22 / Chapter 1
fatalities.^7 By Monday, August 29, several levees had been breached
and the city was experiencing widespread fl ooding, especially in the
areas to the south of Lake Pontchartrain. Residents had no power,
telephone, or drinking water. Most of the city’s 485,000 residents
left before the airport closed and water engulfed major routes out
of the region. An estimated 50,000 stayed behind, however, for nu-
merous reasons. Many simply had no transportation.^8 Some be-
lieved their homes would adequately protect them; others did not
think the aftermath would bring such destruction. Many who re-
mained were eventually rescued from rooftops. Tragically, some
died in their attics.
There are no precise fi gures on how many stayed behind because
they would not leave their animals. In a survey of 680 Katrina evac-
uees staying in Houston shelters, only 9 percent cited not want-
ing to leave pets as the reason they did not evacuate before the
hurricane.^9 The tremendous number of stray and abandoned ani-
mals reveals, however, that many of the residents who evacuated
New Orleans did leave their companion animals behind, despite
print and televised instructions not to do so. Media accounts made
it clear that some residents were forced, under threat of arrest, to
leave without their dogs and cats. Residents rescued in boats, heli-
copters, and emergency vehicles report that responders insisted
that they would take only people, not animals.
Approximately twenty-fi ve thousand residents who could not
leave New Orleans planned to weather the storm in the Superdome,
which had been designated a “shelter of last resort.” The Super-
dome had served the same function during two previous hurri-
canes. Many people expected to be there for a day or two.^10 As more
people converged on the facility, which had no power or water,
conditions became unbearable and even dangerous. On the morn-
ing of August 29, the roof began to peel off and rain poured in.
On August 30, Kathleen Blanco, the governor of Louisiana, ordered
a complete evacuation of New Orleans. Those at the Superdome
were to be taken to the Reliant Astrodome in Houston. Residents
who brought their dogs and cats to the Superdome were forced to
leave them behind when they evacuated the facility because ani-