Chronology of a Catastrophe

Friday, August 26

• Day 2 of EMS EXPO in New Orleans. The National Association of EMTs' annual meeting occurs concurrently.
• Federal, state and local disaster officials meet in Louisiana to discuss FEMA Disaster Declaration No. 1601-which concerned July's Tropical Storm Cindy. Katrina had crossed south Florida the previous night as a Category 1 hurricane, killing 11, and was rapidly strengthening. It was expected to strike the Gulf Coast by Sunday evening or Monday. "Shouldn't we just apply for Katrina money now?" jokes one Louisiana official.
• Army Corps of Engineers teams are activated in Mississippi and Louisiana. Gulf Coast states request troop assistance from the Pentagon. 10,000 National Guard troops are dispatched along the Gulf Coast.
• Governor Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency for Louisiana.

Saturday, August 27

• The final day of EMS EXPO. Many attendees and vendors begin leaving the city.
• The National Association of EMTs cancels its awards banquet planned for Saturday evening.
• New Orleans officials tell residents to begin evacuating, and Mayor Ray Nagin says he'll open the Superdome as a shelter of last resort for those with special needs. He tells evacuees to bring enough food and drinks for three or four days. The evacuation, Nagin warns, could become mandatory. (A 2004 FEMA drill had concluded that an evacuation of New Orleans could take up to 72 hours.)
• Katrina strengthens to Category 3, and the National Hurricane Center says it could be a Category 4 or 5 storm by the time it hits the Gulf Coast. "This is really scary," stresses director Max Mayfield. "This is a worst-case scenario." He urges Nagin to make the evacuation mandatory.
• Contraflow traffic plans are activated to allow vehicles to get out of the city.
• Officials in Louisiana's Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, Lafourche, Terrebonne and Jefferson parishes also call for evacuations.
• Governor Haley Barbour declares a state of emergency for Mississippi.
• Blanco requests a major disaster declaration from President George W. Bush that would allow relief to start coming. Bush declares a federal emergency.

Sunday, August 28

• Katrina, now Category 5, heads straight for New Orleans. Mayfield warns local, state and federal officials, including FEMA director Mike Brown and Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff, that it will cause devastating damage and flooding, and that the storm surge will likely overcome the levees protecting the city.
• Nagin makes the evacuation order mandatory-the first time this has happened in New Orleans-at 11 a.m. This is less than 24 hours before Katrina's expected landfall.
• Airlines begin shutting down service even before Louis Armstrong Airport officially closes Sunday afternoon. Rental car companies also close, leaving many visitors stranded in the city.
• Activated under local and state emergency plans, city buses begin picking up evacuees without their own transportation and taking them to shelters, including the Superdome.
• The Louisiana National Guard asks FEMA for 700 additional buses. It gets 100.
• Evacuation orders are posted along the Mississippi coast. A state of emergency is declared in Alabama.
• Coast Guard resources begin readying for search and rescue efforts once the storm passes. Ports and waterways are closed.
• By 3 p.m., an estimated 10,000 are already at the Superdome. Those with special medical needs are segregated. By the next day, this number exceeds 25,000, with more than 600 with special medical needs.
• Additional shelters open throughout New Orleans.
• Around 400 evacuees are moved to regional hospitals before Nagin's ordered curfew goes into effect.
• Late Sunday night, Katrina weakens a bit and tacks slightly to the east.

Monday, August 29