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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.
Are the mayor really allowed to do this? Last time New Orleans had an evacuation there where looting of the abandoned properties. Should it not be up to the owners to them self decide if staying behind to defend it is worth the risk or not?
Disclaimer: I am European. I don't think the government would have any problem doing it here. But are not Americans more concerned about their liberty (for example to risk drowning and looters) then we are?
Spelling/grammar nazis welcome (English is not my first language and I am trying to improve my spelling/grammar)
Mandate that everybody who lives in a region with a high risk of natural disasters buy health, life, and property insurance. That'll drive most people out in a heartbeat.
This isn't Sim City where you can just 'declare something an industrial zone' and call it good.
Apparently you've never heard of a zoning commission. Those morons do it all the time.
Where you have industry, you also have to have (nearby) the people to operate the industry and the people who support them.
Apparently you've never heard of New York or LA. Can't afford to live with an hour of some places.
They should go ahead and rebuild the port and industrial infrastructure, then build some mass transit(light rail, it's cheaper per tile:) to the nearest STABLE and ABOVE SEA LEVEL region and put the residential & commercial there.
That way they just have to repair the tracks and the "stupid end" of the rail system when it floods and nobody drowns.
http://www.dshield.org/diary.html?storyid=4954 (dshield.org)
"Here we go again - Hurricane Relief Sites
Remember three years ago when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the US Gulf coast? On the day Katrina hit New Orleans hundreds of donation sites appeared online, many if not most were scam sites. Well this time around it looks like the people who like to register domain names in anticipation of a storm's arrival have already started registering them for Gustav and Hanna. I'm not suggeting that they are up to no good, but simply pointing out that the rush has started and we need to make sure our users are aware of the potential for scam sites appearing online in the next few days."
The forecasted track for Gustav is very similar to Andrew (1992). If I recall correctly, no formal evacuation of New Orleans was done for Andrew. Looks like we are having a Katrina induced over-reaction.
Journal
Just because you spent your weekend trip to New Orleans puking in a gutter in the French Quarter instead of listening to jazz, I wouldn't assume that means it's "just a ghetto" and no longer the home of jazz. Every year, at the N.O. Jazz and Heritage Festival, hundreds of internationally renowned local acts play some of the most innovative and exciting jazz you'll ever hear.
And, as far as "Most of the great places where jazz got its start" being gone, the last time I checked, Chicago, Kansas City, Newport, Memphis and New York are still there. And, if you're so inclined, you can still hear the real thing.
In fact, here in Chicago, at 8:30pm tonight I'm going to check out some guy named "Ornette Coleman" when he headlines at the Jazz Festival, under the stars in Grant Park.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Beg your pardon.
Port system. Serves me right for thinking "port system" and "port" are the same thing.
The paragraph is pretty vague and confusing. Time to add a {{fact}} to that one. Thanks for the info.
The National Hurricane Center did an excellent prediction job, just as they did with Katrina. The storm is almost exactly on the predicted track from the last three days. It's all done on Linux. The forecaster's desktops run Red Hat Linux. The back end systems run Linux. The supercomputing clusters run Linux.
Bullshit.
FEMA has been a clusterfuck sense day-one (or at least the '80s which is the first data point I have). Talk to any former FEMA employee or contractor. FEMA has never been able to find its ass in the dark. FEMA shadow government tinfoil hatters are flat out funny.
Katrina's emergency response from the feds was very similar to previous storms. What changed was the magnitude of the disaster AND the gross ineptitude of local authorities and _citizens_.
There is a cost of learned helplessness beyond dependence on the dole. When it came time for them to do for themselves they fell flat of their faces (as will most).
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Bzzzt. I'm not talking about some mythical "safe" zone. Everywhere has risks. However, I fail to comprehend why someone in Arizona should be paying into a fund to support flooding in Louisiana. Similarly, the Louisiana folks shouldn't be paying into a drought fund for Arizona. Choose an area to live in; accept the risks associated with doing so. DON'T live there with a Government Bail-Out being your disaster plan.
I have a "go kit." The wife and I have discussed our disaster plan, and know *exactly* what we need to "get out, right now." We can grab the kids, abandon non-essential stuff, and be on the road in about 10 minutes. Seriously. We understand the regional risks where we live, and are prepared accordingly. I *expect* exactly zero assistance from the government. That, it would seem, is my point.
"The fed" - that is, your federal government - has agencies that are specifically designed to work quickly and effectively and do so.
In Katrina, they worked exactly the way they were supposed to; as a back up that city/state officials could utilize upon request. The foul-ups, delays, and general incompetence began there. By the time the feds moved in, the situation was already screwed, and it was 90% the fault of Mayor Nagin and the governor.
Well, in that case...we need to stop sending all that tax money to the Federal govt., and start keeping it to ourselves to fund our needs and rebuilding zones.
And...one big help for LA, would to be to just take posession of all those nice oil rigs/drilling operations and leases for sure from the Federal govt. and keep all that lease and royalty money for ourselves, rather than having it go into the US general funds. With that, we could MORE than take care of our rebuilding problems.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
The evacuation is over. The airport has closed, the buses have stopped running, the last train is gone, and the roads are empty. 5% - 10% of the population remains.