Nagin Orders Mandatory Evacuation of New Orleans as Gustav Approaches
Saturday , August 30, 2008
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, while Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned residents that the state "could see flooding worse than Hurricane Katrina," as Gustav approached the Gulf Coast.
The announcement turned informal advice to flee from Gustav into an official order to get out.
Nagin said Saturday that the evacuation becomes mandatory at 8 a.m. Sunday on the city's vulnerable west bank. It becomes mandatory on the east bank at noon.
"This is the real deal, not a test," Nagin said as he issued the order, warning residents that staying would be "one of the biggest mistakes of your life." He emphasized that the city will not offer emergency services to anyone who chooses to stay behind.
The announcement comes as officials continued to evacuate the elderly, disabled, poor and others without means ahead of Gustav's march toward the Gulf Coast.
"[This is] as bad as it gets," the Republican governor said, quoting the National Weather Service.
An estimated 1 million residents fled the Gulf Coast Saturday, ahead of any official evacuation order, according to the Associated Press, but after the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and part of Texas.
The watch area includes New Orleans, where residents marked the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastation on Friday. The watch stretches from east of High Island, Texas, to the Alabama-Florida border.
Hurricane Gustav strengthened to a dangerous Category 4 storm Saturday, prompting officials to plan a special advisory and some Gulf Coast residents to leave town ahead of mandatory evacuations.
Data from an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft indicated that Gustav's maximum winds have increased to close to 145 mph, making the already-deadly storm an extremely hazardous Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
Gustav could strengthen even further to a Category 5 hurricane just before or shortly after it passes over Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.
New Orleans residents, with the memory of devastating Hurricane Katrina still fresh in their minds, didn't waste time getting out of the city on Saturday.
Lines of people waiting for buses to take them out of the Big Easy grew longer and traffic grew heavier on main highways as Hurricane Gustav strengthened into a dangerous storm on track for the Gulf Coast.
"I'm getting out of here. I can't take another hurricane," said Ramona Summers, 59, whose house flooded during Katrina. She hurried to help friends gather their belongings. Her car was already packed for Gonzales, nearly 60 miles away to the west of New Orleans.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said a mandatory evacuation hadn't yet been issued, but could come later in the day to begin Sunday morning.
He said he was confident the levees wouldn't fail the way they did during Katrina if Gustav hits New Orleans.
"We have invested a significant amount of money in levee protection, so I’m not anticipating the same type of levee flooding we had with Katrina," Nagin told reporters Saturday. He said he was expecting street flooding, and city officials would be working through the night in preparation for the monster storm.
As for whether or not New Orleans could survive another devastating hurricane, Nagin said it would be difficult.
"Emotionally can we handle it? I think there's a lot of fragileness in the city," he said. "It’s going to be a tough one, but New Orleanians are very resilient."
A line well over a mile long stretched in six loops through the parking lot at Union Station Terminal in New Orleans. Under a blazing sun, many led children or pushed strollers with one hand and pulled luggage with the other. Volunteers handed out bottled water, and medics were nearby in case people became heatsick.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was already working feverishly to avoid the kind of problems that surfaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA said it expects a "huge number" of Gulf Coast residents will be told to leave the region this weekend.
Joseph Jones Jr., 61, wore a towel over his head to block the sun. He'd been in line 2 1/2 hours, but wasn't complaining. During Katrina, he had been stranded on a highway overpass.
"I don't like it. Going someplace you don't know, people you don't know," Jones said. "And then when you come back, is your house going to be OK?"
The city had yet to call for a mandatory evacuation, but began ushering out the sick, elderly and those without their own transportation on Saturday. The state has a $7 million contract for more than 700 buses to carry an estimated 30,000 people to shelters.
Many residents said the evacuation was more orderly than Hurricane Katrina, which struck three years ago Friday. But not everyone was happy.
Elizabeth Tell, 67, had been waiting on the corner since 6:30 a.m. for a special needs bus to take her and her dog, Lee Roy, to the station. It was three hours before the first bus arrived, completely full of people in wheelchairs.
"They're not taking care of us down here!" she shouted as the brown-and-white spotted hound mix panted inside his hip-high plastic kennel.
