Email
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
Link<\/p>\n
\n Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0 A new series \u201cNew Orleans: Soul of a City\u201d explores the many ways the city communes with its history \u2013 through music, food, sports and tradition \u2013 revealing how, 20 years after Katrina, New Orleans is louder and more resilient than ever. The four-part series premieres Sunday, August 24, at 9 p.m. ET\/PT.\n<\/p>\n
\n On August 28, 2005, thousands of people lined up to enter the Superdome<\/a>, just as they had done countless times since the stadium opened 30 years before.\n <\/p>\n \n Only this time, they weren\u2019t getting ready to watch the beloved New Orleans Saints<\/a>. They were seeking refuge from one of the worst natural disasters in American history: Hurricane Katrina<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Speaking to CNN<\/a> for \u201cNew Orleans: Soul of a City<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a new four-part documentary which premieres Sunday, August 24 \u2013 former Saints running back Deuce McAllister remembers the scene.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was a last refuge for people,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt became, \u2018If you don\u2019t get here, you don\u2019t have anywhere else to go.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe Big Easy\u201d was already used to having the eyes of the world fixed on the Superdome.\n <\/p>\n \n Around 80,000 people turned out to see Pope John Paul II address a youth rally in 1987. Two billion people around the world tuned in to watch Muhammad Ali defeat Leon Spinks in 1978. And everyone from the Rolling Stones to Michael Jordan to George H. W. Bush had appeared under the iconic stadium \u2013 now known as the Caesers Superdome.\n <\/p>\n \n That\u2019s not to mention the Saints themselves, who became part of the fabric of the city and finally had their first winning season in 1987 after 20 years of disappointment.\n <\/p>\n \n But Katrina was different. On the morning of August 28, with the potential damage to the city becoming clear, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered people to evacuate. Those who could not, he said, should head to \u201cshelters of last resort,\u201d one of which was the Superdome.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe were trying to get people in as quickly as we could because the rain was starting to fall, the winds were picking up,\u201d former Superdome General Manager Doug Thornton tells CNN. \u201cSo we eventually just let everyone come onto the football field to get them out of the rain.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The first night passed without many problems, but that all changed when Katrina made landfall on the morning of August 29. Before long, a section of the roof had been torn away and rain was pouring into the stadium.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI was so afraid that someone was going to get killed from some type of piece of debris that would fall out of the stadium,\u201d says Thornton. \u201cI don\u2019t think evacuees realized the danger they were in. Many of them were huddled together with blankets over the heads shielding themselves from the falling rain.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Panic began to set in. Drinking water was limited, much of the stadium was left without power, plumbing systems began to fail and there were even reports of deaths<\/a>. It was not long before the Superdome became what Thornton \u2013 who had expressed reservations at the prospect of using the stadium as a shelter without adequate staffing and supplies \u2013 calls \u201ca symbol of misery and suffering.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The rest of the country watched in horror as images from within the stadium looked far more akin to a warzone than a sports venue.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe pictures from the Superdome, it\u2019s like the worst nightmare in the world,\u201d former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu tells CNN. \u201cAmerican citizens basically stuck without any help, just because everybody and everything was basically on their back. So it was a really difficult space for people to be in for a period of time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n For Devery Henderson, who had started playing for the Saints only a year before, the shock was perhaps even more profound.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou\u2019re seeing the venue that you play your games in, the crowd cheering you on,\u201d he recalls to CNN. \u201cThen to see it in that state, it was just mind-blowing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n With supplies running dangerously low and conditions only continuing to worsen, the evacuation of the Superdome began on August 31, as a convoy of buses lined up to take people to the Houston Astrodome.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe came back a week later to assess the damage. I couldn\u2019t believe what I was seeing,\u201d recalls Thornton. \u201cImagine the worst in your mind, and it was worse than that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n As Thornton was flown away from the stadium, he looked back across New Orleans and wondered if he would ever be back.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI wept all the way to Baton Rouge on that helicopter flight,\u201d he says. \u201cI just sat and reflected on what had happened to our city, and what had happened to us, and the people in the Superdome.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI just couldn\u2019t imagine the city would ever recover. It was just a deep sense of despair.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And yet, despite the tragedy of the disaster and the controversy over how it had been handled, some Louisianans still hung on to sports to help get them through.\n <\/p>\n \n McAllister, who had the chance to come back to New Orleans as rescue efforts were taking place, was caught off guard by a question he was asked by one survivor.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cDid the New Orleans Saints win the football game?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n With the team temporarily relocating to San Antonio in Texas, Thornton and his team had a huge job on their hands trying to repair the Superdome. Three quarters of the roof membrane had been torn off, and conditions within the stadium were even worse.\n <\/p>\n \n Initial estimates were that it might take more than two years to rebuild the venue. Yet, thanks to the efforts of 35 contractors and 850 workers \u2013 many of whom worked seven days a week \u2013 the Superdome was \u201cfootball ready<\/a>\u201d in time for the new season in September 2006.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe day that we reopened the dome, it was like Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest coming together at one time,\u201d remembers Thornton. \u201cI looked around and I saw the faces of the people there, and the faces were happy faces. And I had this visual of people huddled, protecting themselves from the rain.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd now I\u2019m looking into the stadium and I\u2019m seeing these happy faces, people standing and cheering. It was the most amazing feeling.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n For Landrieu, the first game back served to reassure Louisianans that there was a future after Katrina.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen the Saints came back into that building, and we all saw each other for the first time in a long time, and we had the glorious Saints Day, that\u2019s the moment when we knew we were going to survive,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a big moment for us, and people in New Orleans remember that very moment, and the Saints gave us that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n ![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gettyimages-53476194.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Conditions](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gettyimages-54210245.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Thousands](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2005-09-02t000000z-281826377-rp6drmzynzaa-rtrmadp-3-weather-katrina.JPG\")
<\/p>\n![\"As](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gettyimages-97348362.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gettyimages-53565138.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Deuce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gettyimages-71993854.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Sean](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2010-02-08t120000z-576474104-lr1e6280cj6kt-rtrmadp-3-nfl-superbowl.JPG\")
<\/p>\n