Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., August 31, 2008 Av 30, 5768 | | Israel Time: 14:24 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 14:13 31/08/2008
New Orleans residents ordered to evacuate as Hurricane Gustav nears
By The Associated Press
Tags: gustav, hurricane

America's Gulf coast from far western Louisiana to the Alabama-Florida border is under a hurricane warning as Gustav nears.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded a watch to a warning early Sunday, meaning that hurricane conditions are expected in the area within the next 24 hours.

Gustav dropped to a Category 3 storm as its top winds slowed to near 125 mph (201 kph). But forecasters said it is expected to regain strength and could become a Category 4 hurricane later Sunday.
Advertisement
New Orleans residents were ordered to flee an only partially rebuilt city Sunday as another monster storm bore down on Louisiana nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina wiped out entire swaths of the city.

Hurricane Gustav has already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean. It slammed Cuba's tobacco-growing western tip before moving away from the island country into the Gulf of Mexico.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin used stark language to urge residents to get out of the city, calling Gustav the storm of the century.

"This is the real deal, not a test," Nagin said as he issued the evacuation order Saturday night. "For everyone thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: that will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life."

Forecasters were slightly less dire in their predictions, saying the storm should make landfall Monday afternoon somewhere between western Mississippi and East Texas, where evacuations were also under way. It is too early to know whether New Orleans will take another direct hit, they said, but city officials were not taking any chances.

The mandatory evacuation of the city's west bank, where levee improvements remain incomplete, was to begin at 8 a.m., with the east bank to follow at noon. It is the first test of a revamped evacuation plan designed to eliminate the chaos, looting and death that followed Katrina.

The city will not offer emergency services to those who choose stay behind, Nagin said, and there will be no last resort shelter as there was during Katrina, when thousands suffered inside a squalid Superdome. The city said in a news release that those not on their property after the mandatory evacuation started would be subject to arrest.

Many residents didn't need to be ordered, with an estimated 1 million people fleeing the Gulf Coast on Saturday by bus, train, plane and car. They clogged roadways, emptied gas stations of fuel and jammed phone circuits.

At the city's main transit terminal, a line snaked through the parking lot for more than a mile as residents with no other means of getting out waited to board buses bound for shelters in north Louisiana and beyond.

"I'm not staying for 'em any more," said Lester Harris, a 53-year-old electrician waiting at a bus pickup point in the Lower 9th Ward. He was rescued from his house by boat after Katrina. "I got caught in the water and spent two days on my roof. No food, no water. It was pretty bad."

Mike Mayer, owner of Jefferson Indoor Range and Gun Outlet in suburban Metairie, said sales of guns and ammunition were up.

"My business doubled," he said. "People are afraid of coming back after the storm.... They want some protection when they walk back in."

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff planned to travel to Louisiana on Sunday to observe preparations. And likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were traveling to Mississippi.

Despite the stern warnings from Nagin and others, the expected arrival of 2,000 National Guard troops suggested officials were expecting stragglers.

Stephen Sonnier left for Katrina, but not this time.

"I'll never leave again. Just being away, worrying about it last time? I'd have rather been here," Sonnier said as he helped his friend Bill Espy use an electric drill to fasten metal hurricane panels over the window of his reconstructed flower shop.

Many residents said the early stage of the evacuation was more orderly than Katrina, although a plan to electronically log and track evacuees with a bar code system failed and was aborted to keep the buses moving. Officials said information on evacuees would be taken when they reached their destinations.

Some began arriving Saturday in Arkansas, where the National Guard prepared to shelter thousands for weeks. At least 15,000 people sought refuge in the inland state in 2005, following Katrina and Rita.

Meanwhile, as many as 500 critical-care patients were being airlifted from hospitals along the Gulf Coast to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a spokesman said. The patients were being taken to about 20 hospitals around North Texas.

Traffic late Saturday night was stop and go on the Interstate 10 highway, heading west into Houston from the Louisiana border, as Texas prepared to house up to 45,000 evacuees, even though that state's eastern stretches were within the range of where
Gustav could make landfall.

To the east, Louisiana residents were checking into hotels along Alabama's coast. Mitch and Laura Tucker of Mandeville brought along their dog, Roux, whom they saved during Katrina.

"We don't know what we'll be going back to," he said.


Related articles:
  • Gustav slams Cuba as Cat 4 storm; many evacuated
  • New Orleans sees resurgence of Jewish life in Hurricane Katrina aftermath
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    World War III
    A top Iranian general says an attack on Tehran would ignite a 'world war'.
    Raising the price
    Hamas says won't compromise, Israel must free 1,000 prisoners for Shalit.
      1.   Bad luck strikes again. 11:06  |  Benjamina 31/08/08
      2.   ISRAELI AID to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina 14:10  |  PETER SM 31/08/08
     Read & React
    Top Iran general: Attack on Tehran will ignite 'world war'
    Responses: 110
    Shas chief: Olmert has no authority to decide Jerusalem's fate
    Responses: 66
    Zvi Bar'el: If Russia becomes involved in Mideast conflict it may be cause for panic
    Responses: 4
    Editorial: Are we ready to accept Shalit's murder, knowing he could've been freed?
    Responses: 19


    More Headlines
    14:10 Olmert draws fire for Jerusalem proposal as he meets Abbas in capital
    13:43 Shalit family: No more prisoner releases without Gilad
    10:35 Hamas making $20 million a month from Gaza smuggling tunnels
    11:22 Democratic Rep.: Palin pick is 'direct affront to all Jewish Americans'
    02:21 ANALYSIS / A giant failure called Afghanistan
    08:04 Nazi collaborator fled arrest, living peacefully in Germany
    14:13 New Orleans residents ordered to evacuate as Hurricane Gustav nears
    16:09 Top Iran general says attack on Tehran would ignite 'world war'
    03:49 This Hyphenated Life post four / The capital of the Jewish World
    11:27 Where are Israel's 3,500 elementary school drop-outs?
    08:03 Openly bisexual Jewish-American basketball player tries out for Maccabi Haifa
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Fattal Hotel Chain
    Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel.
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    MBA in Israel in English
    APPLY NOW! Limited spaces available
    Israel's Premier Real Estate Website
    www. israel-property.com
    Hebrew Summer courses
    From $39.95
    ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel
    Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |
    Real Estate in Israel | Travel to Israel with Haaretz | Hotels Israel | Restaurants Israel | Tourist attractions Israel | Shops Israel
    birthright Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved