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Saturday, August 27, 2005

Hurricane watch issued as evacuation begins
Nagin calls for voluntary evacuation : 'This is not a test'

As evacuations - mandatory and voluntary - began in parts of the greater New Orleans area Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch from Morgan City to the Pearl River, including metro New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

Across the area, residents were holding their breath under the cloud of an ominous projection that shows the path of Hurricane Katrina crossing directly over the metro area. Katrina is currently a major Category 3 hurricane, and is expected to continue strengthening, perhaps even reaching Category 5 before landfall.

"This is not a test," New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said at a midday news conference. Later in the afternoon, he called for voluntary evacuation, and said the Superdome could be pressed into use as a shelter of last resort for people who do not have cars.

Louisiana and Mississippi were making all lanes northbound on Interstates 55 and 59 beginning Saturday afternoon for evacuees.

Plaqumines Parish President Benny Rousselle has issued a Phase I mandatory evacuation for all of Plaquemines Parish.

St. Bernard Parish has issued a "recommended" evacuation for its residents while St. Charles Parish, like Plaquemines has called for a mandatory pullout.

Officials in low-lying parishes told people to leave. Some shops shut down so workers could go home, pack up and board up houses. Overloaded cell phone bands gave spurious busy signals or out-of-contact messages. A cruise ship moved its departure up an hour.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a test. This is the real deal," Mayor C. Ray Nagin said at a news conference. "I don't want to panic you, but I want to make sure you understand there's a major hurricane in Gulf of Mexico and most of the meteoroligists are predicting it will hit somewhare around New Orleans.

"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."

He said he would probably ask people to leave Saturday afternoon or at daybreak Sunday. "We want to coordinate with the state ... to make sure you have as many evacuation routes as possible," he said.

Because the storm is so big, Nagin said, the Superdome may be used as a shelter of last resort for people who have no cars, with city bus pick-up points around New Orleans.

The latest forecast track for Hurricane Katrina has the strengthening storm crossing lower Plaquemines, then north on a line directly across the New Orleans metro area.

The storm has intensified and is now a Category 3, with sustained winds of 115 mph and higher gusts. Some major models have it strengthening to a Category 4, or even Category 5 by landfall Monday evening. It is moving to the west near 7 mph and is approximately 430 miles southeast on the mouth of the Mississippi River. A gradual turn to the west-northwest is expected during the next 24 hours.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency late Friday, making it easier to implement emergency procedures, including evacuations, if necessary.

Katrina, the 11th named storm of a busy season, was upgraded to Category 3 as it moved deeper into the Gulf of Mexico, after crossing Florida yesterday. Homes were flooded, fallen trees blocked roads and utility crews scrambled to restore power to more than 1 million homes and businesses Friday as South Floridians coped with Hurricane Katrina's messy aftermath.

Seven deaths were blamed on the storm as it crossed Florida. Much of the seven hours Katrina spent over land Thursday was over the moist Florida Everglades, allowing for only slight weakening.

"We were looking at it going up the East Coast two days ago and now it's looking like it will hit the central Gulf Coast," said Larry Ingargiola, director of the St. Bernard Parish Emergency Preparedness. "Like we always say, the only one who knows where a storm will go is the man upstairs."

More worrisome was that experts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned that the hurricane's track could move even further west, Ingargiola said.

"We just hope our people are prepared," he said. "It's kind of late in the year to be making disaster plans."

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