Gustav May Force New Orleans Evacuation

700 buses may begin moving New Orleans residents out of the city as soon as Friday, three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina's landfall. Latest computer models forecast Tropical Storm Gustav strengthening to at least a category 3 hurricane and curving straight into the Gulf's north coast. A number of computer track models, as well as the NOAA's official track forecast seem to be converging on a track that would take the storm almost straight into or near New Orleans sometime on Monday.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphi...143014W_sm.gif

http://my.sfwmd.gov/sfwmd/common/ima...s/storm_07.gif

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"If anything on this graphic causes confusion, ignore the entire product."

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I love it.

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Brownie, to his credit, is the originator of my favorite congressional hearing quote ever...

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Michael Brown: "I told the staff … that I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could, that it was balls to the wall."
Sen. Norm Coleman: "Can you show me ... your very clear directives to go, quote, 'balls to the walls,' to clear up this situation, to fix it?"

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Originally Posted by moose135

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

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Well, President Bush accepted much of the blame, but, here is the person that should have lost his job....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...tics/Nagin.jpg

Yeah but he also gave us...

Lootie!

http://www.foxnews.com/images/175932...5_looters2.jpg
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01r...e-Blowfish.jpg
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01r...e/looter23.jpg
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01r...ForestGump.jpg
http://www.sondrak.com/archive/skpics/notalooter.jpg

To all those that are on th Gulf Coast - our prayers are starting! A category 4 storm over Cuba - heading into the Gulf - this one could be devastating.

There are questions about the strength of the rebuilt Levees

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26444204/

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On the east side, where the French Quarter stands, the most serious concerns lie along a T-shaped shipping corridor where the Industrial Canal meets the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The canals have been the cause of repeated flooding over the decades, and floodwalls along it were breached during Katrina, flooding the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly, St. Bernard Parish and eastern New Orleans.

Corps officials have called it the system's Achilles' heel. To fix the problem, the agency plans to spend at least $695 million to construct a barrier across the shipping channel's mouth. But that work won't be done for at least another three years.

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The is a tremendous amount of preparation in this event. I am on an advanced team for DHS and we are on standby but aren't going because there are already two teams there. TSA has sent several hundred screening personnel so the personnel there can be with family to ensure their safe evacuation. National Guard has been there for days.

It looks like everything will be done right this time. We can get into an argument on the feds response last time but remember the feds only can come in if asked by the governor, last time she waited too long.

I was watching CNN last night and one of the talking heads tried to say there was chaos at the airport and the reporter on scene stopped him and said there wasn't and any glitches were being handled quickly. The talking heads are trying to stir the pot already. I feel sorry for the reporter who probably will be doing garbage pieces from now on but applaud his courage to get the right information out.

I still say he looks like one of the head Orcs from LOTR.

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Originally Posted by emshighway

It looks like everything will be done right this time. We can get into an argument on the feds response last time but remember the feds only can come in if asked by the governor, last time she waited too long.

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There's a lot of reasons it's going smoothly...

* There are 1/3 less people in the city, and obviously a lot fewer tourists.
* A good portion of the city is STILL being patrolled by the ARMY. Yes, 3 years later, there are still soldiers rotating between Sadr City and New Orleans.
* The mayor and governor actually made it clear that everyone needs to get out and there WILL BE NO SHELTER PROVIDED if you stay...even though it seems pretty clear at this point that the storm is NOT going to score a direct hit.

heard a few hours ago on the radio:


“You need to be scared. You need to be concerned,” Nagin said during a Saturday evening news conference. “You need to get your butt out of New Orleans. This is the storm of the century.”

...and yet, a small few have decided to stay behind. Watch them get all the coverage on CNN/MSNBC/FOX that the govt is doing nothing for them, even though they were warned.

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Originally Posted by lijk604

...and yet, a small few have decided to stay behind. Watch them get all the coverage on CNN/MSNBC/FOX that the govt is doing nothing for them, even though they were warned.

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Luckily it is being reported the coast guard is going up to survey the areas and look for persons in trouble. I wish them safe flights.

The media will be fishing for problems to exploit. Don't be surprised if the the turns and the media says that the government overreacted and wasted funds.

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Originally Posted by emshighway

The media will be fishing for problems to exploit. Don't be surprised if the the turns and the media says that the government overreacted and wasted funds.

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Of course they will, that's what our media does. Avoids the factual stories and creates stories to anger / upset the general public.
On the bright side, initial report show the storm hasn't done the massive damage that was feared. Yes there is damage, but nothing even close the the scale of Katrina. Of course, until the news crews start getting in their trucks the real extent of the damage cannot be guaged.