Coast Guard Helicopters during Hurricane Katrina

this episode of the history guy is brought to you by Magellan TV and their new documentary series helicopter Warfare it has been almost 18 years now since hurricane Katrina devastated the American Gulf Coast in the City of New Orleans of course Hurricane Katrina isn't forgotten history it's pretty National debate over the government response to disaster but to an extent all that criticism has overshadowed the heroism of what was one of the largest search and rescue operations in American history and in the immediate aftermath and days following the storm much of those operations was left to the men and women of the United States Coast Guard whose exceptional search and rescue effort earned them a presidential unit citation it is history that deserves to be remembered the U.S Coast Guard response to Hurricane Katrina was an extreme example of the use of a rotary Wing aircraft in search and rescue operations there was a significant success for the device about which Wilbur Wright once wrote the helicopter does with great labor early with a balloon does without labor the new Magellan TV documentary series helicopter Warfare highlights the enormous skill and tough training needed to fly these machines the fascinating series takes four extreme helicopter missions from four different theaters of war and looks at what happens when helicopter Pilots push their machines to the Limit you've heard me talk about Magellan TV before it's a rising star on the streaming world it is now the highest rated streaming documentary app on Google Play and in my opinion it really is the best value among all those premium documentary streaming services that are out there today both in price and in quality and what makes Magellan TV so special is that it's all about the drama of real life whether that's the life of an ancient Pharaoh or critical battles in the first and second world war the life of a civil war soldier or the battles for the control the English crown or the Norman Conquest in my experience Magellan TV is simply the the best collection of History documentaries out there anywhere and if you're a history guide viewer you can get a special offer of a one month risk-free free trial from Magellan TV just like going to try magellantv.com historyguy sign up today and you can watch the exciting series helicopter Warfare and the rest of Magellan TV's history collection a message from captains David R Callahan and Bruce C Jones of Naval Air Station New Orleans delivered to the commanding officers of participating units after the brunt of the initial Hurricane Katrina rescue work was accomplished describe the conditions members of the Coast Guard faced in the massive search and rescue effort on 28 August 2005 aircraft from air stations New Orleans and Houston an aviation Training Center Mobile descended on the devastated City of New Orleans and Mississippi Coastal communities only to find the utter horror of great expanses underwater up to rooftops or completely flattened by winds with burning gas Mains and buildings and thousands of survivors cleaning to rooftops adding to the unimaginable scene it's not as if the Coast Guard is new to Hurricane response the history of Coast Guard Aviation published by the Coast Guard Aviation Association notes that hurricanes are a fact of life along the Gulf Coast and the eighth Coast Guard district has in place a response plan that is regularly exercised and adjusted when needed the plan included evacuating Coast Guard dependents broadcasting warnings to Mariners in the offshore Community establishing liaison with state in local authorities and pre-positioning aircraft and service units to ensure their survival and ability to respond immediately monitoring the storm Coast Guard Leadership planned which assets would be necessary by Sunday the 28th the history of Coast Guard Aviation explains the response had become a maximum effort adding that Aviation units are proactive and as a result began phasing for deployment on the 28th to pre-position themselves so that they would be on scene and operational as soon as possible after Hurricane Passage on September 9 2005 edition of national public radio reported that an mh-80 rescue helicopter was sent from the Coast Guard Air Station at Cape Cod some 1500 miles from New Orleans a full day before Katrina came ashore that did not happen for other hurricanes in recent years NPR reports but Coast Guard officials here recognize that this storm was different the history of Coast Guard Aviation rights that helicopters from mobile were moved to Jacksonville well helicopters from New Orleans were moved to the city of Houma Louisiana 35 miles from New Orleans both locations allowed the helicopters to stay out of the storm but position them to begin operations as quickly as the storm abated the storm struck hard the website of the History Channel explains it Hurricane Katrina the tropical Cyclone that struck the Gulf of coast in August 2005 was the third strongest hurricane to hit the United States in its history at the time with maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour it was a large and Powerful storm that produced numerous destructive tornadoes destructive storm surge and made landfall according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Twice first striking Southeast Louisiana the storm continued moving North Northeast Noah continues and made a second landfall over Hancock County Mississippi near the mouth of the Pearl River the History Channel webpage writes that when the storm made landfall it had a category 3 rating on the Safir Simpson hurricane scale and brought sustained winds of 100 to 140 miles per hour and stretched some 400 miles across but the History Channel continues while the storm itself did a great deal of damage its aftermath was catastrophic by the time Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans early in the morning of Monday August 29th had already been running heavily for hours when the storm surge arrived it overwhelmed many of the city's unstable levees and drained canals water seeped through the soil underneath some levees and swept others away altogether by 9 A.M low-lying places like Saint Bernard Parish and the ninth ward were under so much water that people had to scramble to attics and