The Evacuation

[B Ozanne]

Place to discuss any news on the evacuation and your opinions about it.

It looks like the masses are finally getting into gear in New Orleans, but I am worried that the window is closing. The system is not designed for every person in the city to fill up their gas tank in the same day. Cars are going to begin running out of gasoline while sitting in traffic. That's going to lead to more traffic, delays, etc.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Originally posted by B Ozanne
Cars are going to begin running out of gasoline while sitting in traffic.

This is what I am truly afraid of; any blockage of the contraflow system will add time to the evacuation that we simply do not have. Those stuck on the highways in the hours prior to landfall will have little chance to escape once the flooding begins.

 

[Bill Tabor]

AsI mentioned in another post it appears both the ETA and GFS models are indicating a landfall Monday morning (after 7am) and not the Monday afternoon / evening previously being mentioned. If that is true it could have catastrophic consequences to evacuees and chasers.

 

[Benjamin Sipprell]

Here's a link to the planned flow of the traffic for the evacuation ...

http://www.dotd.state.la.us/maps/Web_ContraFlow.jpg

Based on the traffic camera images it doesn't look like much in the way of traffic congestion exists ... are people even leaving? Watching the news stations I hear stories of traffic backed up for miles and people sitting on the tops of cars just waiting ...

Well I sure hope people are evacuating

http://www.dotd.louisiana.gov/press/traffi...sp?page=cameras

 

[B Ozanne]

I'm getting mixed signals. Good traffic flow in some areas, gridlock in others.

 

[B Ozanne]

I'm getting mixed signals. Good traffic flow in some areas, gridlock in others.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Contraflow is to end at 4pm CDT.

 

[B Ozanne]

Looks like things are going well. They are ending the contraflow as the
traffic eases.

Edit: Things are going OK in some areas!

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Jim Cantore has been reporting a gridlocked I10 out near Biloxi, MS. I think this has a lot to do with New Orleans wanting to get east (though I hope most are going north), in combination with the rest of the folks along coastal Mississippi wanting to get out of the way.

 

[Jay Cazel]

I was just watching Fox News and there seem to be a lot of tourist in NO that have no clue on what is going on. They don't speak english and most of the hotels are closing down and there are no rental cars left. I sure hope they can find a place to ride this storm out.

 

[B Ozanne]

Don't speak English? I don't buy that. If you came to the US as a tourist you are competent enough to put together that something major is going on.

Wouldn't be obvious when everything you see on tv includes a massive red circle spinning across the Gulf?

 

[Alex Lamers]

Shepard Smith on Fox News Channel was on Borbon Street live interviewing some hardheaded people. Apparently the bars are full and thousands aren't leaving.

The one guy said that its always overexaggerated and that they lose million in revenue because hurricanes are always hyped.

I guess it always takes one bad storm to wake people up that when theres a warning of this magnitude...they need to evacuate.

...Alex Lamers...

 

[Chris Sokol]

Originally posted by Alex Lamers

I guess it always takes one bad storm to wake people up that when theres a warning of this magnitude...they need to evacuate.

...Alex Lamers...

Or one bad storm to put them to sleep permenantly...

I heard people saying that the mayor was just hyping this because it is an election year for him...geez.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Thus the reason why NHC tries what they can do to minimize the FAR (False Alarm Rate). They HAVE had evacs that, in hindsight, weren't necessary. Ivan, Isidore, Lili, etc, all were thought to have the possibility to directly impact New Orleans as a major hurricane, yet NO dodged those storms.

 

[Joe Zemek]

That's the problem with hurricanes, isn't it: the NHC is always perceived as Chicken Little or the boy crying wolf until the wolf shows up and the sky falls.

We have shuch short memories and a resultant poor grasp of catastrophism in history. It's much easier to deny that anything that bad will really happen; to believe that things will work out. How people can believe that while simultaneously reading casualty reports from disasters like the Indonesian tsunami show the disconnect clearly.