Gulf Coast residents flee deadly Gustav
BELLE CHASE, Louisiana (CNN) — As Hurricane Gustav intensified on its projected path to the Gulf Coast — ravaged in 2005 by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — residents packed and fled inland.
In Plaquemines Parish, where Katrina roared ashore as a Category 3 storm days after its initial landfall in Florida, Parish President Billy Nungesser called for a mandatory evacuation beginning Saturday at noon (1 p.m. ET).
As soon as it’s safe to come back in, we will reopen the parish, he told CNN on Saturday. We hope they take that warning.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jinal said more than a dozen parishes have declared states of emergency, adding that several coastal parishes began voluntary evacuations Friday and would begin mandatory evacuations on Saturday around noon (1 p.m. ET).
Gustav neared Cuba’s western tip Saturday, packing winds close to 120 mph. The storm could reach the U.S. Gulf coast late Monday or Tuesday, as a Category 3 or strengthen to a Category 4, the National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricanes are ranked 1-5 in intensity on the Saffir-Simpson scale. A Category 3 hurricane has sustained winds from 111 to 130 mph and is capable of causing extensive damage. A Category 4 has winds of 131 to 155 mph and can cause extreme damage.
The storm called up uneasy memories Friday of the deadly 2005 hurricanes — particularly Katrina , as residents found themselves preparing for Gustav on the exact day Katrina hit three years ago, August 29.
I’ve been throughout the parish the last couple of days, it’s very difficult, Nungesser said.
I had one lady call me up, and said, ‘Mr. Nungesser, I’ve been working in my garden for three weeks, I just got it finished … Please don’t let this happen again.’
Nungesser said the woman lives in a modular home in South Plaquemines. The parish, a peninsula with about 22,500 people, juts out into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River runs down the center.
You have no control but you feel for someone like that, Nungesser said. It’s really taken its toll on the people.
We had some members of staff that we had to let go home just because they lost everything (in Katrina) and don’t know if they can go through this again.
As the storm began to track westward, Jindal said Friday there is a little bit less certainty than there was yesterday of a direct hit to New Orleans or other populated areas in the state. But he urged Louisianans to be prepared for the very real possibility of another strike.
In addition to Plaquemines Parish, St. Charles, St. James, Lafourche, Lower Cameron, Terrabone and St. Mary’s parish residents will begin to leave at noon.
In New Orleans, Mayor C. Ray Nagin urged residents who need assistance evacuating to register with the city’s assisted evacuation plan.
The city estimated that those needing assistance would number about 30,000.
Unlike during Katrina, there will be no shelter of last resort, the city said. In 2005, the city’s Superdome housed some 30,000 New Orleanians who couldn’t, or didn’t, heed the mandatory evacuation order.
The arena — which grew dark, hot and increasingly fetid after the electricity failed and the plumbing was overwhelmed in the storm — became a symbol of the disaster and the much-maligned government response to it.
New Orleans has designated 17 locations for people without transportation to board buses to take them to Union Passenger Terminal, where they will be transported to shelters outside New Orleans. However, instead of waiting at one of the stops, scores of residents went directly to the terminal, leading to some initial confusion.
We’re just being flexible, said Jerry Sneed, of City Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, explaining that the sheriff’s office had ushered the people into lines outside the terminal.
It’s frustrating to see that they don’t listen, but it’s good seeing that they are coming.
The city’s airport will close Sunday at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. ET), a spokesman there said.
When Katrina hit three years ago, more than 1,800 people died in five states — 1,577 of them in Louisiana. New Orleans is still recovering.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour announced Friday that Hurricane Katrina victims living in government-issued trailers or mobile homes along his state’s coast would begin evacuating this weekend.
Evacuations will begin Saturday, with notices going out to people living in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers or mobile homes, as well as people living in more permanent structures known as Mississippi cottages, he said.
The evacuation will begin in Harrison and Hancock counties on Sunday morning, Barbour said. Evacuation in Jackson County will begin Monday, he said. Those three counties cover Mississippi’s Gulf coast.
About 4,300 families live in FEMA trailers or mobile homes, while some 2,800 live in Mississippi cottages, the governor’s office said.
He said he would urge people living in privately owned mobile homes to evacuate as well.
As we pray for the best, we’re going to prepare for the worst, the governor said. The blessing is, if there is one, it’s a three-day weekend, the storm is a long way off, people have a lot of time.