rooftops for safety eventually nearly 80 percent of the city was under some quantity of water with its aircraft already positioned the Coast Guard started operations as soon as the storm allowed the history of Coast Guard Aviation writes that when the winds reduced to 60 knots the maximum wind that the helicopters could turn the rotor for starting two helicopters launched and proceeded to Venice La Grande Island and then Northbound of the river the pilots reported utter Devastation among these small towns along the river the history writes that the first of the rescues was at 2 50 that afternoon and that they continued on Into the Night three more helicopters arrived over New Orleans by 4 pm and five more arrived from Houston rescue operations began immediately and continued through the night helicopters also arrived in Mobile by late afternoon and began search and rescue operations there United States Coast Guard aviation history writes that within 12 hours after landfall a quarter of the Coast Guard's entire helicopter fleet was conducting rescues over New Orleans in the Mississippi Coast an amazing feat the number of aircraft and Crews continued to increase during the next two days one obstacle was the damage to Coast Guard facilities the history of Coast Guard Aviation rights that both the New Orleans Air Station and ATC mobile sustained hurricane damage New Orleans much more severe than mobile and New Orleans there was Heavy damage to the hangar and attached buildings all of the locker rooms maintenance office spaces maintenance shops crew Lounge eating area and the birthing area were rendered unusable by flooding which took place because the roof peeled back on the hangar and surrounding buildings the letter from Callahan and Jones notes that all New Orleans Air Station birthing and most shop spaces were rendered uninhabitable by flooding after Katrina's winds peeled back to hang a roof consequently during the intense first four days of the operation until temporary tent cities and other shelters began to arrive all Air crew and Sport Personnel staging at coast guard air station New Orleans bunked head to toe on Floors or on cots in the crowded admin building for much as this time the admin building Operation Center was without power air conditioning running water and all but one working cellular phone making the concept of adequate crew rest and impossibility air training center mobile encountered challenges with their own hangar roof losing all of their operation spaces Operation Center and many maintenance shops along with the loss of Base wide power and phone Communications facilities had to be made usable quickly the helicopter history website helis.com writes that on the afternoon of the storm naval air station joint reserve base New Orleans emergency management team quickly moved into action to clear the runways and repair the control tower within four hours flight operations began when the First Coast Guard hh-65 landed at the joint reserve base to start relief operations despite the conditions more Rescuers arrived helicopter pilot James O'Keefe told the 2021 edition of the Coast Guard newsletter Mike Coast Guard that when he and his crew took off the only instructions from his commanding officer Captain Dave Callahan were to go to New Orleans and do whatever you can to help and that is exactly what he and his air crew did Callahan and Jones write that as the scope of the disaster became known air stations around the Coast Guard immediately began dispatching aircraft and air Crews to join the enormous rescue operation on October 23 2005 edition of Time Magazine tells a story of 39 year old will Milam a rescue swimmer for the U.S Coast Guard in Kodiak Alaska the magazine right said before he was dispatched to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina Milam had never been called out of Alaska for a mission and had never done Urban search and rescue work he was not alone the 2015-16 edition of Coast Guard Outlook explains that after Katrina struck 40 percent of the surface's helicopters were supporting search and rescue Operations Air stations from Kodiak Alaska to Cape Cod Massachusetts to Barbers Point Hawaii provided relief crew members the history of Coast Guard Aviation rights said by the third day 43 aircraft and 2 000 Personnel had arrived at ATC mobile Personnel slept on cots whoever space can be found and base support Personnel did an outstanding job in feeding that number using facilities designed to support far fewer conditions were particularly difficult Senator Susan Collins said in a congressional hearing most of us can only imagine how overwhelming the search and rescue mission in the Gulf States must have appeared in the hours and days following the storm Callahan and Jones write that challenging each pilot and flight mechanic to his or her limits most hoists were completed in obstacle stream environments often on night vision goggles over power lines and downed trees with daytime temperatures near 100 degrees often in power limited aircraft the conditions encountered by rescue swimmers included flooded houses and buildings steep slippery roofs foul and contaminated water and the need to hack through attics with axes or break out windows to free survivors despite these hardships the extraordinary Coast Guard men and women who gathered from all over the Coast Guard to join the fight worked ceaselessly and cheerfully along around the clock search and rescue and maintenance operations to continue unabated and at an unprecedented level the need to hack was discovered early as many residents had climbed into attics to avoid Rising flood waters the history of Coast Guard Aviation writes that on the first day of rescue operations aviation survival technician Joel Sayers was lowered onto a rooftop to rescue an older woman Stranded by the rising flood water the noise and constant downward pressure coming from the helicopter was familiar but the sloped roof and flying shingles were a new experience when he landed Sayers began talking to the frightened woman and learned that her husband was still in the Attic of their house unable to move unable to free the man the history continues he then convinced the wife that she had to at least for now leave her husband behind with the wife aboard the helicopter proceeded to a drop-off point