Contraflow call in Jeff stirs criticism. But parish president defends his decision
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
By Sheila Grissett
East Jefferson bureauJefferson Parish's call for an evacuation with contraflow as Hurricane Dennis approached Cuba on Friday deviated from a new regional disaster plan and drew stinging criticism from some elected officials in neighboring parishes.
"If you are going to have a plan, you have to stick by the damn plan," said Larry Ingargiola, St. Bernard director of Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. "My biggest worry and the council's worry was that if Jefferson was going to pull the plug that early, what's going to happen to our people?"
The new plan calls for evacuating less-populated, lower-lying communities of southeast Louisiana ahead of East Jefferson and New Orleans, and using contraflow only if needed to finish evacuating the area's two most heavily populated parishes.
Parish President Aaron Broussard made the call at noon, ahead of all coastal parishes.
"I feel totally comfortable based on circumstances at the time and the advice I received from Dr. Maestri," said Broussard, referring to parish Emergency Management Director Walter Maestri.
But it was his request that State Police enact contraflow, or the reversal of interstate lanes, that caused the most consternation.
"Aaron Broussard has a right to order a voluntary evacuation for Jefferson Parish residents whenever he sees fit," St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens said. "But had contraflow been put into place, it would have placed the whole metropolitan area on an early forced evacuation."
Nagin didn't OK evacuation
Had contraflow started Friday at midday, all outbound lanes of Interstate 10, I-55 and I-59 would have been reversed to accommodate evacuees, and inbound traffic would have been blocked, officials said.
Under the new plan devised by the state and endorsed by Broussard and other local leaders in April, lane reversal is for use only in the final stage of an evacuation to accommodate drivers from heavily populated East Jefferson and New Orleans.
Nagin never recommended evacuation for New Orleans. And the presidents of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes only suggested evacuation for their residents later in the day Friday, which was in keeping with Stage 1 of the plan to clear out low-lying communities 50 hours in advance of tropical-force winds hitting the coast.
Under terms of the new plan, designed to improve on the hair-pulling evacuation experienced before Hurricane Ivan in September, contraflow is intended to begin about 30 hours before a Category 3 storm or larger is expected to strike Louisiana, and it is employed only after the coastal communities and the West Bank have been evacuated.
None of those conditions was in effect Friday at noon, when the strike probability for New Orleans was at 14 percent, and the state refused Broussard's request.
"I achieved exactly what I wanted to achieve," Broussard said Monday. "I gave the people in Jefferson Parish who wanted to evacuate the impetus to do so on Friday and to get somewhere before sundown. . . . I feel totally comfortable, based on the circumstances at the time, and I would do it again if I thought it was best for the people of this parish."
Blanco opposed contraflow
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, whose approval is needed for contraflow to begin, said Friday that she understood Broussard was doing what he thought was best for parish residents. But because regional cooperation is essential to a successful evacuation of the entire southeast area, Blanco said everyone involved needs to keep talking.
But Blanco, supported by her emergency chiefs of staff, said contraflow was unwarranted.
"The governor spoke to Mr. Broussard late Friday. He explained his reasons for deviating from the plan," Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher said Monday. "She listened, and she urged him to follow the plan."
Plaquemines Parish President Benny Rousselle said he also believes the plan can work only if it's followed by all the parishes.
"We didn't put it in blood," Rousselle said. "We agreed we were going to work together."
But he stopped short of criticizing Broussard, who he said called him Monday morning to explain his Friday evacuation decision.
Officials in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes said Monday that they had no quarrel with Broussard.
St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis said he talked Friday morning with Broussard and "we were aware of what he was thinking about doing."
In New Orleans, a top official did not criticize Jefferson Parish but did emphasize the need for areawide cooperation.
"If the trigger is pulled by a local jurisdiction, ideally it should be done by all the players," said Terry Ebbert, director of the city's Office of Homeland Security, which supervises the Office of Emergency Preparedness
For example, Ebbert said that if New Orleans executed the plan independently "and clogged all the roads," it would be tough for St. Bernard and Plaquemines residents to evacuate.
"The idea is you roll it up from the coast outward and on up. You let them get out first and then deal with areas where the larger masses of people live. It's a well-developed plan."
"Coordination is essential, particularly in the greater New Orleans area," Bottcher said.
Broussard said he recommended the evacuation because he feared that waiting could have resulted in the kind of extreme congestion that marked the Hurricane Ivan evacuation or perhaps have forced evacuees from his jurisdiction to leave the area at night.
"In the abstract, this plan is a good one," he said. "But what it's missing is common sense."