Many residents weren't waiting for a formal evacuation call. Cars packed with clothes, boxes and pet carriers drove north among heavy traffic on Interstate 55, a major route out of the city. Gas stations around the city hummed. And nursing homes and hospitals began sending patients farther inland.
Police and firefighters were set to go street-to-street with bullhorns over the weekend to help direct people where to go. Unlike Hurricane Katrina, there will be no shelter of last resort in the Superdome. The doors there will be locked.
Those among New Orleans' estimated 310,000 to 340,000 residents who ignore orders to leave accept "all responsibility for themselves and their loved ones," the city's emergency preparedness director, Jerry Sneed, has warned.
There were signs Saturday morning of people racheting up their plans to leave. ATM machines were running out of cash. Long lines were sprouting up at gas stations as motorists filled up their cars. Cases of bottled water were selling briskly at convenience stores.
Gustav swelled into a major hurricane south of Cuba and could strike the U.S. coast anywhere from Mississippi to Texas by Tuesday.
Forecasters said if Gustav follows the projected path it would likely make landfall on Louisiana's central coast, sparing New Orleans a direct hit. But forecasters caution it is still too soon to say exactly where the storm will hit.
"Any little jog could change where it makes landfall," said Karina Castillo, a hurricane support meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center said.
One shop along Magazine Street, its windows covered up, showed a flash of New Orleans' storm humor. "Geaux Away Gustav," it read, giving it a French flair.
President Bush called Gulf Coast governors Saturday and told them they would have the full support of the federal government, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
Officials plan to announce a curfew that will mean the arrest of anyone still on the streets after a mandatory evacuation order goes out. Police and National Guardsman will patrol after the storm's arrival, and Gov. Bobby Jindal has said he requested additional search and rescue teams from other states.
Jindal also said the state would likely switch interstate lanes on Sunday so that all traffic would flow north, in the direction an evacuation would follow.
By midday Saturday, Gustav was about 185 miles east of the western tip of Cuba and just 55 miles east-southeast of the Isla de Juventud. It was expected to be moving northwest near 14 mph.
Hurricane force winds extended out 60 miles in some places.
Cuban officials raced to evacuate more than 240,000 people
The center of Gustav was to pass over western Cuba later Saturday and strengthen is forecast after it reaches the Gulf of Mexico.
The second major hurricane of the Atlantic season has already killed 78 people in the Caribbean.
Haiti's Interior Ministry on Saturday raised the hurricane death toll there to 66 from 59. Gustav also killed eight people in the Dominican Republic and four in Jamaica.
Cuba grounded all national airline fights, though planes bound for international destinations were still taking off at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport.
Authorities also canceled all buses and trains to and from the capital, as well as ferry and air service to the Isla de Juventud, the outlying Cuban island-province next in Gustav's path.
The U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, was hundreds of miles to the east, out of the storm's path.
Gustav could strike the U.S. Gulf coast anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Texas, but forecasters said there was an increasing chance that New Orleans will get slammed by at least tropical-storm-force winds, three years after devastating Hurricane Katrina.
As much as 80 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas production could be shut down as a precaution if Gustav enters as a major storm, weather research firm Planalytics predicted. Oil companies have already evacuated hundreds of workers from offshore platforms.
I love that Democrats had been in charge of Louisiana and did absolutely nothing to help their folks get out during Katrina. Then to deflect their own incompetence and stupidity, they blame the Federal Governments response. Even though, the Feds can’t step in until asked by the various States that need help! Their are laws on the books that prevent the Feds from just taking over. Bush had to basically educate the Mayor and Former Governor about how to ask us for help and we will give it to you. But they waited and waited and waited. Good Job!
Well congratulations Mayor Ray Nagin for getting it right this time!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Just saw a newscast wherein they interviewed some families who are staying...I'll never understand some people.
However, they also showed that if the hurricane stays on a "perfect course," it will avoid New Orleans and other highly-populated areas. Here's hopin'...
The hurricane was downgraded to a cat 2. Still a great potential for flooding.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
First let me say that I am more than pleased that this hurricane was not as deadly as first predicted. HOWEVER....it is sickening to see these news casters sensationalize the weather. Like Gustav wasn't enough. They predicted a sure cat#5 and actually ended up being a cat #2. (thank God)They are already discussing Hanna, Ike and Josephine. Don't ya just love the words they use...DEVASTATING, DEADLY, THREATENING, ALERT, FATALITIES,DANGEROUS.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
So did that repub gov frig the whole thing up or what? He wont even let the people come back HOME! What s this all about over there. Another immigrant trying to be an American and hurting the repubs, and Indian guy to boot, where he belongs is the 7-11
Sal you sure know how to make friends and influence people, not. New Orleans has no power, sewer,water and many of the roads are still impassable why would anyone want residents coming back until it's safe to do so.
