With all the mudslinging going on, I figured it might help having a time line of the events leading to Katrina’s landfall. Apparently Nagin and Blanco don’t recall the rejected help when it came early enough. On the other hand many of the ‘rape and murder’ events the media reported never happened either. The original timeline comes from NOLA but I found a nice presentation of it here. I will be open to ammending the timeline if readers have helpful input to the timeline.
No tags for this post.IN THE STORM: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Friday, Aug. 26* Watching Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield calls Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri with a frightening analysis: “This is the ‘Big One’ … I’m as sure as I can be.”
* Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency.Saturday, Aug. 27
* Mayfield calls New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Blanco with his warning of a potentially disastrous storm.
* Blanco orders mandatory evacuations of low-lying areas.
* 4 p.m. Officials implement contraflow on Interstate 10. Traffic is already backing up from people leaving the coast.
* Bush declares a state of emergency in Louisiana, authorizing Department of Homeland Security and FEMA “to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population.”
* St. Charles and Plaquemines parishes order mandatory evacuation. Others are voluntary.
* 5 p.m. Nagin declares state of emergency and gives voluntary evacuation order.
* Nagin says Superdome to be opened at 8 p.m. for prequalified special-needs patients.
* FEMA told by National Hurricane Center that Katrina storm surge is likely to top levees.
* FEMA Emergency Headquarters put on highest alert. FEMA Director Michael Brown dispatches teams to Louisiana.Sunday, Aug. 28
* 2 a.m. - Katrina declared a Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of more than 140 mph.
* 8 a.m. - Katrina upgraded to a Category 5 storm, with sustained winds above 155 mph.
* 10 a.m. Nagin orders mandatory evacuation; opens Superdome as shelter of last resort, warns that floodwaters could top levees. - President Bush takes part in teleconference with officials in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. “I asked him to send me everything he’s got,” Blanco said. - FEMA positions food, water and medical supplies around the region for deployment as soon as it is safe, begins coordinating with military.
* 3 p.m. - About 10,000 people are sheltered in the Superdome. They are told to bring enough food, water and medicine to last up to five days.
* 7 p.m. - National Weather Service predicts levees may be topped. “All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario,” Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center said.Monday, Aug. 29
* 6:10 a.m. - Katrina makes landfall as a Category 4, with 145 mph winds, surging ashore just east of New Orleans.
