I arrived at the NRCC a little before 7:00 that evening, received my briefing from the day shift and got myself a cup of coffee from the kitchen. There's always going to be risk. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claimed the massive storm had overwhelmed the levee system, which had been designed to protect the region from a Category 3 storm or below. The fact was, about 35 to 40 people had been rescued from flood waters that day in that particular area. The storm flooded New Orleans, killed more than 1,800 people, and caused $100 billion in . Although New Orleans did not receive a direct hit from the storm, the levees protecting the city fell under . In June of 2004, FEMA conducted the "Hurricane Pam . PDF After Katrina: A Critical Look at FEMA's Failure to Provide Housing for One way to achieve a new version of fairness one that's based more on equal outcomes would be for FEMA to ensure proactively that vulnerable people have stable housing after disasters, rather than relying on survivors to prove eligibility. Creeks wend their way toward the Gulf of Mexico. Aid was late or non-existent, locals complained of confusion and obstruction. Yet due to budget cuts and various delays, the project was only 60-90 percent complete by the time Katrina hit, according to a report by the United States Government Accountability Office. Brown told CNN that FEMA didn't know for three days that hundreds of people were trapped at the Convention Center with no food or water. Secretary Chertoff made only top-level inquiries into the state of preparations, and accepted Many residents live on low or fixed incomes, making insurance a luxury. While some experienced disaster managers have indeed been brought into the agency, Fugate's management team still appears to be weighed down by less-than-stellar executives left over from the Bush administration, and Fugate himself has at times seemed reluctant to address FEMA's internal problems head-on. The findings include: Hurricane Maria damaged hundreds of thousands of homes in Puerto Rico in 2017, including in San Isidro. Then came the most destructive . Paulison's deputy was Harvey Johnson, a Coast Guard officer who became famous in 2007 for his phony press conference in which FEMA employees posed as reporters asking Johnson questions in what was purported to be a news conference. (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune), Items salvaged from A Place of Hope Ministries lay in the back of a truck in Killian on Saturday, August 20, 2016. I've watched it happen after hurricanes. She says many neighbors who had passed down their homes for generations were forced to abandon them because they couldn't afford to fix storm damage. Hurricane Katrina, and the subsequent flooding that devastated New Orleans in August 2005, has posed the greatest challenge and . Breaches in the system of levees and floodwalls left 80 percent of the city underwater. These are prefabricated, modular homes with two or three bedrooms and access ramps for those with physical disabilities. These included dump trucks and other vehicles, heavy equipment, boats, aircraft, maintenance crews, law enforcement officers, rooms, campgrounds, and land sites for evacuee housing and FEMA staging. The NSR was prepared overnight and sent out by email at 5:30 each morning to top officials at FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Defense Department, and other agencies throughout the government as well as to key organizations like the American Red Cross. And, candidly, we have work to do there," says Keith Turi, FEMA's assistant administrator for recovery. Walmart was singled out at the time for its leadership in helping communities respond. The devastation caused by the storm, and the accompanying failure of the levees, left millions homeless in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast, and some 400,000 residents ended up leaving the city permanently. Hurricane Katrina - Facts, Affected Areas & Lives Lost - History When the storm hit, he was staying at a house originally owned by his brother, who had passed away. The only thing was, she had never done this type of work before, so could I please show her the ropes and explain what was needed? In 2017, the nation faced a historic Atlantic hurricane season. That's how 62-year-old Timothy Dominique ended up sleeping on the street for months after Hurricane Laura. FEMA analysts found that the agency was twice as likely to deny assistance to lower-income disaster survivors because of insufficient storm damage to their home. To date: Affected individuals in declared counties can register online for disaster assistance atwww.fema.govor call FEMA?s toll-free registration line 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) ? But she says that the final months of their 39-year marriage were significantly harder because of the unrepaired damage to their house. & Response to Hurricane Katrina. It Has an Anti-War History Too. Ryan Kellman/NPR 1 of 17. "One of the best hires I made as president.". Alabama 6,000 He says he received no money from FEMA. Many residents struggled to rebuild. He says he received nothing from FEMA because he does not own the home and didn't have a formal rental agreement. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions about its analyses, including whether it has completed additional income-based analyses since 2019. You have permission to edit this article. Brown and others were hauled before Congress in the days and weeks after Katrina. The NRCC might be described as FEMA Headquarters' 911 center. It was staffed constantly, with 7-7 day shifts and 7-7 night shifts on duty every day (and night) of the year, monitoring news and weather for any actual or potential disasters, answering the phone 24/7 and keeping FEMA's leadership aware of anything that might require a FEMA response. (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune), Flood waters surround a home in St. Amant on Saturday, August 20, 2016. FEMA has existed since 1979. Once the system was activated, once all the disaster specialists from FEMA, Defense, Transportation, the Red Cross, and other sundry agencies got to work, it would be smooth sailing at the NRCC. But they could also be very expensive employees. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. He will work to coordinate recovery and rebuilding efforts. That would make disaster assistance more like other public financial assistance such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits or Medicaid. A small air conditioner (right) provides some relief from the Louisiana heat after the home's main AC unit was destroyed. That can exclude people who didn't have formal rental agreements or were living in houses they didn't own when the disaster happened. Another way to achieve fairness could be to change who is eligible for federal disaster assistance altogether, so that funds go to people below a certain income or wealth cutoff. The contrast was further illustrated by the Washington Post on September 6: "Over the next few days [beginning two days after the hurricane hit], Wal-Mart's response to Katrinaan unrivaled $20 million in cash donations, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals and the promise of a job for every one of its displaced . When FEMA was still an independent agency, it responded to disasters under the Federal Response Plan, the FRP. The FRP had clear lines of authority and specified exactly what was to be done in a disaster. Richard Rainey. 13. The Troubling Failure of America's Disaster Response She says many neighbors who had passed down their homes for generations were forced to abandon them because they couldn't afford to fix storm damage. Over the decade following Hurricane Katrina, federal, state and local governments spent more than $20 billion on the construction of 350 miles of new levees, flood walls and other structures. Now, with a major disaster under way, FEMA was, naturally, short staffed. hurricane striking New Orleans had been long considered, and there was enough warning of the threat of Katrina that declarations of emergency were made days in advance of landfall. After levees failed across New Orleans and water poured into the streets, disarray marked the response. hide caption. 10 The drill's purpose Truthout relies on reader donations to maintain this sanctuary for honest, justice-driven journalism. Katrina: The Sounds of Communications Silence | Discovery Institute New Orleans levees pass Ida's test while some suburbs flood - AP NEWS By Elizabeth Chuck. "It validates everything we've been saying for years now," says Chauncia Willis, the former emergency manager for Tampa, Fla., and co-founder of the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management, a nonprofit organization that advocates for equity in disaster response. FEMA can help stave off that disaster after the disaster. For example, under the old FRP, a Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) from FEMA was in charge of federal disaster responders in the field. The storm had been given a name: Hurricane Katrina.. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. With faint understanding of the city's topography, Brown and FEMA's top brass weren't aware of the magnitude of the flood. Texas 137,000. 41 Almost immediately following Hurricane Katrina's landfall, law and order began to deteriorate in New Orleans. Former Port Arthur City Council member John Beard says FEMA is partly responsible for pushing Black residents out of the city. Major Disaster Declared. Fears about flooding go all the way back to the founding of New Orleans on land in 1717, by the French-Canadian explorer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. It affects just everyday activities throughout the city." Even without FEMA data about race, evidence points to systemic racism within federal disaster response, according to Willis of the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management. In documents released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, FEMA appears to have mismanaged offers of supplies and personnel from other agencies. Donnie doesn't blame his death on the hurricane's aftermath. Those staff would stay constantly in touch with