Louisiana eyes Gustav, activates Guard troops (New Orleans considering evacuation)

[brooklynite]

Source: AP

NEW ORLEANS—On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary, a nervous New Orleans watched Wednesday as another storm threatened to test everything the city has rebuilt, and officials made preliminary plans to evacuate people, pets and hospitals in an attempt to avoid a Katrina-style chaos.

Forecasters warned that Gustav could grow into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane in the next several days and hit somewhere along a swath of the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle to Texas—with New Orleans smack in the middle.

"I'm panicking," said Evelyn Fuselier of Chalmette, whose home was submerged in 14 feet of floodwater when Katrina hit. Fuselier said she's been back in her home one year this month, and called watching Gustav swirl toward the Gulf of Mexico indescribable. "I keep thinking, 'Did the Corps fix the levees?', 'Is my house going to flood again?' ... 'Am I going to have to go through all this again?'"

Taking no chances, city officials began preliminary planning to evacuate and lock down the city in hopes of avoiding the catastrophe that followed the 2005 storm. Mayor Ray Nagin left the Democratic National Convention in Denver to return home for the preparations. Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency to lay the groundwork for federal assistance, and put 3,000 National Guard troops on standby.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10316099

---

Maybe the Republicans in St. Paul can follow their "Purple Heart" band-aids by walking around the convention floor with life-preservers?

[MichiganVote]

1. Shit I'd be out of there before the chickenshit republican's feet hit the floor.

Must be scary for the kids in that area.

[kestrel91316]

2. Emergency Preparedness for Pets:

http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/res...

[tannybogus]

5. There are troops left to evacuate??

Don't Let Bushco know or they'll be in Iraq by the weekend.
One of the first organizations in NO to evacuate and take care
of their clients when Katrina hit was the Humane Society.

[blondie58]

9. well, leave it to a vet to post such an important link!

this should be posted on the pets column, too for future disasters. It is chock full of great information! Thanks, Kestrel!

[DogPoundPup]

3. Gustav's projected path

Officials eyeing levee work stoppage...
NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Army Corps of Engineers and New Orleans officials say they are considering stopping work on most levee projects due to an approaching hurricane.

New Orleans levee official David Bindewald said with Hurricane Gustav slowly approaching the region, work on more than 20 miles of levees may be temporarily suspended to better prepare for the storm, the New Orleans Times-Picayune said Wednesday.

"What we're looking at is expectation of a hit," the West Bank levee board's outgoing president said. "We're gearing up with that in mind."

The West Bank area of New Orleans was not hit hard during Hurricane Katrina, but without the completion of the full levee project may not be as fortunate with the next major hurricane.

The Times-Picayune said due to such potential problems, levee board officials have stockpiled 3,000-pound rock bags to act as water barriers, along with large quantities of rock and sand.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/27/Officials_eyeing... /

[npk]

6. That projected path

Is almost identical to the path Katrina took. Lord I hope it doesn't strike anywhere on the gulf, especially in my hometown city of Mobile.

[DogPoundPup]

8. Batten down the hatches and stay safe ~ n/t

[npk]

11. Thank you for your concern.

However, I actually have moved from Mobile. I live now in the suburbs of Atlanta. I do still have family down in Mobile. So I am indeed very nervous right now about where this storm is going to make landfall.

[DogPoundPup]

12. You are welcome. I hope all stays safe n/t

[dipsydoodle]

4. Wouldn't worry too much.

If your Maladministration can get ships with aid to a Black Sea port in Georgia that fast they shouldn't have too much difficulty getting help to Louisiana in much more than a few seconds.

[hedgehog]

7. They'll be just fine - as long as shredded newspaper can hold the water back!

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl042408tpleveepape...

[zeemike]

13. Oh for gods sake

What a mess that is.
And the contractors excuse...the government did not send them more money.

[hedgehog]

10. Is it my imagination, or does every update show the hurricane headed

closer to NOLA?

[bicentennial_baby]

14. No, it's not you

[brooklynite]

15. UPDATE - Louisiana governor declares emergency ahead of Gustav

from CNN:

Tropical Storm Gustav's impending arrival in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially as a major hurricane, has prompted Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to declare an emergency for the state and request federal disaster assistance ahead of the storm.

"We are going to hope for the best, but we're preparing for the worst," Jindal said Wednesday.

Jindal cited forecasts that Gustav, which killed 22 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic this week, could become a Category 3 hurricane in the coming days and make landfall by late Monday morning.

Think he'll actually show up to speak in St. Paul, as scheduled?

[gauguin57]

16. May the goddess look down on NOLA and protect her from harm.

Truly, I am praying for the people of New Orleans tonight.

[KamaAina]

17. I'm actually surprised they still have 3,000 National Guard troops

last time, fully half of La.'s NG troops, and two-thirds of its heavy equipment, were precisely where they were needed most: Eye-rack.

[nikto]

18. This is very very GOOD for McCain & the Republicans...

...And if you can think of a reason why that would be true,
you must be a Neocon Wingnut from Hell.


Neocons make me...

[ncrainbowgrrl]

19. I could say something about busses

But I won't.

[RamboLiberal]

20. Nagin tells CNN there are no shelters of last resort this time

Source: WWLTV

As he prepared to leave the Democratic National Convention in Denver to head back to New Orleans and make plans for Gustav, Mayor Ray Nagin told CNN “a whole different strategy” will be in place to help evacuate residents if needed.

