Timeline for Katrina Including other storms (A BUDGET TIMELINE IS HERE)
Note: If you see errors of fact or omission, please contact me. btietjen@bellarmine.edu
| Day | Date | Event |
| 1996 | Clinton signs bill to repeal national speed limit increasing potential for greenhouse gasses | |
| 1997 | Congress orders FEMA to generate a plan to evacuate New Orleans in the wake of a category 3 hurricane | |
| 1998 | Report on Louisiana insurance risks said losses for homes and cars alone would total $27 billion | |
| Jan 2001 | Bush appoints Allbaugh as head of FEMA | |
| Feb 2001 | Proposed Bush budget cuts almost half a billion dollars from the Army Corps of Engineers for the 2002 fiscal year. | |
| April 2001 | Bush budget cuts infrastructure and environmental project funding | |
| June 7 2001 | Bush signs a $1.3 trillion income tax cut into law. The cut severely deplete revenues needed to address critical priorities, including flood and hurricane protection. | |
| June 28 2001 | House cuts an addition $389 million dollars in disaster relief from budget | |
| 2001 | Mike Brown fired by International Arabian Horse Association | |
| Dec 1 2001 | Bush warned by FEMA that a hurricane hitting New Orleans would be the deadliest of the three most likely catastrophes facing America; the others were a massive San Francisco earthquake and, prophetically, a terrorist attack on New York. | |
| 2002 | Report on Louisiana insurance risks said losses for homes and cars alone would be $100-$150 billion. Richest 5% of individuals making $300,000 or more receive $24 billion in new tax cuts | |
| Feb 2002 | $290 million cut from Army Corps budget. $5 million is provided for upgrading New Orleans levees while government agencies warned that $80 million was needed | |
| Feb 2002 | A new business tax cut of $43 billion is enacted. Corporate tax collections are reduced by 21% | |
| March 2002 | Bush speech where he calls for "an era of personal responsibility". This was a continuing promise starting at the RNC. | |
| 30 April 2002 | Nothing's easy for New Orleans flood control | |
| 23-27 June 2002 | Times-Picayune series on eventual flooding in New Orleans | |
| 11 August 2002 | If the Big One hits, New Orleans could disappear (NYT) | |
| Sept 2002 | Storm surge from category 2 hurricane Isidore comes close to breaching New Orleans levees | |
| Oct 2002 | Based on Isidore experience New Orleans levee board warns that lives and property will be lost if a category three storm hits the city. Army Corps estimates cost of necessary levee improvements at $2 billion | |
| 16 Dec 2002 | Allbaugh steps down as director of FEMA to manage a company to support other companies wanting to do business in Iraq. Michael Brown is appointed FEMA director even though he had no previous disaster management experience. Brown was fired from his previous job because of mismanagement. Brown's work at International Arabian Horse Association | |
| Jan 2003 | Presidential directive charging Homeland Security with managing national disasters. | |
| Jan 7 2003 | Bush speech in Chicago outlines a $600 billion tax cut. The top 1% of the population will get 43% of the cut. Because Louisiana's state income tax is based on federal tax law, the state will lose $30 million in tax revenues. | |
| Feb 2003 | Another half-billion is cut from the Army Corps. New Orleans part of the budget is cut by two thirds. | |
| May 2003 | The Times-Picayune reports that government officials warn that major drainage and hurricane protection projects in five parishes in the New Orleans will not be funded. Four more projects will run out of money within a month. | |
| March 2003 | Bush folds FEMA into the Department of Homeland Security and privatizes much of FEMA's work. | |
| March 2003 | Under DHS, FEMA will be assigned to focus only on response and recovery | |
| Jan 2004 | Washington Times indicates that Bush will make a $1 Trillion tax cut plan a part of his State of the Union address. | |
