Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Evacuation of 1.9M called a success

|
|
 
  
Large waves crash into the Lake Pontchartrain seawall as Hurricane Gustav moved through the New Orleans area September 1, 2008. (UPI Photo/A.J. Sisco) 
Published: Sept. 2, 2008 at 7:45 AM

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. officials, benefiting from lessons of Hurricane Katrina, said the evacuation of 1.9 million Louisianans ahead of Hurricane Gustav went smoothly.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the mass evacuation leading up to Monday's storm landfall was the largest in the history of the state, with refugees fanning out from New Orleans to other parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and other states, USA Today reported.

U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials told the newspaper they improved on their Katrina response by having buses, rescue teams and ambulances in New Orleans before Gustav's landfall, rather than afterward, as was the case in 2005 with Katrina.

"This was one of the most successful and most well-coordinated evacuations that I've seen," FEMA head David Paulison said Monday.

Officials urged evacuees to stay away form the area because clean-up and public safety work still needs to be done, The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans reported.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said, "Re-entry is only days away and not weeks," but promised that anyone who enters the city Tuesday would be turned away.

Topics: Bobby Jindal, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Katrina
Recommended Stories
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 30
Valentine's Day Ramallah, West Bank
View Caption
fark
"No, your honor. It's just a social club. That hangs out in the woods. With high powered rifles....
New SI swimsuit cover girl is Republican congressman's niece
Can't sleep. Must eat Pope in woods. And wear his hat. Or something
What booty calls, prostitutes, cigars, the Village People have in common? They are all things FBI...
Remembering the first USAAF casualty in WW2: a nude-sunbathing, polo-playing risk-taker who once...
The government didn't regulate banks, and the economy fell. If the government decides to regulate...