their own agencies' disaster centers and would, thus, serve as a conduit of information between FEMA and the rest of the government and the Red Cross, ensuring that everyone knew what everyone else was doing and enabling top federal officials to make informed and unified decisions regarding the disaster response. Leo Bosner was an employee of FEMA from 1979 until his retirement in 2008 and at the time of his retirement was President of the FEMA HQ employees' union, AFGE Local 4060. Why FEMA Failed: The Bush Administration and Disaster Relief Thirteen people died. By most accounts, Fugate has steered a seamless federal response to the Louisiana flood of 2016, earning Obama's plaudits but also praise from local officials and residents who say the agency has responded quickly to immediate needs. Many survivors of climate-driven disasters, including hurricanes, floods and wildfires, struggle for months or even years to repair their homes or find new stable housing. hide caption. Several major contracting companies would supply the extra staff to make up for the shortage of FEMA employees. Fine, except the Coast Guard didn't send their best officers to FEMA: while a few of the officers they sent seemed well-qualified, in many cases, the Coast Guard simply cleaned house and sent us their failures, officers who had been passed over for promotion or who had other problems. But responders failed to convert this information into a level of preparation appropriate with the scope of the impending disaster. FEMA was about twice as likely to deny housing assistance to lower-income disaster survivors because the agency judged the damage to their home to be "insufficient.". PDF H. Rpt. 109-377 - A Failure of Initiative: Final Report "Internally this means building a diverse and inclusive workforce which reflects the communities we serve.". Learn More. 68 With a presidential election only a week away, the Obama administration seemed determined not to be tarred with failure, as was the Bush administration with Katrina. Every day without stable shelter makes it more likely that the blow dealt by the storm will unleash a cascade of problems. Messed Up Things That Happened During Hurricane Katrina My co-worker Matt picked up on the first ring. More recently, Black New Orleanians were disproportionately displaced after Hurricane Katrina. But as disasters have increased, the whiter, wealthier areas around the city have stayed stable, while Black neighborhoods have declined. The area was hit by two hurricanes last year as abnormally hot water fueled a record number of storms in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. That wasn't enough to pay for stable shelter. The "FEMA trailers" used after Hurricane Katrina were RVs not name for long-term use, prompting complaints of toxic fumes and space limitations. One senior FEMA staff member summed up the situation bluntly to me: The Bush people did the crimes; the Obama people covered them up., Meanwhile, outside visitors trying to penetrate FEMA's shell often come away complaining about rude treatment and the lack of knowledgeable FEMA staff. 1) At least 1,800 people died due to Hurricane Katrina. Howell says it's likely that implicit bias is leading to disparities about whose damage is deemed "sufficient." The area around their home is flat and marshy. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard, which was rightly praised for the heroism of its pilots and its rescue crews during the Katrina operations, was told to send some of its officers over to FEMA to straighten things out. Up to a month after Hurricane Katrina, over 100 children were still unaccounted for, and it took until November to find everyone. Its 150-mph winds caused serious damage to the Speights' mobile home. For example, as I came on duty one night I was approached by a young man I'll call Phil. Phil introduced himself, said he worked for the XXX company that was supporting FEMA in the disaster response and that he would be assigned to work for me. The nebulizer that helped him breathe also required power. "So we're fortunate that President Obama has made it very clear that he'd rather err on getting there and not being needed than not being there at all. As mentioned earlier, FEMA staff levels had declined drastically since the DHS takeover of 2003. The agency is up against the clock. Willis of the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management says one solution is to diversify FEMA's leadership, so the people making big decisions about how the agency allocates money look more like the general population. Ten months after Hurricane Laura, Donnie Speight is trying to hold together the pieces of her life. many of whom lost their homes during the hurricane, . The change is also evident in the push, learned during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, to gut homes quickly to reduce the need for temporary housing and preserve stricken communities. Two documents in particular-- an internal FEMA email sent a few days after Katrina, and a letter from the Department of the Interior-- highlight some of the chaos of the rescue efforts.