| Feb 2 2004 | Proposed Bush budget cuts $460 million from infrastructure and public works project. The Southeast Louisiana Flood Control project asks for $100 million in federal aid. The administration offers $16.5 million. The Army Corps asks for $27 million to upgrade Lake Pontchartrain protection but gets $3.9 million. | |
| April 2004 | Army Corps announces that gaps in the levees around Lake Pontchartrain can not be filled because of budget shortfalls. | |
| June 2004 | Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction is slashed. For the first time in 37 years federal budget cuts have stopped all major work on the east bank levees. House passes a $155 billion bill further cutting corporate taxes. | |
| 23 July 2004 | An emergency exercise run by the federal, Louisiana and New Orleans governments, featuring a fictional Hurricane Pam, almost exactly foretold the disaster now unfolding. | |
| Sept. 2004 | In a BBC interview, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says the war against Iraq was illegal and violated the UN Charter. The U.S., UK, and Australia vigorously reject his conclusion. | |
| 07 Sept 04 | Cheney announces "Vote for us or you will die" | |
| Sept. 04 | FEMA does not fund Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding request | |
| Oct. 2004 | National Geographic warns of the effects of a Katrina-like storm. | |
| Late 2004 | Department of Homeland Security warned of medical gaps in the event of a major disaster | |
| Jan 2005 | President pushes a multi-trillion dollar plan to privatize Social Security. A plan to repeal the federal estate tax is pushed. | |
| March 2005 | FEMA Director Michael Brown: "Our Nation is prepared, as never before, to deal quickly and capably with the consequences of disasters and other domestic incidents." American Society of Civil Engineers warns that 3,500 dams across the country are at risk of failing. Estimated cost of fixing them: $10 billion | |
| April 2005 | The president proposes a budget calling for a $71.2 million reduction in federal support for hurricane and flood control projects in New Orleans. | |
| June 2005 | Funding for the New Orleans Army Corps of Engineers budget is cut by a record $71.2 million. | |
| June 2005 | Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) warns about New Orleans vulnerability | |
| June 2005 | Bush slashes New Orleans budget for hurricane funding | |
| ~15 August 05 | Rumsfeld signs "severe weather execution order" two weeks before Katrina, then apparently forgets. (See DOD disaster report here) | |
| Wednesday | 24 August 05 | Katrina hits Florida as a category 1 storm. |
| Friday | 26 August 05 | FEMA recognizes that Katrina has the possibility of being a major storm |
| Saturday | 27 August 05 | Governor of Louisiana petitions the president to declare a state of emergency for Louisiana. Here's a BBC interview (date is wrong) |
| Mayor Ray Nagin calls for voluntary evacuation but the bus and railroad lines have closed down | ||
| FEMA website declares state of emergency | ||
| No-bid contracts for storm reconstruction | ||
| President issues statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana. Oddly, New Orleans has been left off the assistance list. SEE MAP HERE | ||
| Sunday | 28 August 05 | News reports call Katrina one of the most powerful storms to hit the country |
| Mayor Ray Nagin calls for mandatory evacuation | ||
| City of Chicago offers help to the federal government, but is refused. | ||
| FEMA Announcement that Katrina is a category 4 hurricane FEMA recognizes that at least 100,00 lack transportation to get out of town and suggests that the Superdome can be used for housing. | ||
| Bush, Brown, Chertoff warned of levee failure by National Hurricane Center Director. | ||
| Reports of water topping the levee | ||
| 30,000 evacuees gather at Superdome with only 36 hours of food and water. | ||
| Louisiana National Guard requests 700 busses from FEMA. FEMA sends 100. | ||
| Brown: "FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm.." | ||
| Monday | 29 August 05 | DHS 's Chertoff argues that Katrina scenario did not exist. |
| Bush calls Chertoff to discuss immigration. "I knew people would want me to discuss this issue" | ||
| FEMA: Katrina now a category 5 storm. Storm surges may locally hit up to 28 feet. NOAA buoy 42040 records wave heights of at least 48 feet. | ||
| Levees break mid-morning More is here | ||
| Bush visits Arizona resort to promote Medicare drug benefit | ||
| Bush visits California Senior Center | ||
| Rumsfeld goes to baseball game | ||
| Hurricane tears holes in Superdome | ||
| Bush shares birthday cake photo-op with senator John McCane | ||
| Governor Blanco asks Bush for help again. Bush goes to bed without acting on the Governor's request. | ||
| Tuesday | 30 August 05 | FEMA: Katrina weakens over the Midwest. |
| White House Press Release (Bush Still on Vacation) | ||
| Bush commemorates VG day and plays guitar | ||
| Prisoners riot and take hostages | ||
| Gun Battles, car jacking, explosions and burglary. | ||
| With New Orleans sinking, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. | ||
| Thousands Die and Condi goes Shopping | ||
| Trent Lott's home is destroyed | ||
| Chertoff: "New Orleans dodged the bullet". Newspaper front pages for 30 August 2005 | ||
| Chertoff finally finds out that the levee broke | ||
| Pentagon claims there are enough National Guard troops in the area | ||
| Mass looting | ||
| U.S.S. Bataan sits offshore with hospital beds and supplies | ||
| Three Superfund sites flooded (The report is from 10 September) | ||
| Bush returns to Crawford for a much-needed final day of vacation | ||
| Wednesday | 31 August 05 | Bush: "I don't think anyone anticipated a breach of the levee" (I think this is the right date. It may have been Tuesday) |
| Blanco AGAIN asks for help from Bush | ||
| Bush rules out significant federal aid to hurricane victims | ||
| New Orleans police ordered to stop saving lives and start protecting property | ||
| Bush cuts his summer holiday short to fly 1700 feet over flood-ravaged New Orleans. Video here | ||
| Bush finally organizes task force to coordinate the Federal response | ||
| FEMA: New Orleans 80% flooded | ||
| Thousands trapped in Superdome as conditions deteriorate. | ||
| 3,000 trapped in Convention Center | ||
| Chertoff "Extremely pleased with results" | ||
| Condoleezza Rice enjoys a Broadway Show | ||
| Thursday | 01 Sept. 05 | Twenty police and six medical volunteers turned away by FEMA |
| FEMA: Brown finds out about the Convention Center on TV (Audio here if the video disappears) | ||
| About 100 people die after being rescued from their roofs and not provided food, shelter, or water. | ||
| Condoleezza Rice goes to the US Open | ||
| Mayor issues a desperate SOS Video is here | ||
| The Mayor of New Orleans Audio Interview (Transcript is here) | ||
| Dead in the street and Superdome (See here, though) | ||
| Witch's brew in New Orleans | ||
| Halliburton hired for storm cleanup Halliburton press release here. | ||
| Talking heads begin to lose it | ||
| New Orleans sinks into anarchy. | ||
| Condoleezza Rice goes shopping | ||
| Michael Brown finally learns about evacuees in the Convention Center | ||
| FEMA: Military Providing Full-Scale response This includes maybe 2 dozen helicopters and putting the national guard on alert. | ||
| President asks Bush and Clinton to assist in hurricane relief effort. | ||
| Friday | 02 Sept. 05 | Florida airboaters are not allowed to assist. |
| White House staffers piece together a DVD for George to watch as he flew to the Gulf Coast | ||
| Senator: Over 10,000 may be dead. | ||
| FEMA: Texas takes refugees | ||
| Three tons of food delayed | ||
| Bush finally makes it to flood zone | ||
