Office of External Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard

COAST GUARD RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA

Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 28, 2005.  The destruction from the Category 4 storm stretched from New Orleans , La. , to Mobile , Ala.   It was one of the worst natural disasters in American history. The power of the hurricane created a 90,000 square-mile area of destruction, an area larger than the size of Great Britain . Coast Guard air crews pre-staged in Texas , Florida and North Carolina began rescuing victims and surveying the damage as soon as weather conditions allowed.  The President declared localities in Louisiana , Mississippi , Florida and Alabama to be federal disaster areas.  Thousands of Coast Guard personnel and assets from Coast Guard units around the country were sent to assist. Three Coast Guard Command Centers were established to respond: the Eighth District, which was relocated from New Orleans to St. Louis , and additional command posts in Alexandria , La. , and Mobile , Ala.   On Sept. 9, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff designated Vice Admiral Thad Allen, Coast Guard Chief of Staff, as the Principal Federal Official for rescue and recovery operations within the region.

At the height of rescue operations, the Coast Guard had at least 62 aircraft, 30 cutters and 111 small boats assisting in rescue and recovery operations. Approximately one-third of the Coast Guard's entire air fleet was deployed to the region to support rescue operations in the immediate aftermath of the storm

More than 5,290 Coast Guard personnel conducted search-and-rescue operations, waterway reconstitution and environmental assessment operations.  More than 400 Coast Guard reservists were recalled to active duty. 

By Sept. 11, 2005, the Coast Guard had rescued more than 24,000 people and assisted with the joint-agency evacuation of an additional 9,400 patients and medical personnel from hospitals in the Gulf coast region. More than 33,520 lives were saved and evacuated, including:

o        12,533 lives saved by air resources

o        11,584 lives saved by surface resources

o        9,403 patients evacuated from hospital

The storm also caused widespread environmental damage.  The Coast Guard worked closely with the Environmental Protection Agency, local industry and state and local officials in Louisiana and Mississippi on more than 700 pollution cases of oil and contaminants released into the waterways by the storm.   Fewer than 70 of these cases remained open in October. In southeast Louisiana, the Coast Guard worked with the Unified Command - a team composed of federal, state and local officials in cooperation with industry partners - to conduct aggressive response operations to contain and recover oil in nine major and medium spills totaling more than 7.1 million gallons of oil as well as approximately 35 minor spills of less than 10,000 gallons.

As of Oct. 4, 22 multi-agency environmental assessment and recovery teams had:

• conducted shoreline and waterway assessments throughout Mississippi and Alabama ;
• resolved 2,315 of 2,380 cases reported to the Coast Guard and EPA;
• assessed a total of 504 vessels grounded or deposited inland along coastal areas for potential oil discharges;
• collected more than 10,000 hazardous materials such as drums, tanks, cylinders, containers and batteries throughout the Mississippi counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson as well as the Alabama counties of Baldwin and Mobile;
• recovered about 43,000 gallons of fuel;
• and assessed more than 200 facilities.

Aids to Navigation cutters and response teams worked around the clock to restore hundreds of buoys and channel markers missing or destroyed in the hurricane.  More than 931 discrepancies in aids to navigation were reported in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway alone. 

Coast Guard waterways management experts continue to work closely with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to assess vital ports and waterways along the Gulf Coast in an effort to restore maritime commerce.  Most ports and waterways have been reopened to commercial vessel traffic, however some nighttime and draft restrictions are in place as the Coast Guard works to complete waterways assessments and coordinate the salvage of damaged or sunken vessels.

Coast Guard Deepwater cutters conducted homeland security boardings offshore and served as emergency command, control and communications platforms for Mississippi Coastal Recovery Base Gulfport, which was established to support local law enforcement, search and rescue efforts, ports and waterways restoration, and humanitarian aid. 

The Maritime Recovery and Restoration Task Force, created on Sept. 9, and headquartered in St. Louis , is tracking the short-term recovery and long-term restoration of the maritime transportation system (MTS) impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  The task force is tracking data for 16 metrics relating to the status of the MTS that focus on critical infrastructure, the environment, waterways management and offshore oil and natural gas production. 

The Task Force is working in concert with a broad range of federal, state and local agencies and industry to restore maritime commerce and infrastructure.

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