New Orleans Has a Plan for Next Time: Get Out

Mayor C. Ray Nagin had plain words for New Orleans residents Tuesday as he laid out a new city evacuation strategy in the event of another catastrophic hurricane.

“Read my lips,” Nagin said at a City Hall announcement and news conference. “This is a plan for getting people out of the city. There is no shelter of last resort.”

The warning made clear there would be no repeat of the days following Hurricane Katrina, when thousands of residents languished for days at the Superdome and the convention center without adequate food, water or proper sanitation.

This time, residents should come up with their own emergency plans in the event of another catastrophic hurricane, Nagin said. The city’s role is to provide the means for their departure.

Under the city’s new plan, mass departures would begin 30 to 36 hours before the hurricane was predicted to hit.

Nagin said a Category 2 hurricane -- one that typically packs winds of 96 to 110 mph and can cause storm surges of up to 8 feet, according to the National Hurricane Center -- would be enough to trigger a mandatory evacuation order. Hurricane season begins June 1.

Residents would be picked up by bus from predetermined locations and taken to staging points, such as the convention center.

From there, they would be transported to state-organized shelters in other parts of Louisiana.

The federal government cleared the way for the use of Amtrak passenger trains to assist with evacuation, Nagin said.

Officials estimate that about 10,000 people would need the city’s help to evacuate, because the current population -- down from 450,000 to about 200,000 since Katrina -- is “much more mobile and able to evacuate at a moment’s notice,” Nagin said.

Priority would be given to the elderly and people with special needs.

The plan also allows residents to take their pets with them if the animals can be safely carried on the owner’s lap or in a cage, the mayor said.

During and after Katrina, many residents refused to leave without their pets and perished as a result.

Fear that their property would be looted also kept many people from evacuating last year. New Orleans Police Department Supt. Warren Riley said at the news conference that as soon as a hurricane emergency has been declared, a request will go out for 3,000 National Guard troops to be deployed to New Orleans. Approximately 150 Guard members would be assigned to each district, along with police officers, who would be required to report to duty 24 hours before the storm and remain on duty until after the event.

A curfew would be imposed, and anyone caught on the street would be arrested, Riley said.

“When citizens leave, there will be no doubt that their property is protected,” the police chief said.

Col. Terry Ebbert, director of homeland security for New Orleans, said the city had requested assistance from the federal government in arranging commercial aviation to help evacuate visitors and prevent them from being stranded, as they were last year when the airport shut down before the storm.

The city’s communications infrastructure will be reinforced to include an independent, commercial-grade, wireless network, and the ability to set up military-grade wireless hotspots, city officials said.

Residents would be told when to begin leaving, via the media, community groups, the Internet and reverse 911 calls to households.

Nagin said he would be shocked if residents failed to heed a future evacuation order, but he warned those who chose to disobey: “You are confined to your home.”

Ebbert said the basic evacuation plan would be tested this month, and federal officials would evaluate the performance.

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who is challenging Nagin in a May 20 mayoral runoff, issued a statement Tuesday expressing concern that it had taken the mayor eight months to announce a plan. Although Landrieu described himself as “best equipped to implement an emergency preparedness plan,” he has not given specific evacuation measures.

Some residents reacted skeptically to the plan.

Among other concerns, Phyllis Parun, an artist and community activist, expressed doubt that 36 hours was enough time to evacuate special-needs citizens.