| Bush: "Brownie, You're doing a heck of a job" | ||
| Bush visit stops food aid | ||
| Levee work orchestrated for a Bush visit photo-op | ||
| Worldwatch projects catastrophe will be most costly weather-related disaster in history. | ||
| Bush uses 50 firefighters for a photo-op | ||
| Rove spins to blame local officials and victims | ||
| Mayor Ben Morris of Slidell, La: "FEMA better bring weapons if they are taking our materials" | ||
| Bush "Satisfied with response." | ||
| FEMA negotiates a contract with cruse ships for six months at $1,275 per week per evacuee | ||
| Saturday | 03 Sept. 05 | Homeland Security bars Red Cross from delivering food |
| Bush blames local officials | ||
| Senior Bush aid lies and claims that Governor never declared a state of emergency | ||
| FEMA finalizes bus request | ||
| FEMA: Troupes bring food, water to New Orleans | ||
| Sunday | 04 Sept. 05 | FEMA: Exhaustion and Illness adding to Death Toll |
| Department of Homeland Security: Chertoff surprised that levee broke. (AUDIO) | ||
| Broussard: "We have been abandoned by our country". See video. | ||
| Bush Panics and Sends in the Marines | ||
| FEMA cuts communication lines for Jefferson Parish. Sheriff reconnects lines and posts armed guards. | ||
| Hospital ships remain off shore and are not deployed | ||
| Monday | 05 Sept. 05 | Apparently, FEMA employees took off on Monday since Sunday's and Monday's reports are the same page (except for the date). These are real links, not like my highlighted links. |
| Chertoff (DHS): "Everyone thought the crisis had passed when the storm left" | ||
| Tuesday | 06 Sept. 05 | China evacuates over 1 million people from the path of Typhoon Haitang |
| FEMA: Back to work for FEMA! Welcome back from your three-day weekend! | ||
| E. coli detected in New Orleans water. | ||
| Toxic water in Louisiana | ||
| Broussard: "We have been abandoned by our country". See video. | ||
| Mayor Ray Nagin- City's death toll could reach 10,000 | ||
| Sean Hannity Show interview with Rumsfeld: 2000 buses The REAL number was 324. State document is here. | ||
| Bush to Pelosi when she asked him to fire Brown: "What didn't go right?" | ||
| Bush launches Katrina inquiry and puts himself in charge of it. | ||
| Faulty administration claim that troop deployment in Iraq did not affect the Katrina effort | ||
| Wednesday | 07 Sept. 05 | Poll: 74% of Republicans approve of Bush's response to Katrina |
| Surviving New Orleans | ||
| Nursing home: Thirty bodies found in nursing home. There is a video link in the third paragraph | ||
| 25,000 body bags sent to flood zone. | ||
| Two Hurricanes and a tropical storm are in the Atlantic | ||
| GOP Strategist: "...in a democracy of 300 million people, over years and years and years, these things happen." | ||
| ABC 20/20 co-anchor John Stossel supports price gouging using as an example $20.00 bottles of water. | ||
| Thursday | 08 Sept. 05 | Bellarmine faculty in Arts and Sciences decide that a discussion on foreign language requirements and a demonstration of a new software program is more pressing than putting together a series of teaching forums and coordinating other activities related to the hurricane |
| Republicans announce a bi-partisan Katrina probe. Democrats will be outnumbered and will have no subpoena power | ||
| Bush repeals the Davis Bacon Act. Now employers in New Orleans can pay workers less! (White House, More information on the act is here) | ||
| Friday | 09 Sept | FEMA's Michael Brown is side-lined. Admiral Thad Allen takes over |
| Hurricane Ophelia is off Florida's coast | ||
| Tom Delay: To three young evacuees from New Orleans: "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" | ||
| Katrina Reveals Poverty Reality | ||
| Fishery Failure | ||
| Sunday | 11 Sept 05 | A letter to all who voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore |
| Monday | 12 Sept. 05 | FEMA's Director Michael Brown resigns |
| Bush makes third visit. Local officials fault Federal efforts. | ||
| Tuesday | 13 Sept. 05 | O'Reilly" "many, many, many" hurricane victims that failed to evacuate are "drug-addicted ... thugs" |
| The ability of FEMA to award contracts for cleanup is called into question. | ||
| Chertoff, not FEMA delayed the Federal response | ||
| Wednesday | 14 Sept. 05 | Bill O'Reilly wishes that Katrina should have hit the U.N. building. Audio |
| Thursday | 15 Sept 05 | Bush speaks to the nation about the rebuilding of New Orleans. The subtext is the rebuilding of the presidency. |
| Friday | 16 Sept. 05 | Federal officials seek proof to blame the flood on environmental groups. The Sierra Club's response. More is here. |
| Economists and housing experts question New Orleans reconstruction proposals. | ||
| MSNBC's Olberman nominates O'Reilly as "Worst Person in the World" | ||
| Bush says spending cuts will be needed. I think we can be certain that these cuts will be made in entitlement programs and will not affect the rich. | ||
| Saturday | 17 Sept 05 | Fox "News" Pinkerton: Katrina victims "whining all the time on TV to get more federal money" |
| Sunday | 18 Sept 05 | Tropical Storm Rita off Florida coast. Florida keys under mandatory evacuation The Gulf Coast is in Rita's crosshairs. There are only four names left for tropical storms or hurricanes. This has never happened before. |
| Clinton: Government failed people Audio here | ||
| Monday | 19 Sept 05 | Bush proposes nearly $500 million to help displaced students of private schools enroll in private schools elsewhere. Students that were in public schools will return to already crowded systems. Seems fair, huh? |
| Kerry, Edwards criticize Bush over response to Katrina | ||
| Tuesday | 20 Sept 05 | Rita upgraded to a hurricane. Expected to hit Gulf Coast as a category 3 |
| Wednesday | 21 Sept 05 | Rita upgraded to a category 4 hurricane. |
| Death toll tops 1000 | ||
| Republican budget plan, "Operation Offset", targets poor and elderly (More HERE) | ||
| Thursday | 22 Sept 05 | Body count in New Orleans continues to rise as neighborhoods are drained of water |
| Hurricane Rita now a category 5 and headed toward Galveston | ||
| 1.3 Million people head for high ground | ||
| The administration actually prepares for Rita | ||
| Traffic at a standstill as thousands flee Rita | ||
| Rita brings rain to New Orleans | ||
| Floodwater still poses health risk | ||
| Friday | 23 Sept 05 | Katrina: Efforts to find housing for 200,000 displaced bogs down. |
| NOAA site screws up and is difficult to navigate | ||
| Rita changes course. Now a category 4 hurricane. | ||
| Rita: No simple solution for traffic snarls | ||
| Rita: Government promises fuel for stranded motorists | ||
| Rita: At least 24 evacuees dead in bus explosion | ||
| Rita changes path and may graze New Orleans More here | ||
| Rita: Bush flies to Texas to get a first hand look at the disaster preparations | ||
| Rita: Rain in New Orleans causes first levee breach | ||
| Rita: Evacuees stranded again | ||
| Rita downgraded to category 3 | ||
| House select committee to question Mike Brown | ||
| Saturday | 24 Sept 05 | Make levees, not war |
| Sunday | 25 Sept 05 | How many Mike Browns are out there? |
| Safety and re-entry information for New Orleans | ||
| See BBC update on Katrina | ||
| Monday | 26 Sept 05 | Louisiana bails out after Katrina and Rita |
| Insured losses for Rita may be as high as $7 billion | ||
| Update on New Orleans | ||
| Texas in "Pretty good shape" after Rita | ||
| Brown still on federal nipple. Serves as consultant for FEMA | ||
| Bush urges conservation. Will open Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ignores tremendous savings if we were to impose a national speed limit of 55 | ||
| FEMA to reimburse faith groups | ||
| Rita spawns 17 twisters | ||
