History Forum / General / General Topics / August 2005

Online published at  www.theinfozone.net

Updated..... 12:00EDT ...August 28, 2005 (IZ) Report by James Murray
(c) 2005
New Orleans Preparing for Category 5 Katerina -- Residents Fleeing
under Evacuation Orders
Watch Streaming Video from New Orleans

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a test. This is the real deal," New
Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said Saturday. "Board up your homes, make
sure you have enough medicine, make sure the car has enough gas. Do all
things you normally do for a hurricane but treat this one differently
because it is pointed towards New Orleans."

Disaster Planning New Orleans. Speaking on the announcement of the
decision to create a disaster plan, IEM Director of Homeland Security
Wayne Thomas said "Given this area's vulnerability, unique geographic
location and elevation, and troubled escape routes, a plan that
facilitates a rapid and effective hurricane response and recovery is
critical". The IEM team's approach to catastrophic planning meets the
challenges associated with integrating multi-jurisdictional needs and
capabilities into an effective plan for addressing catastrophic
hurricane strikes, as well as man-made catastrophic events."

The Mayor has declared a mandatory evacuation of the City of New
Orleans. This order only exempts police, military, emergency services
and other essential services. In addition, the city has authorized city
officials the power to seize private property as needed.

The economic impact from any major hurricane damage to New Orleans will
be substantial. The Port of New Orleans is at the center of the
world's busiest port complex - Louisiana's Lower Mississippi
River. Its proximity to the American Midwest via a 14,500-mile inland
waterway system makes New Orleans the port of choice for the movement
of cargoes such as steel, grain, containers and manufactured goods. The
Port of New Orleans is the only deepwater port in the United States
served by six class one railroads. This gives port users direct and
economical rail service to or from anywhere in the country.

View Webcam images of Port of New Orleans

The Port of New Orleans will began to lock-down its bridges across the
Inner Harbor Navigational Canal beginning at 7:00 AM Sunday August 28,
2005. It is anticipated by noon all bridges will be locked-down. The
order of bridges to be closed is as follows: 6:00AM DOTD will close the
Danzinger bridge and the Claiborne Avenue bridge. At 7:00AM the Port of
New Orleans will close the Almonaster bridge followed by the Florida
Ave. bridge followed by the St. Claude Ave. bridge followed by the
Seabrook Railroad bridge. The Orleans Levee District will close the
flood gates leading to these bridges and vehicular traffic and rail
traffic will cease.

New Orleans Super Dome

The New Orleans Superdome is being used as an emergency shelter for
residents who have no other way to evacuate the city.

Local schools are being ruled out as emergency shelters. "Anything
above a category two makes them pretty much ineligible because
they're not wind resistant enough and they're in flood prone areas it
looks as though we're pointing to the Superdome in being reinforced
with the proper back up system as shelter of last resort," said New
Orleans Mayor Nagin.

"It appears a facility as large as the Dome could hold up in hurricane
conditions but Bill Curl, spokesman for the Superdome, says that is yet
to be tested and if there is no other choice then maybe the Dome could
serve as a shelter. "Only in dire emergencies. The Superdome is not a
shelter," said Curl. According to Curl, the assumption that the
Superdome can withstand hurricane force winds is just that: an
assumption. He says more analysis is needed to determine what the Dome
can actually withstand because previous wind studies have become
somewhat irrelevant since they did not factor in the new high-rise
buildings around the Dome."

"It's been 36 years since Hurricane Betsy buried New Orleans 8 feet
deep. Since then a deteriorating ecosystem and increased development
have left the city in an ever more precarious position. Yet the problem
went unaddressed for decades by a laissez-faire government, experts
said. "To some extent, I think we've been lulled to sleep," said Marc
Levitan, director of Louisiana State University's hurricane center.

"Hurricane Allison dumped a mere 5 inches on New Orleans, nearly
overwhelming the city's pump system. If an Allison-type storm were to
strike New Orleans like it did Houston, or a Category 3 storm or
greater with at least 111 mph winds, the results would be cataclysmic,
New Orleans planners said."

Across the Gulf Coast residents are jamming freeways and fueling
stations as they are fleeing Hurricane Katerina. The National Hurricane
Center has upgraded the hurricane to a Category 4 storm early on
Sunday.

Hurricane Katrina gained strength overnight, becoming a Category 4
monster with 145 mph sustained winds as it moved over the warm waters
of the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday.

Bourbon Street

Busy areas, like Bourbon Street are virtually empty. New Orleans,
usually thought of as a "Party Town" is not holding the usual hurricane
party that one might expect. Much of New Orleans Parrish is below
sea-level, and a threatened storm surge for a major hurricane would
cause massive damage.

The National Hurricane Center reports that "Coastal storm surge
flooding of 15 to 20 feet above normal tide levels ... Locally as high
as 25 feet with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected
near and to the east of where the storm makes landfall".