Mayor Orders Mandatory Evacuation of New Orleans 712
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.
In addition.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Is this allowed in the US? (Score:4, Interesting)
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?
Re:Oh for goodness sake... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Oh for goodness sake... (Score:3, Interesting)
Isn't government like a mandatory insurance company?
Re:what the hell? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
"Hurricane Relief" sites already in the works... (Score:5, Interesting)
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."
This is Andrew, not Katrina (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:what the hell? (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:what the hell? (Score:4, Interesting)
Beg your pardon.
Port system [wikipedia.org]. 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.
Re:News for nerds huh? (Score:2, Interesting)
The tree takes out your internet access? I am on Comcast with packet filtering and bandwidth restrictions. That tree is a blessing you insensetive clod!
The forecasts are powered by Linux (Score:5, Interesting)
The National Hurricane Center [noaa.gov] 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 [computerworld.com]. The forecaster's desktops run Red Hat Linux. The back end systems run Linux. The supercomputing clusters run Linux.
Re:what the hell? (Score:5, Interesting)
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).
Re:what the hell? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Interesting)
And here I thought we had this thing called a "nation" which embodied some elements of teamwork and shared pain/shared gain. Certainly when elements of our society decide it is time for a war they emphasize something they call "sacrifice" and "service".
The concept of the nation state is simply a propaganda device to persuade people to expend their lives on your behalf.
Certainly when elements of our society decide it is time for a war they emphasize something they call "sacrifice" and "service".
And if we insisted that our "leaders" lead by example, getting into an arena with the other guy they would be a damned site more circumspect in their decisions.
Re:what the hell? (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
What does "mandatory" really mean? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7503327.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Of particular interest is the part where it speaks of how "the victim had not obeyed a mandatory evacuation order"....
If you don't have to obey it, then what exactly does it mean when they say it's "mandatory"? Does it mean that you are legally required to evacuate? Or is it just an official admission of sorts that if you stay, no immediate help will be available should you need it?
(,,,of course--the other time, Nagin did his "mandatory gun confiscation" and we all saw how legal that turned out to be...)
~
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Interesting)
What about the people still paying a mortgage for land under water? Will their insurance pay for them to abandon that land and move elsewhere? Doubtful.
If you are looking for a reason why people keep coming back, you don't have to look far. It's the oldest motive known to man - economics.
Re:what the hell? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Evacuation over (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Interesting)
"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)."
There is a cost of "embraced helplessness" beyond dependence on the dole.
New Orleans citizen behavior during and after the disaster has triggered considerable resentment.
It has caused many to view the place as a corrupt, thug-ridden, and better off dispersed, even if the folks who live there don't like it. The historic parts will survive, as well as the container port. The rest are not necessary.
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Interesting)
Not really.
1. Move everyone out, now
2. build an industrial port complex
3. Wait 100 years
4. Look at the 'city' that has grown around that port complex...
5. Watch the 'once a century' hurricane demolish it.
this works '100 years' in the past, or '100 years' in the future
Re:what the hell? (Score:3, Interesting)
As I've posted in other spots, I was actually working in the government in Louisiana about two hours west of New Orleans when this all went down. In the aftermath of the storm, with people sitting on their rooftops waiting for rescue, a lawyer in Lafayette, LA put together a group of about 150 private small boats to caravan to New Orleans and volunteer to pull people off roofs. When they got near the city, officials from Wildlife and Fisheries told them "Oh we don't need help, go home." and made them return home. The lawyer and another boat snuck back into the city via an alternate route and launched their boats from an off-ramp. They started rescuing people from hospitals and rooftops, with the people they were rescuing wondering aloud why they were the only two boats they'd seen... Eventually they kinda got "commandeered" with armed security personnel onboard protecting them as they evacuated people from one of the hospitals. The people working inside the city were happy for the help and desperate for more, but the state officials outside of the city were still turning people away.
This sort of stuff was rampant during the entire ordeal: volunteers turned away, rescue workers commandeered by state officials for their own personal use, local officials taking first pick of relief supplies, local officials lying about their situation on national news programs to generate sympathy, etc.