| Bush wants expansion of military powers during natural disasters (probably a good idea) | ||
| Faking the Katrina Inquiry | ||
| Tuesday | 27 Sept 05 | Bush gets a "do over": Visits Texas and Louisiana to view Rita's damage |
| Brown to defend FEMA's response (or lack thereof) | ||
| Death tolls and damage estimates rise from Rita | ||
| Brown blames Louisiana officials for slow response | ||
| Storm victims face curbs on bankruptcy. | ||
| Brown serves as consultant to FEMA | ||
| Brown puts blame on Louisiana officials | ||
| Brown: "I know what I'm doing" | ||
| New Orleans police chief resigns | ||
| Crisis and Cronies | ||
| Wednesday | 28 Sept 05 | Katrina contractors to be investigated |
| Governor Blanco to refute Brown testimony | ||
| Thousands still waiting for help | ||
| Katrina may have freed US Navy "war dolphins" | ||
| Mass evacuation crushed disaster plans | ||
| Corruption as usual | ||
| After Rita, thousands still waiting for help. | ||
| After Rita, victims "living like cavemen" | ||
| Thursday | 29 Sept 05 | One month after Katrina |
| Rita victims still waiting for electricity, water | ||
| What war on poverty? | ||
| New Orleans cleaning up | ||
| Superdome anarchy overstated | ||
| Conditions primitive in Texas after Rita | ||
| Unable to keep up with demand, FEMA closes relief station | ||
| Friday | 30 Sept 05 | 19th Tropical Depression forms in the Atlantic |
| Sept 2005 | DeLay announces that the GOP plans to repeal the estate tax and pass another series of $70 billion cuts is only being temporarily postponed. $366 billion in additional tax cuts will go to the richest 5 percent of Americans over the next five years. | |
| Saturday | 01 Oct 05 | Oil spill cleanup- Update |
| Sunday | 02 Oct 05 | FEMA continues to mismanage Katrina relief after 5 weeks |
| Monday | 03 Oct 05 | 9th Ward may not have a future |
| Energy prices to remain high for at least 6 months following hurricane damage. See also, Carter vs. Bush energy policies | ||
| Tuesday | 04 Oct 05 | Search for bodies ends in Louisiana |
| FEMA grant program ends. Were the funds distributed fairly? | ||
| Firms with Bush ties get Katrina deals | ||
| Government auditors to probe Katrina deals | ||
| Gulf firms not receiving cleanup contracts | ||
| Hurricane Stan makes for Mexico | ||
| New Orleans must lay off 3,000 workers | ||
| Wednesday | 05 Oct 05 | Hurricane Stan becomes category one storm. Kills more than 65 in Central America |
| Tropical Storm Tammy forms off Florida coast. There are only two names left (Vince and Wilma) | ||
| Lodging program extended at cost of $8.3 million per day | ||
| Two hospitals are unsalvageable. | ||
| Thursday | 06 Oct 05 | Der Spiegel: EPA is failing to protect homebound victims of Katrina |
| No upgrade for New Orleans levee system | ||
| Stan death toll reaches 160 | ||
| Over 2,300 children still missing in wake of Katrina | ||
| Saturday | 08 Oct 05 | FEMA wrong number |
| Sunday | 09 Oct 05 | Hurricane Vince Forms |
| Official Katrina death toll at 1242. Hurricane Stan death toll at least 1500. | ||
| Monday | 10 Oct 05 | Only one storm name left |
| Friday | 14 Oct 05 | Katrina Food Aid Blocked by US Rules |
| Monday | 17 Oct 05 | Instead of repealing the tax cuts that benefit the top 1% of the nation to pay for Katrina, the house will cut Medicare, food stamps, infrastructure support, and other benefits that serve the poor. |
| Tropical Storm Wilma forms (out of names now) | ||
| FEMA in chaos at the start, memos show | ||
| Wednesday | 19 Oct 05 | Wilma now a category 5. Changes from a tropical storm to the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record. |
| Friday | 21 Oct 05 |
New hurricane categories may be needed. |
| Sunday | 23 Oct 05 | Tropical storm alpha forms |
| Monday | 24 Oct 05 | Wilma reaches landfall in Florida as a category 3 |
| Wednesday | 16 Feb 06 | FEMA overwhelmed (Feb 16, 2006) The highlights of the report are here |