Residents return to rough it Thursday, September 04, 2008 By John Pope
The first wave of Hurricane Gustav evacuees started returning to New Orleans on Wednesday to a city of silent streets, downed tree limbs and boarded-up houses.
It was easy to tell which houses were occupied by the curbside heaps of limbs and neatly tied black garbage bags, a sharp contrast to the ruined refrigerators and mold-ridden furniture that appeared after Hurricane Katrina.
"I like to keep myself busy," Callie Payavla said as she filled a third garbage bag in front of her Prytania Street house.
"It's a stress reliever," she said. "It keeps your mind off things."
An upbeat Mayor Ray Nagin on Wednesday evening portrayed a city still struggling to its feet but poised for a quick recovery from Gustav.
"What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours," Nagin said during a 7 p.m. City Hall news conference Wednesday. "The picture today is much better than it was yesterday. That extra day we had been talking about: tremendous."
Though few grocery stores or gas stations had reopened, hospitals remained understaffed and electricity was sporadic, Nagin and City Council members offered a rosy view of the state of the city.
"Most of your beautiful homes that you all have worked so hard to rebuild are standing strong," City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis said.
Nagin offered a laundry list of city services that he expected to be up and running today. Parks and Parkways Department crews were ready to embark en masse to clear streets of fallen branches; trash collection was slated to resume today, along with storm drain cleaning; the city's 311 hotline was fully functional for residents to report downed trees, traffic lights and street lamps; and 45 debris removal crews would hit the streets this morning.
In a quick aside to Katrina recovery efforts long under way, Nagin said major street reconstruction projects will resume Monday.
--- Re-entering confusion ---
Payavla, a customer service representative for Continental Airlines, said she stayed in town during Katrina and was determined to sit tight during Hurricane Gustav.
"But my family (in Houston) said, 'Get out,' so I left to appease them." She drove to Lumberton, Miss., on Sunday to be with her grandmother.
She returned Wednesday, starting her homeward trip when there was still some confusion about when New Orleanians would be allowed to return.
Originally, the ban on re-entering New Orleans was supposed to last until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. But the stream of residents eager to return home, as well as the lifting of restrictions in neighboring parishes, forced Nagin to lift the lockout Wednesday morning.
Another New Orleanian who decided to come home regardless of the official policy was Derek Gardes, who had evacuated with his wife and two children to Birmingham, Ala.
"We thought that (re-entry policy) wasn't going to work with all the other parishes being open, so we thought we'd take a chance and beat everyone else back," he said as he picked up limbs and leaves that cluttered the street near his Uptown home.
Gardes' plan worked, "except that we have no power," he said.
But he was forward-thinking and optimistic: "The great thing is that we're going to have a Saints game on Sunday."
When Rudolph Keller returned to his home in eastern New Orleans on Wednesday after three days in Phenix City, Ala., he was thrilled with what he found.
His house, which floodwaters and mold ruined three years ago, was barely scratched, with damage limited to parts of his roof and wooden fence.
"I became excited," Keller said. "I was like, wow, we were spared."
When he returned from being a Katrina evacuee, Keller said his neighborhood "This time I return to light," he said. "The power is on, and I have all the comforts of home."
--- Damaged homes, trees ---
Not everyone's homecoming was joyous. Gustav's gusts were strong enough to uproot massive live oaks. City inspectors said eight houses collapsed during or after the storm and 57 others were so severely damaged that they were declared in imminent danger of falling down.
And when Daniel Tobar returned from Franklinton with his mother, he found that his restaurant, Daniel's on the Bayou, had no electricity.
It was a familiar experience for him because Daniel's, a restaurant he had owned in Mid-City, took on 8 feet of water after Katrina and never reopened.
"I just opened up and already a hurricane," he said Wednesday. "I don't want to be out of business for the second time."
