NEW ORLEANS FLASHBACK: OFFICALS WARNED RESIDENTS 'YOU'LL BE ON YOUR OWN'

Before residents had ever heard the words "Hurricane Katrina," the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE ran a story warning residents: If you stay behind during a big storm, you'll be on your own!

Editors at TIMES-PICAYUNE on Monday called for every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be fired. In an open letter to President Bush, the paper said: "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame."

But the TIMES-PICAYUNE published a story on July 24, 2005 stating: City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give a historically blunt message: "In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own."

Staff writer Bruce Nolan reported some 7 weeks before Katrina: "In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

"In the video, made by the anti-poverty agency Total Community Action, they urge those people to make arrangements now by finding their own ways to leave the city in the event of an evacuation.

"You're responsible for your safety, and you should be responsible for the person next to you," Wilkins said in an interview. "If you have some room to get that person out of town, the Red Cross will have a space for that person outside the area. We can help you."

the Times picyune had a lengthy article in 2002 on what could happen with a significant hurricane, and evacuation was discussed. One problem with using school buses was there were not enough and not enough drivers...obviously more planning could have been taken but wasn't it was not like this disaster was not thought about before hand.

lengthy article here : "WASHING AWAY":

Don’t bank on shelters

The American Red Cross, which runs federally designated emergency shelters, changed its policy in the mid-1990s after a shelter in South Carolina flooded and people inside nearly drowned. Now the agency bars shelters in areas that can be inundated by a storm surge from a Category 4 hurricane -- which is all of south Louisiana.

Local parishes plan to shelter only those with "special needs," people who cannot be moved. In New Orleans, the Superdome will be used for this purpose.

In lieu of traditional shelters, which offer food and bedding, some parishes plan to open "refuges of last resort" -- buildings that are not safe but are safer than homes. They can house at most a few hundred people per parish, officials say. Most others will be on their own, meaning that in a catastrophic storm more than a 200,000 people could be left at the mercy of the elements.

Faced with those numbers, New Orleans officials have backup plans to move people without transportation: Regional Transit Authority buses and National Guard vehicles would take people out of the city. But the untested plan has raised serious questions from critics who say it could endanger hundreds of thousands of residents.

In an evacuation, buses would be dispatched along their regular routes throughout the city to pick up people and go to the Superdome, which would be used as a staging area. From there, people would be taken out of the city to shelters to the north.

Some experts familiar with the plans say they won’t work.

"That’s never going to happen because there’s not enough buses in the city," said Charley Ireland, who retired as deputy director of the New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness in 2000. "Between the RTA and the school buses, you’ve got maybe 500 buses, and they hold maybe 40 people each. It ain’t going to happen."

The plan has other potential pitfalls.

No signs are in place to notify the public that the regular bus stops are also the stops for emergency evacuation. In Miami Beach, Fla., every other bus stop sports a huge sign identifying it as a hurricane evacuation stop.

It’s also unclear whether the city’s entire staff of bus drivers will remain. A union spokesman said that while drivers are aware of the plan, the union contract lacks a provision requiring them to stay.

But RTA safety director Joseph Dorsey said the requirement is part of an operator’s individual contract with the RTA. "Basically, when an operator is hired, there are certain things they agree to, such as working overtime hours when necessary and doing this job," Dorsey said. "They will participate."

A similar plan in Monroe County, Fla. -- the Florida Keys -- failed during Georges when drivers opted out. "The problem is that we may have the buses but we don’t have the drivers," said Irene Toner, director of the county’s emergency management office. "In Hurricane Georges we had 25 people on our bus-driver list and only five showed up."

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf?/washingaway/leftbehind_4.html

AHEAD OF THE STORM

Planning is the key to surviving a hurricane. Have a destination in mind and make arrangements for your loved ones, pets and home. Then when a storm threatens, leave.

By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer

New Orleans-area emergency officials have some simple advice for how to survive a catastrophic hurricane: Get out.

