Evacuation and First Responders

The Katrina Evacuation Plan

The city of New Orleans has long been considered “a disaster waiting to happen.” For those who prepare for, respond to, and study such events, the level of death and destruction wrought by Katrina was not outside the realm of possibility. Although a complete evacuation of the city has been the cornerstone of hurricane preparedness planning for the region, the highway evacuation plan used for Katrina evolved over a period of many years based on valuable lessons learned from prior storms in Louisiana and elsewhere.

Fortunately for New Orleans, officials in Louisiana were able to evaluate and refine their evacuation plan based on two “practice runs.” In 1998, Hurricane Georges appeared to be heading directly for the city, leading to the first major evacuation in some 20 years. From that experience, it was apparent that making conventional use of available routes in the region was not an adequate strategy. As a result, the Louisiana State Police (LSP) developed a plan to implement two short segments of contraflow (LSP, 2000).

Six years later, Hurricane Ivan threatened another direct hit on the city, triggering an implementation of the new plan and the first-ever implementation of evacuation contraflow in Louisiana. Like Georges, Ivan tracked east prior to landfall and largely missed Louisiana. The evacuation that it precipitated, however, revealed numerous deficiencies in the plan that resulted in monumental congestion and delays on several key evacuation routes. After a period of considerable public criticism, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LA DOTD) and LSP formed a Louisiana Evacuation Task Force with input from consultants in industry and academia to identify where and how the congestion occurred and to develop and test ways to reduce it.

After a review of traffic volume and speed data, traffic videos, media accounts, and interviews of evacuees, the task force identified four primary issues that had hampered the evacuation: (1) over-reliance on westward traffic movement; (2) inefficient loading of the contraflow freeway segment out of New Orleans; (3) extreme congestion resulting from the confluence of multiple regional evacuation routes in Baton Rouge, Hammond, Lafayette, Covington, and Slidell; and (4) the lack of real-time, accurate traffic information. (Evacuation Planning)

For those who were unable to evacuate or chose to stay behind, were moved to the Superdome to seek shelter during the storm.  These conditions were extremely rough, there was no electricity, or plumbing.  The Superdome was also damaged during the storm, this left a whole in the ceiling that provided a little bit of light for the victims of the storm.

Part of the exhibit in Presbytere

Superdome before and after Katrina


First Responders
After Katrina made landfall and the levees broke, many first responder facilities in the most heavily affected areas such as the Ninth Ward were as much underwater as the civilian areas surrounding them. (First Responders)

Flooding of First Responder Facilites

The National Guard was called in to help with evacuations. Thousands sought refuge in the New Orleans Convention Center and the Superdome, which were overwhelmed. It was one of the largest displacements of a population since the Great Depression, according to the NOAA. (Hurricane Katrina)

Ordinary People

In the Presbytere exhibit of Hurricane Katrina, there is a room full of videos of people recounting their experiences of Katrina.  In one video a man talked about owning a ship yard and he waiting for the police and military to come and seize his boats to help with evacuation.  He then took out his air boat that would normally fit 7-8 people safely to continue the efforts of evacuation.  He recounted on one trip that he had about 15 people on his boat, and almost capsized.  Even, after almost capsizing he continued to go back for more survivors.

First-hand Account

While spending my time in New Orleans I took an Uber and asked each driver if they were from and if they are here during Katrina.  Many had discussed they were able to evacuate the city before the storm hit.  One man was comfortable enough talking to me about being stranded in his home with his wife and 9-month-old son while the flood waters rapidly rose in their home.  He described how they made their way to the attic with a diaper bag containing formula, water, and diapers.  Once in the attack he had to tear a whole in the roof to get him and his family out as the water and heat were becoming dangerous.  He contests if it weren't for a neighbor with a boat that saved him and his family off the roof top, that they would not be here.  He contributes the survival of his and many of his neighbors survival to ordinary people.

Completed by: Ashley Ince