Tobar said he needed to make some money because his rent, which is between $2,000 and $3,000, was due earlier this week.
"Hurricane or not, we've got to pay, rain or shine," he said. "God, this is my luck again."
--- Feeding first responders ---
Commander's Palace didn't have electricity on Wednesday, either, but chef Tory McPhail knew what to do: He put his staff to work preparing some of the Garden District restaurant's specialties before they spoiled and serving them up free to first responders.
Standing on an impromptu buffet line beneath the restaurant's turquoise-and-white-striped awning, employees were dishing up such treats as turtle soup, grilled vegetables, braised short ribs, andouille grits and bread pudding to police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and National Guard troops.
About 120 people showed up for the gourmet goodies on Tuesday, McPhail said, and his crew had fed about 250 by midafternoon Wednesday.
"We don't want it to go bad when there are people going around hungry," said Jonathan Schmidt, a line chef.
. . . . . . .
Staff writers Michelle Krupa, Darran Simon and Leslie Williams contributed to this article. John Pope can be reached at jpope@timespicayune.com or 504.826-3317.
-- About 828,982 of Entergy's customers in Louisiana were without power at some point. As of 12:30 pm Friday, power had been restored to about 454,000.
-- Nearly 246,092 of Cleco's 273,000 customers went dark, including nearly 65,000 in St. Tammany.
-- Gustav knocked out all 14 of the transmission lines between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Outages may linger on for days, and in some extreme cases, weeks. Transmission lines are the thick wiring that connects substations and neighborhoods to original power sources.
-- About 108,023 are without power in East Baton Rouge Parish. Entergy says that 90 percent of customers will have power by Sept. 17, and everyone will have electricity by Sept. 24. All major hospitals now have power. Government buildings were expected to get power by the end of the day Thursday, and the port should get electricity on Friday.
--If customers are still in the dark after power has been restored to their neighborhood, they should call Entergy at 1.800.9.OUTAGE. Customers can report problems to Cleco at 1.800.622.6537.
--Entergy has 14,000 repair workers on the ground, including 11,000 from other utilities around the country.
-- A parish-by-parish estimate for restoring power.
JEFFERSON
-- 90 percent of customers should have power by Sunday. Restoration in non-coastal areas should be complete by Tuesday.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 70,557 customers, or 35 percent of Entergy's customers in the parish, remained without power.
ORLEANS
-- 90 percent of customers should have power by Saturday. Restoration should be 100 percent complete by Monday.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 55,840 customers, or 39 percent of Entergy's customers in the parish, remained without power.
--Entergy New Orleans opened two customer information centers. One is at 3400 Canal St. and the other is at 4021 Behrman Hwy, Suite J. in Algiers. Customers can find out restoration efforts by address, ask safety questions and pay bills.
--A third customer information center will open Saturday in the Household of Faith at 9300 I-10 Service Road.
ST. TAMMANY
-- Only 13,287 (16 percent) without power; Cleco expects to have electricity back to 80 percent of St. Tammany by Friday and 90 percent by Saturday. Three hundred linemen and 200 tree cutters, based at North Shore Square mall in Slidell, have begun working to restore power.
ST. BERNARD
-- 100 percent of customers should have power by Sept. 15.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 7,680 customers, or 50 percent of Entergy's customers in the parish, remained without power.
ST. CHARLES
-- 100 percent of customers should have power by Sept. 15.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 11,537 customers, or 53 percent of Entergy's customers in the parish, remained without power.
PLAQUEMINES
-- 100 percent of customers should have power by Sept. 15.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 5,933 customers, or 60 percent of Entergy's customers in the parish, remained without power.
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
-- 90 percent of customers should have power by Monday and everyone should have power by Wednesday.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 17,217 customers, or 88 percent of Entergy's customers in the parish, remained without power.
TERREBONNE
-- 90 percent of customers should have power by Sept. 26 and everyone should have power by Oct. 1.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 24,970 customers remained without power.
LAFOURCHE
-- 90 percent of customers should have power by Sept. 24 and everyone should have power by Oct. 1.
--As of 1:30 pm Friday, 36,338 customers remained without power. See more in East Jefferson Parish, Gustav, Louisiana, Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, River Parishes, St. Bernard Parish, St. Charles Parish, St. John Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Weather, West Jefferson Parish, power_restoration
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