Posted on 09/20/2005 4:12:29 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
GOVERNOR Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency in western Louisiana today and urged people to evacuate parts of the state due to the new threat of Hurricane Rita.
"I have put the state on alert. We've declared another emergency ... for southwest Louisiana," Ms Blanco said. "We're urging people to evacuate," she said as Rita barrelled near southernmost Florida, gaining strength and heading west on a track that could take it close to the devastated Louisiana city.
Emergency services have already begun evacuating residents of New Orleans, which is still a disaster area following Hurricane Katrina's August 29 hit, Mayor Ray Nagin said.
"We have had an influx of evacuees that have made their way to the convention centre. We've already evacuated two busloads of individuals," Mr Nagin said.
Officials were quick to emphasise that the convention centre would function only as a staging place for people to board buses, not as a shelter.
Tens of thousands languished without food, water and sanitation for days after fleeing to the facility during Katrina.
The National Hurricane Centre forecast a track that would have Rita making landfall in Texas over the weekend, but a "cone of probability" in the forecast indicates the storm might slam ashore anywhere between northeastern Mexico and the swamplands of southern Louisiana, west of New Orleans.
"We're watching Hurricane Rita very, very closely. If you've had a chance to see what has happened last night it was aiming at Galveston, Texas ... This morning it's a little more westerly. It can move in any direction based on the winds. And so that concerns us," Ms Blanco said.
A decision on mandatory evacuations will be made tomorrow as officials, who came under fire for their slow response to Katrina, monitor the new hurricane.
"If the storm becomes a threat, we will start to strictly enforce the evacuation process tomorrow," Mr Nagin said.
Katrina killed close to 1000 people in four states, including 676 in New Orleans, which was 80 per cent under water after the storm broke levees protecting the low-lying city.
Mr Nagin already suspended on Monday his controversial plan to allow some 180,000 residents to return to the city by the end of the month to check on their properties.
"I know there are lots of people ... anxious about coming home. And I know that some of you were prepared to come back to New Orleans. Just hold on for a little longer," he said.
"A few billion? A few hundred billion more like it."
That's what I meant. Thanks for the correction!
Correction! You saw Gov. Bush and not the Director of FEMA speaking yesterday and thats the way it is suppose to be.
The Governor is in charge and FEMA is there to assist. Governor Blanco wouldn't even listen to the President of the United States, she wanted another 24 hours to THINK about it.
And you guys thought I was just kidding when I said the Louisiana government SUCKED.
We've declared another emergency ....I didn't know she declared one before. She was waiting cause she assumed Nagin did, assumed Brown did, assumed Bush did.
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