At first it seemed that the city might have avoided the worst but as news of the levee breaches spread and the flood waters rose across the city this hope faded. Unprecedented round the clock national news coverage told the story of the flood, the evacuation and the house-to-house rescue of New Orleans.

For days there was chaos. With no infrastructure, no security and water in the streets the leaders insisted that the evacuation of the city be completed but they couldn't marshal the resources to get it done. Citizens were harassed if they refused leave but allowed to stay if they persisted. Helicopters plucked 33,000 citizens from their flooded homes and dropped them on overpasses, the Dome or the airport. Thousands were left at the staging areas waiting for buses. Some died of exposure. Buses began arriving on Thursday and by Saturday the city was nearly empty.

The Corps of Engineers labored to plug the levees and stop the flooding.

Normal security in the evacuated city failed. Although a million people left, a hundred thousand stayed behind. Most of those who stayed were ill prepared and needed supplies soon after the storm. Looting of stores for food and survival supplies was widespread. It's hard to call this activity looting. But it rapidly expanded to include TV's, guns and jewelery. A few looters lit fires burning parts of Oakwood Shopping center and Canal Place. Residential looting was rare. Carjackings were reported and there were a few firefights between authorities and the bad guys (including the Danziger Bridge shootout). The police were reportedly driven out of the Convention Center. We may never know how far this went but of course there were rumors.

Even though the city was filling with water and people were being forced to seek higher ground the response from outside was minimal. After a wild few days the Mayor and an impassioned Chief of Police got their messages out via the media. Ray Nagin's interview with Garland Robinette on WWL drew lots of attention.

Mayor Nagin got really frustrated at one point and encouraged people to just walk across the CCC Bridge and out of town. However, when they tried they were met on the bridge by police from communities on the other side and turned back at gun point.

Who knows what caused the delay?  FEMA took a lot of heat as something seemed to delay the process by five days and this drew the attention of the national press. Apparently everything went wrong. Communications failures were rampant for technological and  sociological reasons. Officious officials who would not talk to each other. Ice trucks that were stored in staging areas and then sent to Minnesota. Rumors of shooting caused FEMA to suspend relief at one point. The Governor and the President couldn't reach agreement on how to command troops needed to secure the city so more time was lost. The entire response has become the subject of yet another Congressional investigation into an American failure.

Finally the troops under Lt. General Honore and eventually Vice Admiral Thad Allen arrived and began to set things right. Buses evacuated the Dome, the Convention Center and other rescue centers and the cleanup began.Once things were organized and people stopped pointing guns at each other, the priorities were set. Rescue, un-watering, security, utilities, cleanup, housing, and commerce would proceed in that order. The military was here first to help the beleaguered fire and police forces with rescue and security.
 
Considering the scope of the disaster some claim the response was an unprecedented success.

After a month the city was mostly un-watered, un-peopled and the roads had been un-blocked. National guard and army patrols provided security for the empty city (they did a good job). The threat of Hurricane Rita delayed the return of residents to areas that had not flooded. Unwatering had taken only 43 days when more than 80 had originally been predicted. Jefferson Parish was back officially and stalwart Orleanians who had never left and those willing to take the back roads to bypass the checkpoints were already returning.

Tree damage, roof damage and refrigerator damage were everywhere. There was plenty to do.