In Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness was in charge at the state level. City of New Orleans Office of Emergency Management was led by Mayor Nagin and was responsible for issuing an evacuation order, public safety, incident stabilization and public information. FEMA was tasked with supplementing the Gulf Coast region, which included the State of Louisiana.
Operations
Fire and rescue operations were conducted by area fire departments including New Orleans City Fire Department. New Orleans City Ambulance conducted EMS services and both New Orleans Police and Louisiana State Police conducted law enforcement. Government agencies assisting included ATF, US Border Patrol, US Secret Service, FBI, FEMA, US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Public Health. [11]
Planning and Intelligence
Government officials were receiving up-to-date intelligence about Hurricane Katrina’s potential. Government agencies relied on the National Weather Service reports to decide on potential actions for specific areas affected. As soon as information was available, local and state government issued warnings and evacuation notices. [11]
Logistics
Due to the warning time, some resources at the local and state level had been active. Federal resources had been put on alert but not moved into the state due to the lack of specific requests from the Louisiana Governor. Once the storm hit and the levies broke, many response agencies did not wait for specific requests along ICS lines. [11]
Finance and Administration
After the storm had hit and the cleanup began, the “who will pay for this” debate began. Due to the size and scope of the incident, a Presidential Disaster Declaration was declared. That gave FEMA the ability to cover a large portion of the cost. [11]
Overall Assessment
Prior to landfall of Katrina, media outlets were already on the ground in the Gulf Coast. After the levies broke, media stories began to place blame for people being stranded. Media outlets quickly decided that the blame should be placed with the Federal Government. Media coverage forgot one important fact. FEMA was not created as a first response agency. In accordance with the U.S. Constitution, first response power remained with the states. [11]
Emergency Management begins with preparation. The City of New Orleans did not have an emergency plan prior to Katrina. The State of Louisiana had a plan for large-scale evacuation but did not take into account that many citizens would ignore the warning to evacuate. [11]