Fear Factor: Is NOLA Ready for Katrina Part 2?
New Orleans plans to issue a mandatory evacuation order if a Category 3 or stronger hurricane comes within 60 hours of the city. Unlike Katrina, there will be no massive shelter at the Superdome, but instead, a plan designed to encourage residents to leave. The state has arranged for buses and trains to take up to 30,000 people to safety. The city expects an evacuation to take 24 to 36 hours. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has put 3,000 National Guard troops on alert, while FEMA has readied supplies, such as water, food and generators, to distribute in the region. But it’s not the city’s organization level that has residents who have ridden out storms in the past fastidiously planning their exits; it’s their shaken faith in the levees that were built to protect them. “It feels like [the city] has a definite plan of action to evacuate the indigent and those with health problems,” said 37-year-old Michelle Gibbs, who lives in Lacombe, right outside New Orleans.
