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Mayor Orders Mandatory Evacuation of New Orleans

Pickens writes "City officials ordered everyone to leave New Orleans beginning Sunday morning — the first mandatory evacuation since Hurricane Katrina flooded the city three years ago — as Hurricane Gustav grew into what the city's mayor called 'the storm of the century' and moved toward the Louisiana coast. 'This is the real deal. This is not a test. 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,' said New Orleans mayor, C. Ray Nagin. Already, hundreds of thousands of residents had begun streaming north from New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas stretching from the Florida Panhandle to Houston. Bush administration officials took pains not to be caught as flatfooted as they were in Hurricane Katrina, announcing that President Bush had called governors in the region to assure them of assistance and that top federal emergency officials were in the region to guide the response. 'We could see flooding that is worse than what we saw with Katrina,' said Louisiana Governor Jindal." The US Geological Survey will be running a real-time "Map of Hydrologic Impacts" to monitor flood levels, and the National Weather Service has charted direction and wind-speed probabilities. Reader technix4beos points out the need for IRC transcription of FEMA and NOAA feeds.

5 of 712 comments (clear)

  1. Re:News for nerds huh? by MouseR · · Score: 4, Funny

    That frickin falling tree will knock out your INTERNET ACCESS dweeb!

    That's fricking news to some of us!

  2. Re:Lessons of Katrina? by Fred_A · · Score: 5, Funny

    I really just curious - do feds or anyone from government did their work _after_ Katrina?

    Of course they did, they're highly trained professionals after all.
    They put up signs

    "No hurricanes allowed beyond this point"

    However they didn't expect Gustav and forgot to translate them in German.

    --

    May contain traces of nut.
    Made from the freshest electrons.
  3. Re:what the hell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    At the same time, you could easily use this argument for places like Tokyo and other areas that are and will be struck by tremendous earthquakes.

    And monsters. Don't forget the monster attacks.

  4. Re:The mayor's statement: by Super_Z · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't use math as punishment - she will only grow up hating it and probably end up as a hairdresser.

  5. Re:underwater vs. earthquakes by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    California doesn't drop chunks into an abyss every time the power drops out.

    Thankfully not, what with rolling blackouts.