New Orleans ordered to evacuate

[XXPANTHAXX]

New Orleans ordered to evacuate

Shop owners have boarded up their windows in New Orleans ahead of the
storm

The mayor of New Orleans has ordered residents out of the city ahead of
the arrival of "the mother of all storms" Hurricane Gustav.

An estimated one million people have already fled the US Gulf coast.

The evacuation of New Orleans is to become mandatory at 8am (12:00 GMT)
on Sunday along the vulnerable west bank of the Mississippi river, and
at noon on the east bank, Ray Nagin, the city's mayor has said.

As residents carried out the evacuation, the US National Hurricane
Centre downgraded Gustav to a category three, although it is expected to
strengthen again before it makes landfall on Monday.

Nagin gave the order late on Saturday after the storm grew into a
category four hurricane over Cuba and threatened to hit the state of
Louisiana within the next 36 hours. Five is the highest category.

"We want everybody ... we want 100 per cent evacuation. If you decide to
stay, you are on your own," he said.

"This storm is so powerful and growing more powerful every day that I'm
not sure we've seen anything like it."

Katrina memories

New Orleans is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina in
August 2005, when heavy rains and strong winds flooded 80 per cent of
the city and killed about 1,600 people across the region.

Forecasters have warned it is still too early to say whether the city
will take another direct hit.

Gustav has, so far, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean, and if
forecasts hold true, would make landfall on Monday afternoon, somewhere
between East Texas and western Mississippi.

Scarred by the still-fresh memories of Katrina, roads around New Orleans
were jammed and hundreds of people lined up to board buses.

William Harpur, a New Orleans evacuee, said: "I thought it's gonna hang
a right, it's gonna hang a left, it's not gonna be a problem until
yesterday afternoon, when they said it's in the same corridor, it’s not
changing, and I thought here we go again."

Nagin estimates that about half the population has already left and
admitted officials were worried that some people would try to stay.

Even before he ordered the evacuation, most hotels had closed, and the
airport was preparing to follow suit.

Federal agencies, which had failed to cope with the challenge of
Hurricane Katrina, say they are well prepared to handle the evacuations
this time.

Energy companies, whose 4,000 platforms in the Gulf produce a quarter of
US crude oil and 15 per cent of its natural gas, braced for Gustav by
evacuating personnel and shutting down three-fourths of their oil
production.

Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which followed it three weeks later, wrecked
more than 100 Gulf oil platforms.

Convention delay

John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, and
Sarah Palin, his running-mate, are due to visit Mississippi on Sunday to
inspect preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Gustav.

McCain has already warned that his party may have to suspend its
convention next week, because of the storm.

"It wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near
tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a national
disaster," he said.

The Republican national convention, scheduled to open on Monday in St
Paul, Minnesota, would see McCain awarded official nominee status as the
party's presidential candidate.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

[MsLioness]

There is no pressure that is like evacuating.

What about those people who cannot afford to leave...is there a governmental plan of evacuation for them?

Most black people I know cannot afford to prepare for a hurricane.

[Jalili]

Originally Posted by MsLioness

There is no pressure that is like evacuating.

What about those people who cannot afford to leave...is there a governmental plan of evacuation for them?

Most black people I know cannot afford to prepare for a hurricane.

It's like last time...they have buses

And they have already ran out of room on the buses provided. Also many people are trying to once again "ride it out" they think since Katrina they have fixed the levee problem and are back to overly trusting this hateful government.

Hopefully there won't be a repeat of last time but the way they are hiding these facts it wouldn't be surprising that they want to wash away the last remnants of "culture" from the area.

[nattyreb]

i hope everyone in the area is able to get out of the path of this storm, sending prayers and positive vibes y'alls way!!!

[Fenix]

A friend was telling me that the levees were never finished and that they were busy doing emergency repairs right now. As it stands, the levees are only strong enough to withstand a category 3 storm and that's just not going to cut it.

[Godssoulja]

The problem here is the government is being reactionary in their thinking. It took hurricane katrina happening the first time to open their eyes to the fact that new orleans could be hit by a category III or higher storm I dont think so.

It is obvious that their is a serious design flaw with the damn levees that has not been corrected 3 years after the fact. My question is this why in the hell would you move back to new orleans as the government and those F.E.M.A fools have showed that they dont give a damn about the black people down their and or protecting them in the event of a natural disaster. I hate to be bitter on this one, but damn 3 years later and all my people got to show for it is a damn plaque that says hurricane katrina survivor wtf.

The Republican White House candidate John McCain said in an interview that his party may have to suspend its nominating convention next week because of the hurricane.

Peoples lives and livelyhoods on the line and the only damn thing Mccain worried about is a party.

[AwakenedSista]

Originally Posted by Jalili

It's like last time...they have buses

And they have already ran out of room on the buses provided. Also many people are trying to once again "ride it out" they think since Katrina they have fixed the levee problem and are back to overly trusting this hateful government.

Hopefully there won't be a repeat of last time but the way they are hiding these facts it wouldn't be surprising that they want to wash away the last remnants of "culture" from the area.

And they wonder why black people aint patriotic. They don't care about anyone but themselves.