As Gustav Nears, Gulf Coast Puts Faith in Planning
Evacuation buses, Secretary Chertoff descend on New Orleans ahead of Gustav.
Aug. 28, 2008 — -- With Gustav approaching hurricane strengthand showing no signs of veering off a track to slam into the GulfCoast, authorities across the region began laying the groundworkThursday to get the sick, elderly and poor away from the shoreline.
The first batch of 700 buses that could ferry residents inlandwere being sent to a staging area near New Orleans, and officialsin Mississippi were trying to decide when to move Katrina-batteredresidents along the coast who were still living in temporary homes,including trailers vulnerable to high wind.
The preliminary planning for a potential evacuation is part of amassive outline drafted after Hurricane Katrina slammed ashorethree years ago, flooding 80 percent of New Orleans and strandingthousands who couldn't get out in time. As the region prepared tomark the storm's anniversary Friday, officials said they wereconfident those blueprints made them ready for Gustav.
"There are a lot of things that are different between now andwhat we faced in 2005 when Katrina came ashore," said U.S.Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who flew to Louisianato meet with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Gov. Bobby Jindal."We've had three years to put together a plan that never existedbefore."
With Gustav still several days away, authorities cautioned thatno plans were set in stone, and had not yet called for residents toleave. Projections showed the storm arriving early next week as aCategory 3 storm, with winds of 111 mph or greater, anywhere fromthe Florida Panhandle to eastern Texas. But forecasts are extremelytentative several days out, and the storm could change course.
Governors in both Louisiana and Texas pre-declared states ofemergency in an attempt to build a foundation for federalassistance. Batteries, bottled water, and other storm supplies wereselling briskly. Roughly 3,000 National Guard troops were onstandby in Louisiana, and another 5,000 were readying in Texas.Hotels in the region reported being booked solid by coastalresidents planning ahead.
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