Are people being evacuated from New Orleans proper? I’ve heard of the problems in Plaquemines Parish, which is far south of NOLA, and in Laplace, which was encroached by waters from Lake Ponchatrain. (The news from Laplace is a bit spotty as of yet.) Anyone who tries to ride out a hurricane of any intensity in Plaquemines Parish ought to have their right to live near a coast revoked, which some very nearly had done permanently.
Baton Rouge has a lot of power outages, trees down, and isolated street flooding. My cable was out when I woke up today, but I’ve not lost power yet.
Five days warning in most cases. Why would you wait until you pretty much see the damned storm to leave? In Norfolk they started encouraging people to leave between 4 and 6 days for Gloria.
Leaving is expensive. You can’t evacuate every time a storm enters the Gulf of Mexico, because the storm might go somewhere else. By the time you know where it is going to hit, there is a lot less time…and in some parts of South Louisiana, the only way out is a two-lane highway, which is likely to be bumper-to-bumper.
Very much not a dud. I evacuated, but not far enough away because we’re still getting major wind, rain, flooding, and intermittent power outages where I am. Mostly the power has been on, which means air conditioning, so I’m good to go.
At this point, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go home. My neighborhood didn’t get too much water (although my living room may have flooded), but there are plenty of downed trees, the power is out for who knows how long (why the hell didn’t I clean out the fridge? Dumbass), there’s a boil water advisory in effect, the curfew is still in effect, and parts of the interstate are flooded. I wasn’t expecting to be away for more than 3 days. Kind of like Katrina, but at least I’ll be able to go home in a few days rather than a few months.
Oakminster is right, though. Evacuating is expensive, especially if you don’t have a friend’s or family member’s house you can camp out at. People with pets have an even harder time. The town I work in is very poor, and almost no one left. The town I live in has a more diverse mix of incomes, and most of the people I know who evacuated are the ones who could afford hotel rooms and food and overpriced gas for several days. Keep in mind, too, that a lot of people won’t be getting paid for the time they’re out of work. Some people who won’t evacuate are stubborn idiots, but it’s not fair to assume they all are.
They have a job such that if they don’t work, they don’t get paid.
They have pets and are unable to take the pets to a shelter with them.
They can’t afford the gas to travel a long distance.
Evacuations weren’t made mandatory.
Some of the places which are being badly affected right now – Tangipahoa and St. John the Baptist parishes, in particular – are experiencing unprecedented flooding. Neighborhoods are being flooded which have never had standing water in any storm prior to this. Officials are not sure why this is happening in Laplace… there is some very early speculation that because levees and storm management barriers held in other areas, that it put stress on other areas.
It’s Headed to Arkansas now. Coming up through Louisiana this morning. We’re expecting 3 to 5 inches rain starting this afternoon. It may spawn a few tornadoes. Could be some flooding in low areas. This summers drought helps because the rivers and reservoirs are pretty low. It would take many,many days to fill them up.
We’re far enough inland that the tropical storms lose much of their punch. But it’s going to be a very wet nasty couple days.
Just hearing about a dam about to break in McComb, Mississippi, which would send waters into the Tangipahoa River and cause extensive flooding. Officials have called an emergency mandatory evacuation for anyone living close to the river from Kentwood to Robert, LA.
Got a friend of mine to drive by the parent’s home to check on things. We were lucky. No major damage or flooding, some debris in the yard. Looks like power is already restored in the neighborhood. My parents plan to return home tomorrow, assuming that dam situation doesn’t wipe out I-55/I-10 over the swamp.
I plan to stop by a local Red Cross donation center thingy to drop off some things for those that were not as fortunate.
I don’t mean this to be flippant but none of that matters when your house is underwater.
It’s a shame the PSA from Mayor Nagen never saw the light of day during Katrina because it left no doubt as to the action to take. This PSA was the result of a mock hurricane he participated in. In the announcement, he said that if you don’t have a car then find someone who does. It’s up to you to evacuate.
Reminds me of one of the New Orleans Katrina heros. Some teenager, who I don’t even think had a drivers license, found a school? bus with keys, started driving around picking up anybody who looked like they wanted a ride and then headed out of town. They tried to charge him with a crime later. Kid deserved a damn medal. He was way fracking smarter than those officials who left thousands stranded and a fleet of hundreds of buses to be left behind to drown as well.
Jabbar Gibson.
Well..I was right that it was a water event..but man…the isolated flooding we had down here is nothing compared to what’s happening on the gulf coast.
-D/a
Really, I agree. Though the bus drivers probably bailed out of the area with their families earlier. I know when we saw it on the news my husband said we would have loaded everything up and I would evacuate and he would have grabbed his bus if he had been one of the drivers. [of course he knows I am pretty damned levelheaded and wouldn’t panic in what to me would have been yet another in a string of hurricane evacuations.]
Well, I didn’t say those were legitimate reasons not to evacuate. I think a lot of people are just barely coping with their day-to-day lives, and don’t have many resources left to deal with extreme situations.
With what’s going on here in south Louisiana in the days since Isaac has passed, I sincerely hope that more people are willing to evacuate for ANY tropical system. Isaac was barely a hurricane, and we’re having all sorts of flooding, in places which have never previously flooded.
I live in Baton Rouge, and honestly, at this point I’m ready to book a hotel room in freaking Chicago the next time something enters the Gulf.
Again, FL panhandle here. I totally understand people not being able to leave because of finances. It’s a matter of Should butting heads with Can’t.
We barely got two inches of rain. But a couple months ago our city flooded like it didn’t even do during Ivan. Made national news. (Like a Facebook friend from a little further east on the Gulf said…If somebody from the Weather Channel comes to your town you know you’re screwed.) It rained so hard the paint bubbled and peeled on our front porch; businesses and residences are still being repaired.
I’d say the N.O. area felt safer because so much has been done since Katrina. We’ve all been lucky the past few years but you never know when this is going to be the one that causes destruction. You do what you can but you do take your chances and always hope for the best.