with a fire truck present and a fire ax was obtained the helicopter and crew returned to the house with the wife on board Sayers was again lowered to the roof looking through the hole asked the husband to back away and begin to tap a hole large enough to get him out Once A man was removed from the attic he was hoisted into the helicopter and reunited with his wife The Experience showed the legendary adaptability of the Coast Guard the history of Coast Guard Aviation explains the incident was debriefed and immediately Coast Guard Personnel from ATC mobile contacted the managers of the closed Lowe's and Home Depot stores in the area and made arrangements to purchase all of the axes and gasoline power to do all and small chainsaws they had the purchase was paid for by unit credit card well helicopters were thereafter equipped with axes and or power saws in the days to come the rescue swimmers found that many people had gone to the attics to escape the flood and had no way to get out the swimmers would Mark the roof with a large x after it was ascertained that there were no survivors left inside that was not the only time the crews were forced to adapt and one search and rescue mission will millem found himself surrounded by four men with shotguns they turned out to be security guards at a hospital who were Time Magazine rights just as frightened as he was Milam told the magazine I'm like man they didn't teach me that in swimmer School the security guards weren't the only ones to threaten the Guardsmen with guns National Public Radio writes that the crews kept flying back in even after some residents became abusive when there wasn't room for them to in the helicopter rescue swimmer Matthew O'Dell told NPR that my good friend Joel had a bottle broken of his head a couple of our swimmers came back with black eyes from where they've been hit in a scuffle O'Keefe told my Coast Guard that we took about three missions where there were reports of helicopters being shot at and we would accept it and I was flying an unarmed helicopter with no armor I never refused a mission because someone was possibly shooting at us we took every opportunity we could to help people and help people he did O'Keefe and his crew rescued 214 people joined Katrina flight operations earning him a distinguished flying cross again they were not alone Callahan and Jones wrote that air crew returned from missions with dozens of rescues on a single sortee one ATC hh-60j crew completed its day's work with 150 lives saved one cgas Houston hh-65b crew saved 110 another crew returned to the base almost dejected having saved only 15 lives with stories of heroism an initiative these courageous professionals from all over the Coast Guard have to tell are remarkable simply too many stories of heroism to even begin to recount them the numbers are staggering Callahan and Jones explained in around the clock flight operations over a period of seven days Coast Guard helicopters operating over New Orleans saved an astonishing 6470 lives 4731 of those by hoist during 723 sortees and 1507 flight hours NASA saved or assisted thousands of others by delivering tons of food and water to those who could not be moved immediately those Figures were in fact incomplete with the defense media Network noting that in the end Coast Guard aircrew saved 12 535 people 2015 edition of the United States Naval Institute news quotes an editorial in a Virginia newspaper like guardian angels from on high the Coast Guard's orange and white helicopters swooped in to pluck track residents from house tops or chop the Roos to rescue those who had taken refuge in ethics terrified victim after victim was hauled away day and night from the swirling Waters into the safe arms of Coast Guard Medics and rescue swimmers in many cases Coast Guard Personnel strapped stranded residents to their bodies and dangling over a drowned world were pulled through the air to waiting helicopters I've barely even started to list the thousands of examples of heroism on behalf of the Coast Guard air Crews more or less the exemplary service of the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve support Logistics and maintenance Crews that made the search and rescue operation possible and that's just the experience of air rescue the Coast Guard rescued thousands of people by boat english.com noted of some sixty thousand people that were rescued in the operation following Hurricane Katrina some 33 500 were rescued by the Coast Guard a number that Time Magazine observes was more than six times the total number of people saved by the Coast Guard in 2004. of course Coast Guard service members will also joined by service members from the Navy the Marines the Army Army Reserve and National Guard the Air Force and civilian organizations the success of the Coast Guard rescue operation received particular attention in the face of what many see to be failures of other agencies Senator Collins wrote that amidst the Sea of failures across all levels of government the Coast Guard stands out as a shining example of a mission accomplished through careful planning and outstanding execution and Time Magazine writes that in decimated Saint Bernard Parish east of New Orleans Sheriff Jack Stevens says that the Coast Guard was the only Federal agency to provide any significant assistance for a full week after the storm there have been entire volumes written trying to explain why the Coast Guard was so successful when so many other government agencies seem to be so overwhelmed I will leave that discussion to others but to me I think the answer can simply be found in the Coast Guard's motto semper paratus always prepared I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy and if you did please feel free to like And subscribe and share the history guide with your friends and if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered then you can support the history guy as a member on YouTube a supporter on our community and locals or as a patron on patreon you can also check out our great merchandise shop or book a special message from the history guy on cameo [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 26,821

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: PF6muv5jKZI

Length: 17min 35sec (1055 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 02 2023