Posted on 08/28/2005 3:53:54 PM PDT by BJungNan
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The mayor ordered an immediate evacuation Sunday for all of New Orleans, a city sitting below sea level with 485,000 inhabitants, as Hurricane Katrina bore down with wind revving up to nearly 175 mph and threats of a massive storm surge.
Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave before the eye of the storm strikes land sometime Monday morning, the city set up 10 places of last resort including the Superdome.
``This is a once in a lifetime event,'' Mayor Ray Nagin said. ``The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly.''
The mayor said a direct hit by Katrina's storm surge would likely top the levees that protect the city from the surrounding water of Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and marshes. The bowl-shaped city must pump water out even during normal times, and the hurricane threatened electricity that runs the pumps.
``We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared,'' Nagin said.
President Bush urged people living in the path of Katrina to take the storm extremely seriously and follow orders to evacuate to higher ground. A day after declaring an emergency for Louisiana, Bush declared an emergency for the state of Mississippi and pledged federal support.
``We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities,'' Bush told reporters on his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Not to mention that fact that Bush definitely does not control the Louisiana National Guard.
I'm sure there are people hard at work, putting together their 'talking points'...this WILL get politicized, unless Katrina hangs a hard U-Turn and dies in the gulf.
Bittersweetmd: I WONDER THE SAME THING AND I am a Republican.
The only way you could wonder this is if you are ignorant. Bush does not control the National Guard.
FNC had Haley Barbour on the phone, and he remembered how during Hurricane Camille a bunch of people having one of those hurricane parties got themselves killed (I think he said "dozens"). Camille was in 1969 and killed 256 in all.
Looks like the face on Mars.
Quick call Art Bell.
Precisely!
As wardaddy pointed out, your time reference is not correct. Many, many people are now wondering why they did not order a mandatory evac yesterday. I escaped Ivan last fall, and we took off 2 days prior. It was mandatory all along the coast earlier than this ordered evacuation. Already, even CNN is beginning to ask "Was this evacuation handled appropriately?"
If there is tremendous loss of life (I pray that is not the case), the mayor and govenor's actions are going to come under a microscope. Myself, I believe storms like this are an act of Almighty God. But this thread was almost immediately about the evacuation delay, even in an editorial to the title (Mayor irreponsible in evac delay.
I am not sure what is going to happen, but this is going to be a mess.
"Why did Mayor Ray Nagin wait so long."
For the same reason the mayor in Jaws didn't want to shut down Amity Beach after the first shark attack...
You got that right. And you ain't heard the half of it.
They are on their way out if our group is successful. We are working on it!Stayed tuned to The Desert Sun - and thanks to The Desert Sun for their excellent reporting. If not for them, much of this would not have come to light.
By the way, how much does your city pay it's city manager? I bet it is not $322,000 but I also understand it is not far off that mark.
If you want more information, you can go to...
More than one person has it with a shorter time frame than that. When did he make the announcement? Was it today? At what time today (New Orleans time)?
An inny or an outy?
Ha! Our city manager Genovese is on probation for repeated drunk driving offenses, so he's probably not asking for raises these days....but Indio takes the cake; they made their new hire an instant zillionaire!
Thanks for the links regarding our little slice of "Chicago"!!
Certainly not, and they also demonstrate the short-term thinking inherent in most politicians of any stripe. Statistically, he MIGHT be right, but it is certainly possible that another Cat 5 storm could make a direct hit on NO next year. What this mayor and the LA Governor do to prepare for future storms after Katrina (preparedness, shelters, evac plans, etc.) will be very interesting. Personally (being a cynic), I don't expect it to be much of an improvement.
You have to use some imagination, but if you look at it hard enough, it'll look like an outy. Or maybe it's just a mole.
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