New Orleans Evacuates
New Orleans is preparing for a new disaster; Category 4 storm Gustav is on its way to this city that was hit hard by Katrina only a few years ago, resulting in tremendous humanitarian, economic and other misery.
Back then many citizens of this city were greatly surprised by the floods, and the strength of the storm. This time, they are determined not be surprised again; they are evacuating en masse.
Lines of people waiting for buses to take them out of the city grew longer Saturday and traffic grew heavier on main highways as Hurricane Gustav strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 storm on track for the Gulf Coast. A line well over a mile long stretched in six loops through the parking lot at Union Passenger Terminal. Under a blazing sun, many led children or pushed strollers with one hand and pulled luggage with the other. Volunteers handed out bottled water, and medics were nearby in case people became heatsick.
Joseph Jones Jr., 61, wore a towel over his head to block the sun. He’d been in line 2 1/2 hours, but wasn’t complaining. During Katrina, he had been stranded on a highway overpass.
“I don’t like it. Going someplace you don’t know, people you don’t know,” Jones said. “And then when you come back, is your house going to be OK?”
Unlike when Katrina rapidly approached N.O., most people are not waiting for the goverment to tell them to evacuate. They are taking the initiative themselves. This even though it is far from sure whether the storm Gustav will hit the city directly; if it follows its current path Gustav will make landfall on Louisiana’s central coast, which would spare New Orleans considerably.
Actually, just about everyone who had transportation evacuated for Katrina (and the contraflow plan to get cars out of the city finally worked, thankfully, or the tragedy would have been even worse.) It was the many people who don’t own cars who were stranded last time, because there was no plan in place to get them out of the city. For the first time, the city is now trying to implement a plan using buses to get all of those citizens out (but as one would expect, there are already glitches- fortunately they’re starting pretty early, so hopefully they’ll be successful before the storm comes ashore.)