HOUSTON – Hurricane Katrina changed Houston in many ways.
Doctors, nurses and residents from the Texas Medical Center and beyond jumped into action to provide health care to evacuees.
What they expected, and what arrived in Houston, were two different things.
"They said 'Emery, how many people will fit in the Astrodome?'" Dr. Robert Emery, UT Health Vice President of Safety said.
Emery was in charge of setting up space to provide evacuees health care.
"I never in a million years anticipated how much medical waste was generated. To put it in perspective, more medical waste was generated out of the Astrodome in a day than we generate at the health science center in a month," he said.
Emery said about 15,000 people lived in the Astrodome and more than half needed medical attention. Soon they were running out of space.
"As we were setting up, I remember the distinct sound of an X-ray machine and I thought, that's not really the best place to set that up, where there are other rooms right around it."
To accommodate the masses, the George R. Brown Convention Center opened and UT Health responded there, while Baylor faculty treated people at the Astrodome.
"It appeared to have been designed spontaneously," Dr. Carlos Moreno, from UT Health Family Medicine, said.
Moreno said because of a citywide effort, he was able to treat people with all necessary supplies, but the demand kept coming.
"We started getting a lot of people who had lost medicine, left, had chronic illnesses," he said. "Some people who just hadn't seen a doctor in a long time and said 'hey, let's get some health care."
Medical personnel spent day and night at the convention center and said Houston should be proud of how everything was handled, because they're prepared now for what could happen again.
"Not to scare people or make them apprehensive, but if you're in the emergency preparedness business, it's my job to think about when things go wrong, and it was certainly a galvanizing experience for me," Emery said.
Moreno said he still see patients that came here from New Orleans.
1 / 16
A picture of evacuation holdouts (L-R) Harold Gee, Randall 'Sharon' Kess and Gary Don Massey hanging on Gee's front porch Sept. 8, 2005, in New Orleans. A group of holdouts in the community banded together after the hurricane made landfall, vowing to remain in New Orleans despite evacuation orders.Sgt. 1st Class Chris Andrews climbed out of a home as he and a fellow New Mexico National Guard member, Specialist Anthony Bustillos, checked for bodies in homes destroyed after Hurricane Katrina passed through Sept. 10, 2005, in Port Sulphur, La.A photo of survivors waiting outside the Superdome to be evacuated Sept. 2, 2005 in New Orleans. Thousands of troops poured into the city Sept. 2 to help with security and delivery of supplies in the wake of the devastating storm.Water more than 12 feet high in some places flooded nearly 80 percent of New Orleans after the levee system failed.Rescue workers pulled a woman from the water who was hanging onto the roof to escape the rising flood waters from Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005, in New Orleans.Total property damage was estimated at $81 billion, nearly triple the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.A mandatory evacuation of New Orleans was ordered in advance of the storm, though some 10,000 refugees sought shelter in the Superdome.Here is a picture of residents waiting on a roof top to be rescued from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.Mark Benton, of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, helped rescue 3-month-old Ishmael Sullivan from a school rooftop after he and his mother were trapped with dozens of others in high water after Hurricane Katrina Aug. 30, 2005, in New Orleans.Here are some damage photos from 2006: A school bus was submerged in New Orleans East after Hurricane Katrina hit the area.This picture shows refugees of Hurricane Katrina who filled the floor of the Astrodome in Houston.Hurricane Katrina, a Category 2 storm with winds of 135 mph, made landfall at Empire, La., at about 7 a.m. ET on Aug. 29, 2005.Cats and dogs were rescued after being separated from their owners when Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area arrive by chartered jet to Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 19, 2005, in Los Angeles.At least 1,836 people were killed in the hurricane and subsequent flooding, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1928.A picture of a house in New Orleans that was marked with the words "Dead Body Inside" and "Help."Prisoner inmates were held at the end of a sunken highway in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck.
A picture of evacuation holdouts (L-R) Harold Gee, Randall 'Sharon' Kess and Gary Don Massey hanging on Gee's front porch Sept. 8, 2005, in New Orleans. A group of holdouts in the community banded together after the hurricane made landfall, vowing to remain in New Orleans despite evacuation orders.