitoring Katrina, while vacationing in Texas declares state of emergency in Louisiana.

During peacetime each state National Guard answers to the leadership in the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia. During national emergencies, however, the President reserves the right to mobilize the National Guard, putting them in federal duty status. While federalized, the units answer to the Combatant Commander of the theatre in which they are operating and, ultimately, to the President.