Posted on 09/02/2005 2:22:21 PM PDT by joinedafterattack
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that it was President Bush that had called and urged the state to order the evacuation.
New Orleans orders evacuation Hurricane Katrina's winds nearly 175 mph
Sunday, August 28, 2005; Posted: 11:47 a.m. EDT (15:47 GMT)
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared a state of emergency on Sunday and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city as Hurricane Katrina churned toward the city with maximum sustained winds of nearly 175 mph.
All of Orleans Parish falls under the order except for necessary personnel in government, emergency and some other public service categories.
People who are unable to evacuate were told to immediately report to a designated shelter.
"I wish I had better news for you, but we are facing a storm that most of us have feared," Nagin said. "I do not want to create panic, but I do want the citizens to understand that this is very serious and it's of the highest nature."
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that President Bush had called and urged the state to order the evacuation.
About 485,000 people live in the city, and many began evacuating before sunrise.
Blanco said that westbound traffic was heavy and that the state police was urging people to travel to the north or east.
Shelters have been set up at 10 sites, including the Superdome, for people who cannot leave the city for medical or other reasons, but Nagin said they should be used only as a "last resort." (See video from New Orleans, where not all are ready to leave)
He said people who must stay in the shelter should bring enough food, water and supplies to last several days.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast could expect storm surges of up to 25 feet as the Category 5 storm makes landfall early Monday.
Officials fear New Orleans is vulnerable because it sits an average of 6 feet below sea level. (Watch video of how New Orleans reacted to warning)
Nagin said the storm surge would likely topple the levy system that protects the city.
"It has the potential for a large loss of life," said Max Mayfield, director of the NHC. (Watch CNN meteorologist explain storm outlook)
Katrina is blamed for at least seven deaths in Florida, where it made landfall Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane. As much as 18 inches of rain fell in some areas, flooding streets and homes. (See video of the damage floodwaters left in one family's new house)
At 10 a.m. ET, Katrina was centered about 225 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It was moving to the west-northwest at about 12 mph.
NHC forecaster Ed Rappaport said Katrina's strength could fluctuate before it reaches shore but noted the difference between a high Category 4 and a low Category 5 was practically inconsequential.
"There will be extensive to potentially catastrophic damage to many structures ... and inland," he said. "We'll have a lot of trees that are going to come down, perhaps millions of trees. But the first threat is going to be the storm surge. You must get away from the coast now."
By 8:30 a.m. ET, the first bands of rain were falling over southeastern Louisiana.
CNN meteorologist Brad Huffines said the Katrina would come ashore "sometime between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m." Monday.
"The news doesn't get good, unfortunately," he said. "These rain showers will slow down the evacuation process, and that means you need to hit the road quickly, very quickly."
Worst-case scenario In worst-case scenarios, most of New Orleans would end up under 15 feet of water, without electricity, clean water and sewage for months. Even pumping the water out could take as long as four months to get started because the massive pumps that would do the job would be underwater.
"People in New Orleans tend to think that the storm we've always planned on would never come," Louisiana National Guard Lt. Col. Pete Schneider said. "But people need to heed that warning."
Rappaport cautioned that New Orleans was not the only area threatened -- the storm's hurricane winds spread out as far as 100 miles. As far east as Mobile, Alabama, forecasters warned of storm surges reaching 8 to 10 feet.
Hurricane warnings were posted from Morgan City, Louisiana, eastward to the Alabama-Florida state line, including New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions, including winds of at least 74 mph, are expected in the warning area within the next 24 hours.
A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch were issued from the Alabama-Florida state line eastward to Destin, Florida, and from west of Morgan City to Intracoastal City, Louisiana. Another tropical storm warning was issued Sunday from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, west to Cameron, Louisiana, and from Destin, Florida, eastward to Indian Pass, Florida.
A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions, including winds of at least 39 mph, are expected within 24 hours. A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible, usually within 36 hours.
Governors of both Louisiana and Mississippi declared emergencies Friday in anticipation of the strengthening storm.
Robert Latham, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said the state was recommending evacuations along the coast "and even several counties inland." Mandatory evacuations could follow later, he said.
Category 5 is the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. Only three Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall in the United States since records were kept. Those were the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, 1969's Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Andrew, which devastated the Miami area in 1992. Andrew remains the costliest U.S. hurricane on record, with $26.5 billion in losses.
Camille came ashore in Mississippi and killed 256 people.
Oil production cut U.S. energy companies said U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude oil output was cut by more than one-third on Saturday due to the threatening storm, Reuters reported.
The Gulf of Mexico is home to roughly a quarter of U.S. domestic oil and gas output, with a capacity to produce about 1.5 million barrels per day of crude and 12.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas. (Full story)
Many oil platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have been evacuated. ((Watch the video of drilling crews securing rigs and seeking safety.)
CNN's David Mattingly, Susan Candiotti, Jacqui Jeras and Rob Marciano contributed to this report.
