Inside Hurricane Katrina Page #2

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One local official

recorded these calls

and provided them

to the producers

of this documentary.

They reveal what officials say

to each other...

And how they plan...

Up to the very moment

that Katrina strikes.

Narrator:
For this hurricane,

as with every natural disaster

in the U.S.,

local and state officials

are the primary and

most critical line of defense.

Everything starts

from the bottom up,

and there's an old saying,

"all disasters are local."

Narrator:
Even before a hurricane

hits or floodwaters rise,

the states will often

ask the federal government

to get involved.

That's where FEMA...

The federal emergency

management agency...

Comes in.

FEMA is supposed

to strategize with the state

and come up

with a plan of attack.

The state kind of acts

as the broker,

coordinating what

the local needs are,

and giving us a picture

of what the gross needs are,

so to speak.

Narrator:
Also on this Friday,

August 26th,

both Mississippi and Louisiana

declare states of emergency,

which give the Governors

the right

to deploy national guard troops

and suspend civil liberties.

The U.S. Coast Guard

puts helicopters, planes

and cutters on standby.

Out in the Gulf, oil companies

evacuate their rigs.

The work stoppage will have

an immediate impact nationwide...

The Gulf accounts

for more than 25 percent

of America's oil

and natural gas production.

New Orleans is

by far the biggest city

in the likely path of Katrina.

She's now expected to hit

the Gulf coast in 72 hours.

Over the coming days,

two Louisiana politicians

will play leading roles

in determining the city's fate.

49-year-old ray Nagin is

a former cable TV executive,

elected as Mayor in 2002.

62-year-old Kathleen Blanco

is a veteran of state politics,

and the first woman to serve

as Louisiana Governor.

It's Friday night

in the French Quarter.

On Bourbon Street, the etouffee

flies out of the kitchens

and the freewheeling jazz bands

are moving feet.

People down here,

they don't fear hurricanes.

They honor them...

Big easy style, with

a mind-numbing concoction...

Called a hurricane.

11:
00 P.M. Friday night.

The National Hurricane Center

forecasts

that Katrina will hit land here,

in the town of buras, Louisiana,

60 miles southeast

of New Orleans.

This prediction will turn out

to be extraordinarily accurate.

Saturday, August 27, 2005.

Katrina is now a deadly

category 3 hurricane.

Her winds hit 115 miles an hour.

She draws awesome power

from the Gulf,

and propels a storm surge

ahead of her.

7:
30 A.M. Baton Rouge.

A Louisiana emergency official,

Jeff Smith,

has gathered his counterparts

for another conference call.

Narrator:
The FEMA liaison

wants Louisiana officials.

To make a key decision

about relief supplies.

Narrator:
Evacuations

are underway this morning.

In low-lying areas south

and east of New Orleans.

Under the state's

emergency plan,

those counties... or "Parishes,"

as they call them in Louisiana...

Are the first to evacuate,

because they're

the most vulnerable.

The policy is very simple.

It's "get out of here"

and "get out of here as quickly

as we possibly can."

So all the state agencies,

the local agencies,

everybody is working together

to accomplish that goal.

Narrator:
It's a kind

of gentlemen's agreement.

The goal is to let people

in the surrounding communities

get out of harm's way

before traffic from New Orleans

clogs up the interstates.

For the city, the process begins

at the point when forecasts say

that tropical storm force winds

will hit the coast in 30 hours.

That point is approaching

this afternoon.

1:
30 P.M.

This is not a test.

This is the real deal.

And I don't want to panic you...

Narrator:
In accordance

with this plan,

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin

urges people

in the lowest-lying areas

within the city to evacuate.

Nagin:
We want you to be ready,

we want you to be safe,

and most importantly,

like the Governor said,

we want you to be calm.

Narrator:
The Mayor

also announces.

That he will open the Superdome

the following morning, Sunday,

as a shelter of last resort.

The Superdome is

a 70,000-seat stadium

and home to the New Orleans

football team, the saints.

It was built to withstand

200-mile-an-hour winds.

By late Saturday afternoon,

both Louisiana and Mississippi

trigger their emergency

highway evacuation plans,

using all lanes

for outbound traffic.

Woman:
We all have

to evacuate, yeah!

Narrator:
Even with the extra

roadways, traffic snarls.

Woman:
It's extremely hard

to leave.

Your whole life is here,

your whole world,

and it's hard to decide

what's important

and what's of value.

Narrator:

All along the Gulf coast,

thousands of people

are streaming inland,

hoping to avoid Katrina's wrath.

Hotels book up.

Lines form at grocery stores

and gas stations.

Woman:
Just recently gotten

out of a gas line.

That was about

two or three hours.

Most of the gas stations

are closed down.

Narrator:
But there are

tens of thousands of people.

Who are just staying put.

The people I talked to

and asked them to get out,

they were like, well,

we don't have anyplace to go,

so we're just hanging in here.

Narrator:
That attitude pervades

parts of New Orleans as well.

And this city of nearly

half a million people

is unprepared to deal

with the consequences

of so many people who decide

to stay in their homes

and ride out

what threatens to be

one of the most dangerous

hurricanes in American history.

Saturday afternoon,

August 27, 2005.

A possibly catastrophic

hurricane is now forecast

to slam into the Gulf coast

on Monday morning.

One statistic reveals

the tragedy about to unfold:

According to the New Orleans

emergency management plan,

roughly 100,000 residents

of New Orleans...

More than 20 percent

of the entire city...

Do not have cars

or other means

of personal transportation.

Many of these same people

have no money for a bus,

a train, or a hotel.

Many depend on welfare checks,

which tend to run out

by these last few days

in the month.

Despite the dollars that

tourists bring to the big easy,

New Orleans has long been poor.

It has a poverty rate

of more than 23 percent,

almost twice

the national average.

[Siren]

And its murder rate

is one of the highest per capita

in the country.

Many of the city's

poorest residents live here,

in the sprawling ninth ward.

People live

in ramshackle housing

that sits as much as 4 feet

below sea level.

Crawford, Texas.

President Bush is on vacation

today at his ranch.

He receives and signs a request

from Governor Kathleen Blanco

to declare a federal state

of emergency in Louisiana.

The white house can now direct

any federal agency

to use its resources

to help the area.

Saturday evening.

FEMA has dispatched

five search-and-rescue teams

to Shreveport, Louisiana,

and Meridian, Mississippi.

FEMA positions the teams,

totaling 262 people,

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