Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans The Time Line Tells the tale .... Thursday, August 25, 2005, At 7:00 AM EDT (1100 UTC), the FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) Red Team was activated, Katrina makes landfall in Florida.
Friday, August 26, "Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco declared a state of emergency for the state of Louisiana. The declaration included activation of the state of Louisiana's emergency response and recovery program under the command of the director of the state office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to supply emergency support services. Following the declaration of a state of emergency, federal troops were deployed to Louisiana to coordinate the planning of operations with FEMA."
Saturday, August 27, At 5:00 AM EDT, Hurricane Katrina reached Category 5 intensity but New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin didn't announced a state of emergency until twelve hours later, 5:00 PM EDT and then it was only for a voluntary evacuation. In the meantime responding to Governor Blanco, President Bush declared a federal state of emergency in Louisiana under the The Stafford Act (§401) This requires that: "All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State." It also includes, "As part of the request, the Governor must take appropriate action under State law and direct execution of the State's emergency plan."
Sunday, August 28, At a press conference at roughly 10:00 AM CDT, Nagin declared. "a mandatory evacuation order is hereby called for all of the parish of Orleans." "We're facing the storm most of us have feared." Governor Blanco said President Bush called her "just before" the press conference and said that he was "concerned about the [storm’s] impact" she was asked "to please ensure that there would be a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans." Katrina was expected to make landfall overnight. Shortly after the meeting, at 10:00 AM CDT, the National Weather Service issued a bulletin predicting ‘devastating" damage. At 12:00 PM CDT, the Louisiana Superdome was opened as a, ‘refuge of last resort,’ for those residents that were unable to obtain safe transport out of the city. (Not only were there insufficient supplies for the Superdome to be used as a shelter but in the City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan) "Shelter demand is currently under review by the Shelter Coordinator. Approximately 100,000 Citizens of New Orleans do not have means of personal transportation. Shelter assessment is an ongoing project of the Office of Emergency Preparedness through the Shelter Coordinator. The following schools have been inspected and approved as Hurricane Evacuation Shelters for the City of New Orleans ..." The Superdome was not on the shelter list.
Monday, August 29, "At 6:10 AM CDT (1110 UTC), Hurricane Katrina made its second landfall as a strong Category 3 hurricane near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana, with sustained winds of more than 125 mph (205 km/h), although Category 4 winds... " The Rest is history. That history includes the same media attacks that critices the McCain campaign today. In their haste to smear the President of the Unided States tese and other facts were left out.
At the congressional hearings on Katrina and New Orleans, Mayor Nagin said he sent busses out but people wouldn't leave.

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