Hurricane Katrina, 10 Years Later

August 26, 2015

Image compliments of noaa.gov click to enlarge.

August 29th will mark the tenth (10th) anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It was one of the deadliest and the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

As you may recall, this hurricane touched down in Mobile, Alabama, and significantly damaged and left people stranded in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Biloxi, Mississippi during President George W. Bush administration’s second term as President of the United States of America.

A few key primary source references based on Hurricane Katrina that should be included in your historical U.S. Government publications, or weather-resources library include the following:

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, George W. Bush, 2005, Bk. 2, July-December by National Archives and Records Administration

This primary source reference work chronicles George W. Bush’s second term presidency from July through December 2005. This volume includes the President’s remarks on Hurricane Katrina on Sunday, August 28, 2005, plus additional remarks on September 1, 2, 5-8,12, and an Address to the Nation on Hurricane Katrina Recovery from New Orleans, LA on September 15, 2005, a Memorandum on the National Flood Insurance Program on October 12, and more.

040-000-00775-0Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned, February 2006 by the President of the United States and the Assistant to the President for the Department of Homeland Security and Counterterrorism

Hurricane Katrina’s historic 115-130mph winds coupled with a powerful storm surge that created a 27 foot long stretch of the Northern Gulf Coast that impacted nearly 93,000 square miles that was not isolated to one state or city. The book is a Lessons Learned view of what can be implemented to prevent natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina from happening in the future. The report’s focus is centered on disaster preparedness and emergency management responses. It contains an analytical, narrative chronology that provides a detailed account of Hurricane Katrina from the point of the storm’s development in the days “Pre-Landfall,” and the next chronicles both the “Week of Crisis” from August 29 through September 5, and concludes with the transition from response to recovery. This volume concludes with the most important chapter: “Transforming National Preparedness.”

052-071-01438-1A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee To Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, February 15, 2006 by the U.S. House of Representatives, Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina

This report is a summary of the Committee’s work to investigate the preparation for leading up to the Hurricane Katrina storm and the two weeks following the storm. It does not cover the extensive rebuilding of the impacted areas after the storm made its landfall to the cities and states that were in its’ path.

Call Sign Dust Off: A History of U.S. Army Aeromedical Evacuation From Conception to Hurricane Katrina by the Department of the Army, Office of the Surgeon General, Borden Institute008-000-01040-4

This book, published in year 2011, covers the conceptualization of the initial attempts to use aircraft for evacuation, reviews its development and maturity through those conflicts, and focuses on the history of MEDEVAC post–Vietnam to the transformation of the MEDEVAC units from medical to aviation command in 2003 and the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Much has been written about U.S. Army aeromedical evacuation—or MEDEVAC—and most works have focused on the war in Korea or Vietnam. This book focuses on the unique use of helicopters to accomplish this mission. Part I looks at the heritage of MEDEVAC from its beginnings in World War II through the bitter battles in Korea, the interwar years, and the long struggle in Vietnam. Part II covers the 1980s, a time of domestic duties and contingency operations. Part III reviews the turbulent 1990s with the end of the cold war, a hot war in the Persian Gulf, dramatic military force reductions, and a call to duty in the Balkans. Part IV stretches into the millennium, covering the events of 9/11, further conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq—the Aviation Transformation Initiative that moved MEDEVAC from medical to aviation control—and the national response to Hurricane Katrina. In general, after Part I, a thematic approach is used, and the chapters are organized with interweaving sections covering doctrine (service and joint), organization, and operations.

008-070-00804-1Operation Dragon Comeback: Air Education and Training Command’s Response to Hurricane Katrina by the U.S. Air Force, Air Training and Education Office of History and Research

This volume is the Air Education and Training Command’s (AETC) response to Hurricane Katrina as a pivotal event in the organization’s history. It showcases the men and women that rushed to the aid of their wingmen at the Kesslar Air Force base in Biloxi, Mississippi, and provided support for humanitarian efforts to the communities and the country in time of need. In addition to the coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s approach and landfall, this resource also attempts to cover the few months of recovery efforts that took place at Kesslar Air Force base during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Air National Guard at 60: A History (eBook) by Air National Guard999-000-44446-1

Within this commemorative 60 year anniversary of the National Guard, you will also find many accounts of the emergency response relief efforts during the historic Hurricane Katrina to include saving people stranded by the flood waters, supplying medicine food and clean water staples and more.

064-000-00058-6Are You Ready?: An In-Depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency

Guide for citizens on how to protect themselves and their families against all types of natural and man-made disasters and hazards from tornadoes to terrorism, floods to fires, extreme cold to extreme heat. The “Are You Ready? An In-Depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness” from FEMA can be used as a reference source or as a step-by-step manual. The focus of the content is on how to develop, practice, and maintain emergency plans that reflect what must be done before, during, and after a disaster to protect people and their property.

How do I obtain these resources?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: This week’s blog contributor is Maureen Whelan, Senior Marketing Team Leader for GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office in Washington, DC. Maureen oversees print and digital content dissemination strategy and manages third party free and paid content distribution through platforms and vendors, such as Apple iBookstore, Barnes and Noble.com, Google Play eBookstore, Ebscohost databases, Overdrive, and more.

 

Leave a Comment » | Disasters, Emergency Response, Environment, FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency, Gulf Coast | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

“It was very surreal”: Katrina and the National Guard

May 7, 2010

The Gulf Coast is in the news again these days, so it seemed appropriate to write about a new account of the last time disaster struck there. In Katrina’s Wake: The National Guard on the Gulf Coast, 2005 is a concise account of the Guard’s massive relief efforts. Even after five years, the numbers are hard to assimilate: more than $125,000,000,000 in property destroyed, almost 2,000 killed in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and 80 percent of one of America’s great cities flooded. The first-person accounts of Guard personnel and the photos of flooding and rooftop evacuations by helicopter vividly conjure up those grim days.

In Katrina’s Wake was written by the National Guard Bureau’s Historical Services Division, which helps to set some of the events of that time in context. For example, I remember reading about what seemed to be a legalistic discussion as to whether the various state National Guard contingents sent to the Gulf ought to be federalized. The authors point out that keeping the various Guard units under the control of the state governors under the auspices of Title 32 allows the Guard to exercise police powers in an emergency, while the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the military and federalized National Guard troops from doing so. This key distinction was crucial when the New Orleans police force collapsed under the stress of disaster.

The book also highlights small moments: the flooding of the Louisiana Guard’s historic Jackson Barracks; the pathetic story of Snowball the dog and its impact on changing the “no pets” policy of the red Cross and other relief agencies; and the Ohio Guard contingent greeted by a local citizen who started unloading cans of juice and snacks from his truck to give to the Guardsmen. One Guardsman’s response: “We’re here to help you – not the other way around.”

In Katrina’s Wake is a brief but effective account of something that went right during the devastation of the Gulf Coast, when so much else went tragically wrong.

3 Comments | National Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

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