On/Off Hurricane Ping list, mash ---> 
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On/Off Hurricane Ping list, mash ---> .
Aw, crud. Here we go again.
Just in time to ruin you Labor Day weekend...........as usual!.......
We've been frying here in S. Central Texas. Maybe the hottest August on record. I hate to think what it might do to coastal communities but, anything to help break this heatwave would be appreciated.
bookmark
NautiNurse to replace Max Mayfield!
Let's wait on that New Orleans rebuilding money just a bit longer.
Ernesto ping
He found he could be turned into yet another political football to be kicked around in the War On Bush. I'd be tired of that too.
Thanks for the ping, it's racetime right now. ;)
NautiNurse, thank you for the ping. I guess I will have to miss this one since I am moving back to south Alabama in the morning. Please do keep me on your ping list since the state line in only 75 miles north of here. I'll be watching as soon as I'm back online. Stay dry.
Our local weather guy tossed out the notion that this could become a "Cat 4 or higher" storm. Was he just being an alarmist?
Hey, Thanks for the ping. Glad I am reading this thread from OK this year, looks like a repeat of the Katrina foul ups. Nagin and Blanco to be on the Sunday news shows, whining and blaming. Meanwhile Ernesto's current path
Officials debate evacuee junction
By DEBRA LEMOINE
Florida parishes bureau
Published: Aug 25, 2006
HAMMOND — A proposed federal evacuation plan to get New Orleans area residents out of harm’s way by Amtrak train through Hammond may sound good on paper, but Tangipahoa Parish officials say they are bedeviled by the lack of details.
The plan calls for unloading evacuees off the trains and onto buses. Parish officials said what happens once evacuees arrive and who will be responsible for their transfer are the most worrisome unknowns of the proposed plan.
Parish officials say they will be so taxed by local evacuation plans and assisting with contra-flow along Interstate 12 and Interstate 55, that there will be no local resources available to ensure the train-to-bus plan goes smoothly.
“We accept it as long as we can have security provided at the site,” Mayor Mayson Foster said Friday. “All of our police officers are designated for other jobs during an evacuation.”
Foster said the proposed plan calls for 30 chartered buses to be staged in Hammond before the trains are arrive. Evacuees will remain on the trains until it is time for them to board the buses, Foster said.
If the plan called for evacuees to leave the trains and stay somewhere for any length of time, he said, there is no available place in Hammond, a city of 18,000 residents, to accommodate so many people.
That includes the historic Amtrak Train Station at 404 N.E. Railroad Ave., which can hold about 25 people comfortably and is air-conditioned but lacks food and drinks.
Special-needs evacuees will arrive first, presumably before contra-flow starts for other New Orleans-area residents, Foster said.
After special-needs evacuees are removed from New Orleans, then other evacuees will be shuttled through Hammond, Foster said. In all, he said that 5,000 evacuees will be moved through the city over several hours.
Foster said he understands the plans are not finalized, but said he would like assurances that security will be provided and that the evacuees will be informed of the lack of shelter space.
“We did emphasize that we have no available shelter space for New Orleans evacuees,” he said. “It is imperative that people understand Hammond can’t be their final destination.”
Earlier this week, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden voiced similar concerns at a Baton Rouge Press Club meeting.
Federal officials expect Baton Rouge to be a major player in any hurricane evacuations, just as it was for Hurricane Katrina, but Holden said Monday that he has been left out of the planning loop.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials responded that they are working with the Governor’s Office for close cooperation between local, state and federal officials to organize evacuations if any are needed this hurricane season.
Meanwhile, state officials say that at this stage, the Hammond plan is only a proposal.
“That plan is a work in progress at the moment,” said Mark Smith, with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
Smith reiterated that the details of how the train-to-bus plan would work are incomplete. He also said that the state does not want to force any evacuation plan “down a parish’s throat.”
Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess shared Foster’s concerns. He said that the parish has enough shelter space for about 9,500 people in schools and other buildings. However, there are an estimated 15,000 parish residents who will need these shelters because they live in mobile homes, Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers or other housing unable to withstand hurricane-force winds.
“My big concern is taking care of people in Tangipahoa Parish,” Burgess said.
Because of the potential burden on resources, Burgess and Sheriff’s Chief Criminal Deputy Dennis Pevey said using Hammond at all is a bad idea.
Pevey’s biggest concern is providing security for areas roughly one mile south of I-12 in the parish that fall within a mandatory evacuation zone, he said.
Once evacuation plans are in place, Pevey said he will already be running double shifts of deputies to direct traffic for contra-flow, work collisions on state highways, and provide security for shelters.
Deputies also will be assigned to evacuate some special-needs residents to shelters, he said.
Burgess said that more details on the proposed federal plan should be forthcoming early next week.
Parish officials first learned about the idea of using Hammond as a transfer point during a meeting of parish emergency preparedness directors in Baton Rouge on Aug. 18, Burgess said. Since then, he said, parish and state officials have met about their concerns.
Story originally published in The Advocate
Find this article at:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/3742466.html?showAll=y&c=y
Thanks for putting me on the ping list, NN. Bookmarking this thread with fingers crossed & prayers for all of us in GOM states.