1) Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans after the failure of two levees, submerging 80% of the city. Over 450,000 people were displaced and in need of long-term temporary housing. 2) Initial responses by authorities acknowledged the threat but were ineffective. Evacuation orders were issued late as the storm approached and impacts were underestimated. 3) Later responses recognized the massive scale of the disaster and humanitarian crisis. Reports debunked early exaggerations of violence and found the majority of citizens cooperated in the aftermath.

1. Hurricane Katrina Coverage Amber Amy Bethany Logan Marty

2. Effective Before Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) July 20, 2005 Tuesday Elevations reset for La.'s sinking coast; Federal officials unveiling new measurements "If subsidence continues and/or sea level rises and human action fails to take place, the entire coast will be inundated,” - Dokka said, adding that in many parts of the coastline, areas within hurricane levees also are sinking rapidly, along with the levees. "The current plans to save the coast are focused on fixing wetlands, which is incredibly important, but the problem is that subsidence is affecting the entire coast," he said. "We need to combine those plans with regional hurricane levees and sand shoals . We have to find some way to protect the people and valuable infrastructure we have on the coast."

3. Effective before The Pam Scenario Times-Picayune (New Orleans) December 1, 2004 Wednesday Under the Pam scenario, more than 450,000 people would need long-term temporary housing, some for as long as a year, as such a storm would cause flooding and damage to buildings that would make much of the area unlivable for months. Times-Picayune (New Orleans) July 24, 2004 Wednesday Even if government agencies do their job perfectly, there is only so much help they can provide in a worst case scenario in which floods, debris and power outages make it hard for rescue workers to reach everyone trapped by a storm. "Residents need to know they’ll be on their own for several days in a situation like this," Brown said. Among other things, an "action plan" developed during the exercise determined that the storm would generate: I Thirty million cubic yards of debris, the equivalent of 1. 5million truckloads of waste. I The need for 1, 000 shelters, which would need to stay open as many as 100 days. But the state has resources to operate the shelters for only three to five days, so the group developed plans for how the federal government and other groups would replenish supplies for a longer term

5. Effective Before Times-Picayune, (New Orleans, LA) September 27, 2004 "...state officials are talking about a number of changes, including the idea of staggered evacuation.” "State officials also say that they realize more effort needs to be made to inform people about alternate routes that were underused during Ivan” "As for contraflow, state officials agree that opening eastbound lanes to westbound traffic needs to be done much more quickly -- as soon as Orleans and Jefferson Parish officials call for evacuation."

6. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) November 16, 2000 Thursday Corps' storm plan grim; Flooding could last 6 months Ineffective Before: The scenario: Packing winds of 155 mph, a Category 5 hurricane -- the hurricane from hell -- scores a direct hit on the New Orleans area, rolling a dome of water 25 feet high across the levees and into the geographical saucer that lies within them. The question: How long will it take before the city can be pumped dry? Days? Weeks? Months? The answer is appalling even by the doomsday standards of hurricane science: half a year or more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPO6Q1oS-C0#t=39s

7. Ineffective Before: Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) June23, 2002 Sunday “In Harms Way” There currently is no defense against a surge from a major storm, a Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale used by meteorologists. Such storms can generate surges of 20 to 30 feet above sea level -- enough to top any levee in south Louisiana. Sustained winds from major storms -- 131 mph to 155 mph for a Category 4, even more for a Category 5 -- can shred homes and do damage to almost any structure. Fortunately, such storms are relatively rare events. Hurricane Camille, which struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969, and an unnamed 1935 storm that hit the Florida Keys were the only Category 5 storms to strike the U.S. coast in the past century. Fifteen Category 4 hurricanes made landfall on U.S. soil during that time. The Army Corps of Engineers says the chance of New Orleans-area levees being topped is remote, but admits the estimate is based on 40-year-old calculations Today, billions of dollars worth of levees, sea walls, pumping systems and satellite hurricane tracking provide a comforting safety margin that has saved thousands of lives.

