It Comes... Go Now
By Karl-Thomas Musselman
If you are anyone you know is near New Orleans or the coast where Hurrican Katrina (now Category 5) will hit tomorrow, get on the phone and tell them to get suppied and get out of the area now.
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 potentially catastrophic Hurricane Katrina churned toward the city with maximum sustained winds near 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."
Only three other Category 5's have made landfall. The Labor Day Hurrican in 1935, 1969's Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Andrew, which devastated the Miami area back in 1992.
So let your friends and family know this is totally serious and they should make plans to head on out, most all interstates are outbound. I fear the worst-case though for residents sake (as well as those associated with the Gulf Oil Industry...
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.
Of course, it would be great if more of Louisiana's National Guard and Reserve were available to help with evacuation and protecting the city and its possibly overpowered levee system, but a large number of them have been called up to Iraq. And of those, the state is tied with New York in the number of servicemembers lost- 23, with all but one of those coming in the last 8 months.
Unfortunately, the citizens of the state of Louisiana are about to face the full force of Katrina without the benefit many of their National Guard troops to protect them. Maybe some of the 1500 pro-Boondoggle protestors out in Crawford today can caravan over to New Orleans to take their place.
Posted by Karl-Thomas Musselman at August 28, 2005 11:22 AM
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But, Karl-Thomas, the National Guard is busy bringing freedom to the Iraqi people. They don't have time to engage in life-saving domestic activities! And Bush really, really wants to be president of Iraq, so he really can't be bothered with silly little matters such keeping the National Guard here, especially for something as trivial as a pending catastrophe in a little Southern state.
On a serious note, as someone who survived Hurricane Andrew, anyone in New Orleans who has not done so needs to get out NOW. Gas stations will not be open forever. Pack up the car, buy a bus ticket, do whatever you have to do. Having a Category 5 hurricane knocking on your door before blowing both that and your roof in is not something you want to stick around for.
