Julie Ann Emery Shows Hurricane Katrina's Human Toll in 'Five Days at Memorial'

It may not be common knowledge that it wasn't Hurricane Katrina that wreaked the worst havoc on New Orleans when the category 5 hurricane tore through Louisiana in August 2005. Yes, the storm was deadly — over 1,800 people died, and it caused more than $100 billion in damage. 

But it was the collapse of the levees and floodwalls that led to the devastation. And it was the failure of city, state and federal agencies to coordinate a meaningful rescue plan for those left stranded and suffering without food, water and electricity — and proper medical facilities — that turned Katrina into a tragedy for so many. 

The story of what really happened on the ground at one New Orleans hospital was meticulously documented by journalist Sheri Fink in a Pulitzer Prize-winning article and then a book, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. That book is now the basis of an eight-episode Apple TV Plus miniseries that premiered this month and that stars Vera Farmiga, Cherry Jones and Julie Ann Emery as the exhausted caregivers left to make life-or-death decisions for the patients stranded after "the floodwaters rose, power failed and heat soared." Ultimately, 45 people died. 

"I hope it's a call to arms … a conversation starter in our society about how we want to be in these moments of collective crises," Emery said in an interview for CNET's I'm So Obsessed podcast series. "There was a massive, institutional and governmental failure that left these people trapped here. I'd like to see us hold some folks accountable for that."

Emery plays Diane Robichaux, who oversees a long-term health care facility called Life Care that rents the seventh floor of Memorial Medical Center from Tenet Healthcare Corp. When it's obvious that the hospital won't be able to operate because of flooding and the loss of power, which means no air conditioning in a city where the late-summer temperatures soared, the staff at the hospital and Life Care fail to collaborate — until it's almost too late — and as they try to get their parent companies to provide the timely help needed to care for their patients. 

"There's a big conversation to be had about corporate medicine here," Emery said. "It still makes me very sad [and] angry today that people in a nice air-conditioned office with desks and boardrooms were making business decisions. ... If there's any moment to make a human decision, it's in that moment when the levees broke."

Five Days at Memorial See at Apple TV Plus

I spoke to Emery about filming the series, which was created by Carlton Cruse and John Ridley, and watching as the hospital set came to life. Much of the series was shot in a custom-built 4-million-gallon water tank outside of Toronto. "That was massive and epic and extraordinary, and that takes resources — and Apple really stepped up and gave the resources," she said.

We also talked about her turn as Betsy Kettleman in the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul, and working as a waitress in LA and serving Will Smith (who she says is a great tipper) before starring alongside him in the romantic comedy Hitch. And we talked about her obsession with the small but productive hydroponic garden she maintains on the balcony outside her California apartment. "As a farm kid who tilled the dirt, hydroponic gardening seems to Star Trek to me," she said. "It's like a chemistry set, right?"

Listen in to my entire conversation with Emery in the podcast player above. And subscribe to I'm So Obsessed on your favorite podcast app. In each episode, CNET's Patrick Holland or I catch up with an artist, actor or creator to learn about their work, career and current obsessions.