© 2026
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scam Advisory: We have been made aware that an online entity is posing as Joe Donahue to invite authors and other creatives onto our radio shows. The scammers then attempt to charge guests an appearance fee for exposure/publicity.
Please note: WAMC does not charge guests to appear on the station and any email about appearing on a WAMC program will come from a wamc.org email address.

Katrina Timeline: Misdirected Aid

As the extent of Hurricane Katrina's threat to New Orleans became evident, trucks with water and ice were not positioned as planned.

And when they were finally told to move, they were sent hundreds of miles away from most of the people in need. Local officials -- despite having taken part in the original planning -- waited days, instead of hours, for help to arrive.

NPR's Daniel Zwerdling and Laura Sullivan tell the story in part two of our look at what went wrong during the Gulf Coast crisis.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Laura Sullivan is an NPR News investigative correspondent whose work has cast a light on some of the country's most significant issues.
Daniel Zwerdling is a correspondent in NPR's Investigations Unit.