Mandatory evacuations likely to begin this evening.
Nagin: Residents, tourists should leave N. O.
Associated Press - August 30, 2008 2:54 PM ET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Mayor Ray Nagin is urging New Orleans residents and tourists to leave as Hurricane Gustav continues to strengthen.
Nagin did not call for a mandatory evacuation Saturday, but he said that if Gustav continues on its current path, he would do so as early as Saturday evening, with the required evacuation to begin Sunday morning.
City officials spent Saturday helping to evacuate people who are elderly, disabled, poor or for some other reason cannot leave on their own.
As of around noon, about 1,100 to 1,200 people had left in about 22 buses bound for shelters in Louisiana.
Nagin said another 1,500 were on a train bound for Memphis, Tennessee, but FEMA spokesman Ronald Simpson said it carried 984.
City officials have estimated that as many as 30,000 people will need help leaving.
http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8926549&nav=menu1344_2Let's hope the city doesn't get a significant hit, but they are currently forecast to get Cat 1 level winds and the bulk of the storm surge (being on the Northeastern side of the predicted landfall). In short, it doesn't look good.
From wunderground:
Time to leave New Orleans
I've been criticized by some for recommending people evacuate New Orleans, since that's not my job, and for saying "it's not natural" to live in a city that lies partially below sea level. I apologize for my remarks, they could have been phrased better. We had to build New Orleans where it is, and it is a great city that needs to be protected. The fact remains that New Orleans is highly vulnerable to storms like Gustav. Gustav is capable of bringing a storm surge to the city that will overwhelm the levees. Pre-Katrina wisdom suggested that the city needed 72 hours to evacuate. With the population about half of the pre-Katrina population, that lead time is about 60 hours. With Gustav likely to bring tropical storm force winds to the city by Monday afternoon, that means it's time to leave. I'm not an emergency manager, but I am a hurricane scientist. I understand the danger this storm poses better than most. The risk of staying in New Orleans is unacceptable. This is a huge and dangerous storm that has already killed a lot of people. The projected track and strength of Gustav is very close to that of Hurricane Betsy of 1965, the Category 3 hurricane that overwhelmed New Orleans' levees, and killed 76 people. It's time to get out of New Orleans.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1051&tstamp=200808Godspeed to all in this storm's path.
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