In an interview Wednesday evening with CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper, Nagin said he is “cautiously optimistic,” and hopes the storm veers away from south Louisiana at the last minute. But he urged residents to have evacuation plans in order, and help elderly neighbors make a plan as well.

“The big question is ‘What shape are our levees in?’ With all the work the Corps of Engineers has done, is it sufficient enough to handle what is projected to be a Category 3 that right now is poised and headed for New Orleans?”

Unlike Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Nagin said there will be no shelter of last resort, such as the Superdome or Morial Convention Center, and residents will be transported out of the city on buses and trains. He said, if Gustav is greater than a category 2 storm and the predicted storm surge is greater than the levee height of approximately 17 to 20 feet, then a mandatory evacuation would be ordered.

When asked about the city’s plan for evacuating special needs residents, the mayor said only 7,000 people have registered through the city’s 311 hotline. “That’s part of the challenge going forward. But even the ones we have not identified, we will still go out into the community and try to bring them in.”


Read more: http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl0827mlnagin.1b378...

---

I'm glad he is heading back. Hopes and prayers with all on the gulf coast.

[valerief]

21. And they'll probably take the ones on the busses and drop them

off in an inland swamp somewhere.

Compassionate conservatives who let people be eaten by alligators. They did it before. They'll do it again.

[ben_meyers]

22. That's quite the statement

I've heard him called a lot of things but Nagin a Compassionate conservative? And he dropped buses in a swamp, I'd heard he wasn't even in N.O. for Katrina but was holed up in a hotel in Huston, riding out the storm.

[RamboLiberal]

24. That's misinformation

Yes he was in a hotel but in NO. I know that historian Douglas Brinkley was critical of Nagin in his book The Great Deluge for being "holed up" in an upper floor of a hotel. That was where he did he famous speech blasting the federal government non-response.

I thought Brinkley was extremely harsh on Nagin though I do respect Brinkley as a historian.

Hard to judge since like most of us I was watching long distance. I do remember blasting Nagin here for spending several days in Houston settling his family while what was left of his police and city forces were still pulling bodies out of the flood waters and who as well if they were lucky had families to resettle.

[Ex Lurker]

25. Brinkley was too personally involved

to write an objective history. It's still an interesting account, though.

[JVS]

23. I'm not a big fan of the whole, "if the shit hits the fan go to the superdome" strategy, but...

I still think a shelter of last resort is a good idea in case the evacuations don't work.

[Ex Lurker]

26. the thinking is not to give anybody a reason to stay

they want everybody out, and I can't say I blame them. They won't announce an evacuation for several more days, but a big clue will come tomorrow. If the La National Guard 256th Infantry out of Abbeville is activated, that means the evacuations are coming. If not, everybody can rest easier.

[frogcycle]

31. you're right

there should always be a Plan B, and C, and D...

Problem is, many people think if you have a Plan B then you don't really intend to make Plan A work.

His statement is probably just an attempt to reassure that Plan A is good and will be pursued vigorously, but if literally true it is idiotic.

Plan D (or E or whatever) should be dropping inflatable lifeboats all over the city. And when they run out of lifeboats, then big pieces of styrofoam! I'd rather hear that they will leave no stone unturned to save lives no matter what than that they have a perfect Plan A.

[underpants]

32. in 2005 N.O. had a 80% evacuation

which is about double what is even planned for

the problem wasn't at the city level

[Igel]

35. More than expected, less than to be planned for.

They made no sufficient or adequate plans for those without private transportation. The plans were to have been in place a year or two before; some committee members complained. But the city couldn't make the hard decisions, they'd have been politically difficult.

And the state wasn't responsible for drawing up the plans, just advising. To stomp on Nagin would have been humiliating to him, NOLA, and politically difficult.

FEMA couldn't stomp on LA to force the plans. Not their job, and *that* would have been a difficult thing to have done.

There was no "the" problem. There were scores of problems, probably at least a dozen of them serious, from US prez and Congress and the ACE down to subdepartments in the NOLA mayor's administration and the city council (note that I leave out names: The problems were of long standing.) Because there were so many serious problems, every stratum of authority can say it's all somebody else's fault; and every person can pick and choose what problems to notice.

Fortunately, it seems that many of the public duckers of responsibility privately paid attention, and have fixed at least some of the serious problems. On paper. Whether they're actually fixed, and whether all of them are fixed, is something I hope nobody ever has the opportunity to find out.

[Thothmes]

36. Novel

A DUer that thinks that someone besides Bush bears some responsibility for the disaster in NO. A classic example of the failure of Government at every level. JMO

[uppityperson]

27. What about pets on buses? Are they allowing htat this time?

[ncrainbowgrrl]

29. Yep. If the pets can't come, it's going to be a reprise...

[Behind the Aegis]

30. Yes, they are.

There are specific guidelines, but there will be buses and trains for those who have pets!

[uppityperson]

34. Great, that is really good to hear.

edited to add that the 5 day forecast just moved a bit west, and the computer models continue to change, back and forth, here and there. Looks like they aren't able to predict except it will be somewhere (looking @ wunderground)

[XemaSab]

28. ANY strategy is better than the Katrina nonstrategy

n/t

[underpants]

33. The levees are the issue the buffer zone (barrier islands) are

but I am SURE they haven't done anything about that