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Saturday, August 29, 2020

Can you H___ me?


Day 29:
NEW ORLEANS 

That a building can sit in the center of a city with unburied dead clinging to it for ten months is all you need to know about how in fifteen years we failed to become better.


*****************************************************************
TIME 


Monday, August 29, 2005

At 6:10 AM CDT (1110 UTC), Hurricane Katrina made its second landfall as a strong Category 3 hurricane near Buras, LA, with sustained winds of more than 125 mph (205 km/h), although Category 4 winds may have briefly affected the area. Katrina continued north into St. Bernard Parish, crossed Lake Borgne, and made its final landfall near the mouth of the Pearl River on the Louisiana/Mississippi border still as a Category 3 storm with winds of 120 mph.

By 8:00 AM CDT (1300 UTC), in New Orleans, water was seen rising on both sides of the Industrial Canal.

At approximately 8:14 AM CDT (1314 UTC), the New Orleans office of the National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Warning for Orleans Parish and St Bernard Parish, citing a levee breach at the Industrial Canal. The National Weather Service predicted three to eight feet of water and advised people in the warning area to "move to higher ground immediately."

By 9:00 AM CDT (1400 UTC), there was 6–8 feet of water in the Lower Ninth Ward.

At 10:00 AM CDT (1500 UTC), Hurricane Katrina made its third landfall near Pearlington, Mississippi and Slidell, Louisiana, with sustained winds of 120 mph (193 km/h) after crossing Breton Sound. Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport and Biloxi Mississippi were decimated. Also at 10:00 AM. while at a Medicare event in El Mirage, Arizona, President Bush said, "I want to thank the governors of the affected regions for mobilizing assets prior to the arrival of the storm to help citizens avoid this devastating storm."

By 11:00 AM CDT (1600 UTC), there was approximately 10 feet (3 m) of water in St. Bernard Parish.[16] Many rooftops could not be seen here as they were submerged. Therefore, there was much more than 10 feet (3.0 m) of water in many places.

At 2:00 PM CDT (1900 UTC), New Orleans officials confirmed a breach of the 17th Street Canal levee. There was also confirmation of breaches at two other canals.

In a press conference at 3:00 PM CDT (2000 UTC), New Orleans Homeland Security Director Terry Ebbertt stated that he was positive that there were casualties resulting from the storm, based on calls to emergency workers from people trapped in trees and homes. He said that, "Everybody who had a way or wanted to get out of the way of this storm was able to. For some that didn't, it was their last night on this earth." Police were fanning out across the city to assess damage, rescue people, and get a good look at the situation before nightfall. The hardest-hit areas of the city were the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, Gentilly, Lakeview, St. Bernard parish, and Plaquemines parish.

Governor Blanco ordered 68 school buses into New Orleans from surrounding parishes to begin evacuating any survivors that remained in the city. 6908 Army National Guard and 933 Air National Guard were deployed (7,841 total). Governor Blanco and the National Guard stated that they could "handle it". FEMA Director Michael Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff five hours after landfall to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security workers into the region. Brown acknowledged that this process would take two days. He described Katrina as a "near catastrophic event."

Brown defined the role of requested assigned personnel and additional aid from the United States Department of Homeland Security: "Establish and maintain positive working relationships with disaster affected communities and the citizens of those communities. Collect and disseminate information and make referrals for appropriate assistance. Identification of potential issues within the community and reporting to appropriate personnel. Convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public. Perform outreach with community leaders on available Federal disaster assistance."

President Bush declared a major disaster for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, under the authority of the Stafford Act.


Process Notes: 

August 27th, 2005

Mina woke up at 6:30am this morning. We're studying Lorine Niedecker in Maureen's class. Read a bunch of her poems this morning. Mina was being so bad. Mom came and picked her up. There's a hurricane coming right for us, so we're evacuating in the morning. I wrote my imitation Niedecker poem tonight and posted it. Mina & mom baked a chocolate cake, very yummy. Finished Forster's book last night. Starting Henry James now. We've been watching this continuous news stream all day. They started the contraflow plan at about 4:00 PM, and it seems to be working well. Hopefully, we won't have too much traffic tomorrow. I hope our roof doesn't blow off or the windows blow out. Maybe this one will veer just a little east of us to make a real difference. We'll have to wait and see. 

New Orleans could be under 20 feet of water by Monday evening. 

Next Entry: 

November 27th, 2005

This book was left behind in the Lakeview house when Katrina hit.


the last poem: 


            Home

            higher than any head
            steamboats
            shuttle on the river
            calliope songs
            slip through green shuttled slats
            “below sea level”
            is the breath
            that halts
            and stilts
            stops
            a levee of sounds
            from breaking
            dusk
            locusts thrum
            then quiet

            8.27.05

            Megan Burns



[It's funny isn't it.

That one should remain a poet even as every other part of you disappears.

Next time around, let me brave.]

8.29.2020
[redacted]



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