8. Effective During: The Response of Authorities New York Times August 29, 2005 President Bush declared a state of emergency, “We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities” “I think the storm is bigger than anything we have dealt with before. This is not a minor problem.” - Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Hurricane Katrina could bring 15 inches of rain and a storm surge of 20 feet or higher that would “most likely topple” the network of levees and canals that normally protect the bowl-shaped city from flooding “We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event” – Mayor C. Ray Nagin

9. Effective during The New York Times August 31, 2005 Wednesday NEW ORLEANS IS INUNDATED AS 2 LEVEES FAIL; MUCH OF GULF COAST IS CRIPPLED; TOLL RISES A day after New Orleans thought it had narrowly escaped the worst of HurricaneKatrina's wrath, water broke through two levees on Tuesday and virtually submerged and isolated the city, causing incalculable destruction and rendering it uninhabitable for weeks to come. A certain sense of relief that was felt on Monday afternoon, after the eye of the storm swept east of the city, proved cruelly illusory, as the authorities and residents woke up Tuesday to a more horrifying result than had been anticipated. Mayor Ray Nagin lamented that while the city had dodged the worst-case scenario on Monday. Tuesday was ''the second-worst-case scenario.''

10. Ineffective During New York Times August 25, 2005 NO MANDATORY EVACUATIONS OF LOW LYING AREAS “I feel pretty comfortable that this is a minor event” – Mark Golden (Miami Resident) There were no reports of heavy damage as the hurricane made landfall “People tend not to take these types storms very seriously because its not a major hurricane” –Lt. J.G. Pralgo

11. Ineffective During New York Times August 30, 2005 "Downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter appeared to have been spared as the eye of the powerful storm passed just east of the city. Dire predictions of 20 ft deep toxic rivers running in the streets and huge buildings coming apart did not materialize."

12. EFFECTIVE AFTER New York Times October 3, 2005

13. Effective After New York Times September 29, 2005 State officials have said that 10 people died at the Superdome and 24 died around the convention center -- 4 inside and 20 nearby. While autopsies have not been completed, so far only one person appears to have died from gunshot wounds at each facility. During six days when the Superdome was used as a shelter, the head of the New Orleans Police Department's sex crimes unit, Lt. David Benelli, said he and his officers lived inside the dome and ran down every rumor of rape or atrocity. In the end, they made two arrests for attempted sexual assault, and concluded that the other attacks had not happened. What became clear is that the rumor of crime, as much as the reality of the public disorder, often played a powerful role in the emergency response. A team of paramedics was barred from entering Slidell, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, for nearly 10 hours based on a state trooper's report that a mob of armed, marauding people had commandeered boats. It turned out to be two men escaping from their flooded streets, said FarolChamplin, a paramedic with the Acadian Ambulance Company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zXZ-R0mcN0#t=2m32s

14. Effective After The Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) September 12, 2005 Locals join criticism of tardy response "The culprit wasn't two-story floodwaters or downed power stations or gun-toting looters, local authorities claim.” "There are signs that FEMA knew it was wholly unprepared to handle the likes of Hurricane Katrina”

15. Effective After Plastics News November 7, 2005 Plastics News November 7, 2005 Not Your Usual Katrina Coverage "Natural disasters can bring out the worst in people. In the days and weeks following Hurricane Katrina's devastating punch to the Golf Coast, TV newscasts delivered disturbing images and reports about looting and violence.” "Yes, I saw signs that looting had ocured, and police and citizens warned me to be off the streets before dark. I'll remember scenes of destruction like I had never seen before and pray I'll never see again. But I'll also remember people who lost nearly everything but still had a positive outlook on life. "So while there were bad people who took advantage of a situation for their own personal gail, I'd like to think decent, caring and giving people like Mr. Alexander greatly outnumbered them

16. Ineffective After Birmingham Post September 3, 2005 New Orleans Troops facing Armed Looters "They will be greeted with scenes of death and violence at the New Orleans Superdome where up to 20,000 desperate refugees are at a breaking point.” "President Bush arrived amid reports of rapes, beatings and carjackings. Earlier evacuation attempts were disrupted by gunfire from armed looters."

17. Ineffective After Daily News September 1, 2005 CITY OF MISERY, GUNS & DESPAIR Two armed men - self-appointed sheriffs in a white pickup - confronted them. Spotting thieves who had commandeered a forklift and smashed into a Rite Aid store, the two men fired above the looters' heads and ran them off. [In the Superdome,] The rumor mill was off the hook. Four rapes had occurred, people told me. A baby had died. Officials denied that any baby had died. But they dodged questions about rapes, saying they couldn't confirm or deny the reports.