I was listening to Michael Medved today and he said the majority of the people who DID NOT evacuate were waiting for their WELFARE CHECKS AND FOOD STAMPS to get there.
The thing is KATRINA got there first by a couple of days, but it bypassed New Orlenes. So they still sat around for another day and then the Levy's broke, ONE DAY BEFORE THEIR WELFARE CHECKS ARRIVED.
They should have listened to the national emergency orders.
bump
ping. This needs to stay up top.
bttt
I don't know why Drudge hasn't picked this up. I haven't tuned into Drudge's show in a long time, and haven't been at his website either in a long time. I usually depend on fellow FReepers to post anything from Drudge that is newsworthy.
I am furious at the "bash Bush" crowd, the MSM, and plenty of our elected public officials right now. They are sick, twisted and demented, IMO. Trying to buy political capital using our nation's suffering as currency is lower than low, it's springs from the bowels of hell and is blessed by the devil.
Second, I am sure that many people stayed in their homes to protect it from looting.
As a professional meteorologist, I, along with other collegues, was shocked at the tepid response of the Louisiana government, in particular New Orleans. It was clear to us on Friday that this storm would explode into a major hurricane. While the official track in the morning had it aimed at Panama City, FL, there was a strong trend in our guidance that suggested the storm would impact areas much farther west. By Friday evening the official track shifted to New Orleans. At THAT time, a voluntary evacuation order should have been issued in New Orleans. On Saturday, it became apparent that this storm would be potentially catastrophic, reaching category 5 status, which it did Saturday night. Given the high level of confidence on the intensity forecast, a mandatory evacutation order should have been issued for the city in the morning. This would get most of the tourists out by nighttime and allowed city officials to concentrate on those who were stubborn or did not have the means to get out.
On Sunday, the scenario many meteorologists have known would come eventually appeared imminent, with a category 5 hurricane (175 mph winds and a barometric pressure of 902...the second lowest ever measured in the Atlantic!). It does not get more dire than how it looked Sunday. This is a scenario that only a Sci-Fi doomsday writer dares think about. I was stunned to find Nagin completely ineffectual in his personal interviews with the media (which were a waste of time imo), and he and the surrounding parishes seemed to be doing little. Traffic was heavy out of the city, but not as heavy as it should have been if 50%+ of the population was actually leaving. It was clear that most people would ride this out.
Had Katrina made landfall west of New Orleans at 175 mph, there would be no looting problems, or sick and hungry people because everyone in that city would be dead. The Superdome (which had never been stress-tested under those conditions, yet another astonishing decision by the government) would likely have collapsed on those taking refuge. A somewhat less severe, but still tragic scenario ensued in which Katrina went just a bit farther east and weakened somewhat. The National Hurricane Center reported wind gusts in New Orleans of Tropical storm strength (40 mph+) as early as 5 PM and it began to pick up in earnest around 8-10 pm.(www.srh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KNEW.html)
Nagin issued a voluntary evacuation order Sunday morning in a city that likely doesn't wake up (at least many) on a Sunday morning until noon. That left 8 hours of safe evacuation time for many people who were only then realizing how grave the situation was.
There are two tragic consequences with this storm, one being property and the other the plight of the people that stayed behind. The property issue is likely unresolvable in that area given the proximity of the water and the low land. The people issue is managable (albeit extremely difficult) and comprehensive plans to evacuate as many people as possible (with particular concentrations on women, children, the elderly, and the sick) should have been (and from what I can gather had been previously) in place for years.
That a mandatory evacuation order (which is rarely enforced anyway but can serve to scare) was issued so late is beyond incompetent...it approaches criminal. As a meteorologist, seeing what I did on Saturday and Sunday, I regard what Nagin did as very nearly tantamount to murder. Nagin set sail in the Titantic with full knowledge he had too few lifeboats.
Apologize for what has turned out to be a long post.
"Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that President Bush had called and urged the state to order the evacuation."
How dare the president force people of color from their homes so the white man can use eminent domain and steal all their property. /sarcasm
Good post! Thanks.
Thanks for your long post.
I'd already BOOKMARKED this thread. Now I doubly glad I did.
Thanks for the insight. Every word was well worth reading.
How many lives were saved because of his urging? Most likely thousands upon thousands.
Thanks for the ping, Gretchen.
That is the way I remember it being initiated. Must have been 24-36 hours before Katrina hit that I heard something on the radio about G.W. urging evacuations from the area. I was kinda shocked; thinking "What business does the President have doing something like this, isn't it up to the local officials to decide on evacuation orders?".
Ping.
Some of the posts on this thread have more facts.
Yes, it is.
Hey, I'd love to hear your story of recovery. Have you read, "A National Party No More" by Zell Miller. Someone I read today (a moderate Democrat on froggyrumination.blogspot.com) suggested starting a Centrist Party. Something is definitely happening, though, to the democratic party -- and it's not good. If JFK were to come back today, I believe he would be a Republican.
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