Inside Hurricane Katrina Page #4

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along one arm and one leg,

so when we find your body,

we can check

the social security records

and find out who you are.

Then we don't have to try

"and fingerprint

a decomposed body."

Narrator:
Mayor Nagin dispatches

regional transit buses.

To pick up residents

at 12 locations around the city

and ferry them here

to the Superdome.

Come with enough food,

perishable items,

to last for three to five days.

Come with blankets,

with pillows.

No weapons, no alcohol,

no drugs.

You know, this is

like the Governor said,

you're going on a camping trip.

Narrator:
According to amtrak,

the city declines an offer

to put hundreds of evacuees

on the last passenger train

leaving the city.

The predictions about Katrina

are so ominous

that National Hurricane Center

director Max Mayfield

not only briefs

FEMA director Michael Brown

and homeland security chief

Michael Chertoff,

but also President Bush.

Louisiana state representative

Arthur Morrell

and his wife, Cynthia,

a New Orleans city councilwoman,

argue about whether to evacuate.

He and my son

did not want to leave.

They were gonna ride out

the hurricane,

and I said, "Oh, no."

Narrator:
Jazz trumpeter

Kermit Ruffins.

Has already

boarded up his house.

Now he and his fiancee consider

whether to hit the road.

Normally I would

stay home, you know,

board up my windows,

light a few candles

and relax for a day or two.

But, um, my fiancee said,

"Kermit, we'd better

get out of here."

Narrator:
Elsewhere,

people stand on street corners.

Holding a few spare possessions:

Bags of clothes or pillows.

It's 91 degrees and humid

as they wait for buses

to take them to the Superdome.

The process takes hours.

When they arrive, they find

a shelter with security,

medical facilities,

food and water.

Between them, FEMA

and the Louisiana national guard

have trucked in tens

of thousands of liters of water

and mres,

or "meals ready to eat,".

The standard military ration.

By nightfall, nearly

10,000 people take shelter here.

I think the people in here

are pretty happy to be inside.

Indeed I'm very grateful

for the Superdome,

because without it I don't know

where we would-a went.

Narrator:
By now FEMA

has mapped out 11 storage sites.

In and around

the hurricane zone.

They have stockpiled supplies:

More than 2.5 million

liters of water...

More than 1.3 million mres...

And 17 million pounds of ice.

6:
00 P.M., curfew time

in New Orleans.

The French Quarter is empty.

It's warm, quiet, and calm.

The news reports tonight

all say the same thing:

Katrina is barreling across

the Gulf of Mexico

at cat 5 strength,

the highest ranking.

In the world of weather, this is

the weapon of mass destruction.

This is pretty much

the hurricane.

That we always talk about.

If it should stay

on that current trajectory

just east of downtown

New Orleans, that's bad.

They avoid the direct hit

from the south,

but look, on the east side,

that's the worst

flooding scenario.

Narrator:
9:30 P.M.

Louisiana and FEMA officials

hold one more conference call

before Katrina strikes.

The tone of the call

is professional, matter-of-fact,

but it seems the state and FEMA

are still pinning down

some basic details.

Narrator:
The National Weather Service

gives a dire flooding report.

Narrator:
Monday, August 29th.

2:
00 A.M. central time.

Katrina starts to lose energy

as she nears land

and hits shallow water.

She weakens to a category 4

or possibly a 3.

Her leading edge

is now lashing at towns

along the coast of Louisiana

and Mississippi.

Her winds roar

through dark neighborhoods.

At least a million people

have moved out of harm's way.

But along the Gulf coast,

many people

are riding out the storm

in century-old homes,

scattered shelters,

and the Superdome.

This is where they will stay.

Katrina is here.

Time has run out.

Monday, August 29, 2005.

The nightmare is real.

The brutal assault

of Katrina begins.

4:
00 A.M. central time.

Katrina's monstrous winds push

a storm surge of 14 to 17 feet

toward the Louisiana coast.

5:
02 A.M. parts of news Orleans

lose electricity.

The Superdome goes dark.

The structure has

backup generators,

but they run

only reduced lighting.

About 10,000 people here

inside the dome listen

as the air conditioning system

shudders to a halt.

Most of the evacuees

remain calm.

Man:
Everybody nice.

They fed us, and we just waiting

'til we ride the storm out.

Narrator:
6:10 A.M.

Katrina storms ashore in

plaquemines Parish, Louisiana,

60 miles southeast

of New Orleans.

Our account of how the hurricane

now decimates the city is based

on the first comprehensive

analysis of the events

by the Louisiana state

university hurricane center.

First, the gargantuan

storm surge

pushes up the Mississippi River.

It also races here,

into the Mississippi River

Gulf outlet,

and here, through lake borgne,

converging in this area,

known as the funnel.

In New Orleans,

the winds are furious.

A few hundred feet

from the Superdome,

two brothers, both police

SWAT team members,

Dwayne and Daryl Scheuermann,

have spent the night

sleeping in their trucks.

We just left the doors open,

we're sleeping...

My brother on the back seat

of his truck,

me on the back seat of mine...

And when we heard

the wind picking up,

actually it sounded

like somebody beating

on those steel doors.

[Winds roaring]

Narrator:
Doug Keisling,

a professional storm chaser,

sets up his camera

and starts recording.

Keisling:
I just had

like cat 3 or cat 4 winds.

Going through these buildings

here, just ripping off stuff.

[Debris crashing]

Narrator:
Evacuees in the Superdome

hear a heart-rending noise.

[Crash]

Man:
It looks like one section

of the Superdome roof.

May soon, uh, peel away

from the actual stadium...

Man:
We're going to go now

to Governor Blanco.

Blanco:
Reports that we have

gotten from people in the dome.

Tell us that there has been,

um, a portion of the roof

that is leaking.

[Crowd gasps]

Narrator:
Water pours

into the stadium.

Katrina's winds

tear at the roof,

as she rips away

15-foot-long sections.

On the streets,

a man struggles to stand

in the blinding rains

and relentless winds.

7:
00 A.M.

With the eye of the hurricane

still south of the city,

the storm surge tops the levees

in the funnel.

St. Bernard Parish

begins to flood

on both sides

of the intracoastal waterway.

So does the lower ninth ward

in New Orleans.

Here, all along

the industrial canal,

Katrina's floodwaters

now overtop the levees.

Water starts cascading

into the city,

flowing from the canal

both east and west.

7:
30 A.M.

Narrator:
It's the first chance.

For local, state,

and FEMA officials

to report to each other

on Katrina's assault.

Narrator:
Inside the Superdome,

terrified evacuees

are still watching

as Katrina continues

to tear away at the roof.

Man:
Right over 50-yard line.

A big chunk of the roof

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