Preparation

In preparation for Hurricane Katrina, the main goal was to get as many people out of the city as possible (Wolshon). August 28, the day before Katrina hit, evacuations were underway and on that morning New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issues the city’s first ever-mandatory evacuation. He publicly announces that the city’s Superdome Stadium would be a “shelter of last resort.” By nightfall, 80 % of the city’s population had evacuated, over 10,000 people sought shelter in the Superdome, but tend of thousands of others chose to wait the storm out from home ("Hurricane Katrina"). 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) played a huge part in preparing the Gulf region for Hurricane Katrina. The agency’s operation to prepare for disaster was the biggest in their history; they provided a total of 11,322,000 liters of water, 18,960,000 pounds of ice, 5,997,312 prepared meals, and 17 truckloads of tarps were staged at locations providing shelter before Katrina’s landfall. Beginning on August 25, 2005, four days before Katrina hit, the Louisiana state Establishment of Command (EOC) started holding regular conference calls with all state agencies, key parishes, federal agencies, other states, the National Guard, and the Red Cross in order to obtain as many means of evacuation strategies as possible. For example, the Louisiana Department of Fish and Wildlife coordinated with the National Guard to get boats placed and ready to use in rescue missions ("A Failure Of Initiative").

Homeowners, business owners, and city and state workers did everything they could, from boarding windows to laying sandbags, to prepare for what Hurricane Katrina was bringing. 

Brian Wolshon. “Evacuation Planning and Engineering for Hurricane Katrina.” Nae.edu. National Academy of Engineering. 2006. Web. 02 Jan. 2017

History Network Staff. "Hurricane Katrina." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.

“A Failure Of Initiative” govinfo.library.unt.edu. Pre-landfall Preparation and Katrina’s Impact. 2015. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.