In Katrina's Wake

by Canney, Donald L.

• ISBN13: 9780813035109
• ISBN10: 0813035104
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-19
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Florida

Summary

Meet the heroes of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita "An in-depth, first-hand, on-the-scene account of the valiant efforts of the men and women of Americars"s Coast Guard during one of the nationrs"s worst natural disasters, and the resolve, grit, and determination which led to the saving of tens of thousands of lives."--Clayton Evans, author ofRescue at Sea "Tremendous. Canney describes how a service smaller than the New York City police department was able to rise to the occasion with near perfect execution of its missions."--Vincent W. Patton III, Master Chief Petty Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard (retired) Of all the Homeland Security agencies operating in New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrinars"s landfall, no agency performed its duties with the same level of diligence and heroism as did the U.S. Coast Guard. Tirelessly, Coasties in helicopters and small boats pulled survivors from rooftops, floating debris, and high ground and ferried them to safety as the rest of us watched live on CNN. Only a few days later, disaster struck again in the form of Hurricane Rita, which left even more people in desperate need of rescue and assistance. In the aftermath of the storms, some 5,000 Coast Guard personnel rescued 33,735 individuals--six times more than the annual average number rescued by the service nationwide. Then, unobserved by the media, the Coast Guard successfully restored the vital navigation aids in the region, preventing further death and destruction. In Katrinars"s Wakepresents a riveting account of the astounding operations undertaken by the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard in the aftermath of one of the worst natural disasters ever to strike America. While other government agencies struggled to mobilize and failed to provide real solutions, one small, decentralized agency stepped forward and performed above and beyond the call of duty.

Author Biography

Donald L. Canney, recently retired from the U.S. Coast Guard historian’s office, is the author of six books, including Africa Squadron: the U.S. Navy and the Slave Trade, 1842–1861, and U. S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790–1935.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction	p. xiii
Round One: Katrina Slams Florida	p. 1
Round Two: Katrina Flattens the Gulf Coast	p. 11
ôThere's thousands of themö: The Afternoon of the Storm	p. 20
The Maritime and Environmental Disaster	p. 34
First Responses: Mississippi and Alabama	p. 39
Wet Tuesday in New Orleans	p. 46
Wet Tuesday II: The Air Rescues Intensify	p. 60
Wednesday, August 31: Operation Dunkirk, Zephyr Field, and Station New Orleans	p. 93
August 31: ôThe skies are orangeö	p. 102
September 1: The Watershed Day	p. 112
September 2: The Welcome and the Unwelcome in New Orleans	p. 125
September 3: Flying Boats over New Orleans	p. 137
September 4: The Tide Peaks	p. 144
September 5-15: The Tide Recedes	p. 152
Sector Mobile Deals with the Destruction	p. 164
Restoring the Gulf Coast Waterways	p. 171
Hurricane Rita and a Conclusion	p. 178
Acknowledgments	p. 191
Notes	p. 193
Bibliography and Note on Sources	p. 211
Index	p. 219
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