First comes the local, then comes the state, and then comes the fed.
The press wanted it to be Fed immediately. Cannot do, for logistical and constitutional reasons.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Katrina trapped city in double disasters
By John McQuaid, Staff writer
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans with a double blow when it made landfall Aug. 29. First, storm surge waters from the east rapidly swamped St. Bernard Parish and eastern New Orleans before the eye of the storm had passed the city around 9 a.m. Within hours, surge waters collapsed city canal floodwalls and began to “fill the bowl,” while top officials continued to operate for a full day under the mistaken belief that the danger had passed.......
The floodwaters moved quickly.
By around 8 a.m., authorities reported rising water on both sides of the Industrial Canal, in St. Bernard and eastern New Orleans. The Coast Guard reported sighting residents on rooftops in the Upper Ninth Ward. “Water is inundating everywhere,” in St. Bernard, Parish Council Chairman Joey DiFatta said.
At 9 a.m., there was 6 to 8 feet of water in the Lower Ninth Ward, state officials said. Less than two hours later, most of St. Bernard was a lake 10 feet deep. “We know people were up in the attics hollering for help,” state Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi, said that morning. By 11 a.m., water was covering Interstate 10 at a low point near the high-rise over the Industrial Canal.
Sometime Monday morning, the 17th Street canal levee burst when storm surge waters pressed against it and possibly topped it, Corps officials said. .....
Once the floodwalls failed, water – then at about 8 feet or higher in the lake – began to pour into New Orleans from the west, beginning the full-scale nightmare emergency managers and other officials most feared. At 10 a.m., reporters from The Times-Picayune saw water rising over I-10 where it dips beneath the railway trestle south and east of the canal......
As night fell Monday, many outside of New Orleans breathed a sigh of relief believing the city had been largely spared the worse......
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St. Bernard Parish
....Raymond Theriot, a deputy sheriff in St. Bernard Parish, said the grim tally could hit 1,500. Others said 500 to 600 casualties would actually be good news compared with initial gloomy predictions......
St. Bernard Parish has about 68,000 residents. But driving through small communities like Florisant showed home after home leveled by Hurricane Katrina, leaving nothing but a few front porches, scattered water heaters and the ever-present stray dogs....