"At some point you have to accept some responsibility for helping yourself," said Deputy Fire Chief Terry Tullier, acting director of the New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness. "You have to understand that this could happen, and whether it's the second or third time you've been asked to evacuate this year . . . you have to get up and go.

"The alternative is unacceptable," he said.

For Col. Jesse St. Amant, director of the Plaquemines Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness, that means: "Every person who fails to leave is going to be a search-and-rescue mission, either a casualty, injury or death."

That's because few buildings in the area are capable of withstanding the winds from even a relatively moderate storm. The New Orleans building code only requires houses to withstand winds of 100 mph, meaning that a strong Category 2 storm, with winds between 100 and 110 mph, would heavily damage or destroy most homes.

The Red Cross has decided that operating shelters south of the Interstate 10-Interstate 12 corridor is too dangerous. Recent studies by Louisiana State University engineering experts indicate that public refuges of last resort cannot be guaranteed to withstand winds from a major hurricane.

Heavy rains or storm surge can cause sudden flooding that cuts off escape routes and could leave people stranded on rooftops or in trees for days -- if they survive the storm.

The time to map out your evacuation is now, not when a hurricane is threatening the city, said Kay Wilkins, executive director of the southeast Louisiana chapter of the American Red Cross.

"You want to plan now, because you need to be able to think out in advance where you're going to evacuate to without the pressure of a hurricane coming at you," Wilkins said.

Wilkins and others say these factors need to be considered in an evacuation plan:

# Make sure your evacuation vehicle will survive what could be a slow trip to higher ground. Officials estimate that at the height of an evacuation, reaching a safe location could take four times as long as normal. That means it could take eight hours to reach Baton Rouge, 16 hours to get to Alexandria and 20 hours to reach Shreveport. Because of the additional congestion from a Mississippi Gulf Coast evacuation, reaching Jackson, Miss., could take as long as 24 hours.

# Have an out-of-state contact for family members to call in the event you are separated during the evacuation. Being outside the area affected by a hurricane, the contact will be more likely to be able to receive calls.

# Families with elderly, ill or disabled relatives should leave sooner to avoid extended travel time and consult with doctors and caregivers to make sure medications and other special needs are addressed.

# Prepare a disaster supply kit that includes water, food, sleeping bags, a first-aid kit, flashlight, battery-powered radio and extra batteries.

# Important papers should be in the disaster kit, kept separately in a waterproof container. Documents to take during an evacuation include insurance policies, a property inventory of your home, birth certificates and passports, and an up-to-date list of medications family members are taking.

# Pet owners should make sure a place for their pets will be available. Red Cross-operated shelters in Louisiana don't allow pets, but most will have contacts with local veterinarians or kennels for evacuees to call when they arrive.

# Keep trees and shrubbery trimmed during hurricane season; make sure lawn furniture, trash cans, toys and other objects can be easily stored within a secure building; ensure that storm shutters are in good working order or that 5/8-inch plywood window coverings are cut before the first storm warnings are issued.

Now also is the time for people to make sure their homeowner's insurance coverage is in order, said Frank Pagano, a National Flood Insurance Program official.

Homes damaged by hurricanes can be covered by two separate insurance policies. One, a traditional homeowner's policy, pays for damage caused by wind or falling trees, and for water that leaks into a house from the roof. Most of those polices now require a deductible equivalent to 2 percent of the value of the home, unless a higher premium is paid.

A separate policy issued under the National Flood Insurance Program pays only for damage from floodwaters. That policy includes a $500 deductible on damage to the building and a separate $500 deductible on damage to a building's contents.

In the New Orleans area, officials say some homeowners have decided against buying flood insurance because their home isn't located in a mandatory flood insurance area.

That's not a good idea, said Ron Castleman, regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In the event of a catastrophic hurricane, which could put 20 feet of water even in areas protected by hurricane levees, homes without flood insurance will not be covered for water-related damage.

Mark Schleifstein can be reached at (504) 826-3327 or mschleifstein@timespicayune.com.

http://www.nola.com/washingaway/aheadofstorm_1.html

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