Katrina Takes Aim

New Orleans Times-Picayune ^ | August 28, 2005 | Bruce Nolan

[TravisBickle]

More than a million people were jolted out of their weekend routines and spent a tense, hot Saturday preparing for a surprising Hurricane Katrina, which curved unexpectedly toward the low-lying city and is expected to make landfall Monday morning.

Katrina was expected to approach the area as a Category 4 storm, with winds of 145 mph, and it could build to a top-of-the-chart Category 5 storm, with winds of 155 mph or higher, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said Saturday afternoon.

[TravisBickle]

It's a long article, but it describes the situation last Sunday. Notice how the Mayor was leery of offending the hotels and restaurants.

[twigs]

Actually, it is a hard call. One of the reason people didn't leave is that bad calls have been made in the past. Unfortunately, these storms are so unpredictable that people really do need to take the cautious approach. At some point over last weekend, though, Katrina did pass the point of no return, but few heeded.

[msnimje]

This is a VERY IMPORTANT SEQUENCE OF EVENTS:

President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, authorizing federal emergency management officials to release federal aid and coordinate disaster relief efforts.
By mid-afternoon, officials in Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, Lafourche, Terrebonne and Jefferson parishes had called for voluntary or mandatory evacuations.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin followed at 5 p.m., issuing a voluntary evacuation.

The President was out ahead of this storm BEFORE The Mayor of New Orleans.

[Finny]

It's good to see this posted. Looks like Dubya was right on top of it, declaring a state of emergency in Louisianna before the storm hit ... also looks like Nagin was rather timid. I wonder, if they'd ordered mandatory evacuation, would they then have had a much better grip on looters, knowing that anyone on the streets was by default not supposed to be there? Just a thought ... but this article really shows that the ball belongs in Nagin's court.

[Mr. K]

I thought this was a VERY GOOD POST

It shows how early they were warned, and that this is NOT W's FAULT

[Mr. K]

You ARE SO RIGHT ~!

I had forgotten that a state of emergency was called BEFORE THE STORM EVEN HIT

God Bless the Internet...

[eleni121]

Let's watch the dumb media morons announce this...won't happen. We can all keep spreading the facts though.

Thanks for posting this and thanks President Bush.

BTW - the mayor of NO is a total incompetent along with most of the officials down there. What a bunch of losers!

[dfwgator]

Your Freeper name is kinda ironic right now. A "real rain" sure did hit New Orleans, didn't it?

[GiveEmDubya]

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/KATRINA_graphics.shtml

Try this link. This is a NOAA series of forecasted track images. By 11PM ET (10PM CT) Friday night, Katrina's forecasted path was very close to NO.

5AM CT Saturday is forecasting a direct hit. By 10 AM CT, a hurricane watch is issued, and still forecasts more-or-less a direct hit. The rest is history.

[X-FID]

"Come the first break of light in the morning, you may have the first mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," Nagin told WWL-TV.

That would have been right before the hurricane hit the beach, amazing stupidity on his part.

[Gondring]

One of the reason people didn't leave is that bad calls have been made in the past.

Yep. The majority of Americans seem unable to comprehend the idea that playing Russian Roulette and winning does not provide good evidence that it's a safe sport.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Good catch, Travis. Bumping for morning coffee read-through. Thanks! :)