As Gustav Nears, Gulf Coast Puts Faith in Planning

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.

"We're almost sold out," said Sheila Harris, theadministrative assistant at the Comfort Inn in Tupelo, Miss, whichis about 300 miles inland from the Mississippi coast. She said mostof the 83 rooms at the hotel had been booked by New Orleans andsouthern Mississippi residents.

Many residents found themselves repeating the same things theydid in the days before Katrina. The New Orleans Saints were set toplay the Miami Dolphins in the team's final NFL preseason gameThursday night; the Saints played their final game of the 2005preseason just three days before Katrina. Running back DeuceMcAllister, who was planning to shore up his suburban home, foundit a little weird to be preparing for a possible storm again.

"It's out of our hands," said McAllister. "We'll just have towait and see what happens."

The city was expected to announce later Thursday whetherofficials would go ahead with events to mark the Katrinaanniversary. Among the events that have been planned are a jazzfuneral to bury remains of unidentified Katrina victims and acandlelight vigil at Jackson Square.

If a Category 3 or stronger hurricane threatens, New Orleansplans to institute a mandatory evacuation order. Depending on thechurn of this system, the call could come with a slow-movingCategory 2, the city's emergency preparedness director, JerrySneed, said.

Nagin said in interviews Wednesday that the clock on anevacuation would start three days, or 72 hours, from an anticipatedlandfall.

Unlike Katrina, there will be no massive shelter at theSuperdome, a plan designed to encourage residents to leave.

Residents who need help - the elderly, disabled, those withouttheir own transportation - would be moved out by buses, bound forshelters in other Louisiana cities such as Alexandria, Shreveportand Monroe, and Amtrak trains headed to Jackson, Miss., officialshave said. Others are expected to leave on their own by vehicle.

The city said it is prepared to move 30,000 residents; estimatesput the city's current population between 310,000 to 340,000people. There were about 454,000 here before Katrina hit.

Though officials urged residents to prepare by securing theirhomes, finding valuables and locating personal documents, some weretaking a wait-and-see attitude. In Alabama, many tourists andresidents were taking a wait-and-see attitude, and were morefocused on the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

"We plan to sit in a bar and watch the whole thing," jokedGreg Lee, a tourist from Clarksville, Tenn. He was grocery shoppingwith family members, stocking up on cold beverages and planning tostay through the holiday at their beach house at Fort Morgan, downa beach road from Gulf Shores.

Hurricane-seasoned officials also were hoping for the chanceforecasts were wrong. Joey Durel, president of Lafayette's city andparish governments, said officials in that south-central Louisianacommunity may begin handing out sandbags to residents as early asFriday - but hoped they wouldn't need them.

"We're glad to see we're in the (forecast) path because theynever get it right this far out," Durel said. "I say thatslightly tongue in cheek, but it's true."