New Orleans On Alert As Gustav Looms

Gulf Coast Prepares To Evacuate, La. Declares Emergency; 23 Dead In Caribbean

(CBS/AP)  On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary, a nervous New Orleans watched Wednesday as another storm threatened to test everything the city has rebuilt, and officials made preliminary plans to evacuate people, pets and hospitals in an attempt to avoid a Katrina-style chaos.

Forecasters warned that Gustav could grow into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane in the next several days. By Labor Day, Gustav could make landfall anywhere from south Texas to the Florida panhandle, and hurricane experts said everyone in between should be concerned.

"We know it's going to head into the Gulf. After that, we're not sure," said meteorologist Rebecca Waddington at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "For that reason, everyone in the Gulf needs to be monitoring the storm."

For New Orleans residents, the warnings take on an added sense of urgency.

"I'm panicking," said Evelyn Fuselier of Chalmette, whose home was submerged in 14 feet of floodwater when Katrina hit. Fuselier said she's been back in her home one year this month, and called watching Gustav swirl toward the Gulf of Mexico indescribable. "I keep thinking, 'Did the Corps fix the levees?,' 'Is my house going to flood again?' ... 'Am I going to have to go through all this again?"'

Taking no chances, city officials began preliminary planning to evacuate and lock down the city in hopes of avoiding the catastrophe that followed the 2005 storm. Mayor Ray Nagin left the Democratic National Convention in Denver to return home for the preparations. Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency to lay the groundwork for federal assistance, and put 3,000 National Guard troops on standby.

Post Katrina, rebuilding walls and rebuilding trust has been the task of the Army Corps of Engineers, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. They've accomplished a lot - but it may not be enough.

"We've repaired 220 miles of the approximately 350 miles of levees and floodwalls that encompass the greater New Orleans area," Randy Cephus of the Army Corps of Engineers told Sreenivasan. "Our charter was to have this complete by 2011; we're not there yet."

If a Category 3 or stronger hurricane comes within 60 hours of the city, New Orleans plans to institute a mandatory evacuation order. Unlike Katrina, there will be no massive shelter at the Superdome, a plan designed to encourage residents to leave. Instead, the state has arranged for buses and trains to take people to safety.

It was unclear what would happen to stragglers. Jerry Sneed, the city's emergency preparedness director, said officials are ready to move about 30,000 people. Nearly 8,000 people had signed up for transportation help by late Wednesday.

At a suburban Lowe's store, employees said portable generators, gasoline cans, bottled water and batteries were selling briskly. Hotels across south Louisiana reported taking many reservations as coastal residents looked inland for possible refuge.

Steve Weaver, 82, and his wife stayed for Katrina - and were plucked off the roof of their house by a Coast Guard helicopter. This time, Weaver has no inclination to ride out the storm.

"Everybody learned a lesson about staying, so the highways will be twice as packed this time," Weaver said.

Katrina struck New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, and its storm surge blasted through the levees that protect the city. Eighty percent of the city was flooded.

Though pockets of the New Orleans are well on the way to recovery, many neighborhoods have struggled to recover. Many residents still live in temporary trailers, and shuttered homes still bear the 'X' that was painted to help rescue teams looking for the dead.

Many people never returned, and the city's population, around 310,000 people, is roughly two-thirds what it was before the storm, though various estimates vary wildly.

Since the storm, the Army Corps of Engineers has spent billions of dollars to improve the levee system, but because of two quiet hurricane seasons, the flood walls have never been tested.

Floodgates have been installed on drainage canals to stop any storm surge from entering the city, and levees have been raised and in many places strengthened with concrete.

Robert Turner Jr., the regional levee director, said the levee system can handle a storm with the likelihood of occurring every 30 years, what the corps calls a 30-year storm. By comparison, Katrina was a 396-year storm.

[runningralph]

Louisiana is big in the production of petroleum products. Problems down there have a ripple effect on the whole country. Unfortunately, it''s also big in production of welfare recipients and criminals. The ratio of taxpayers to tax absorbers is very low. Anytime there is any sort of crisis these people will have to be bailed out, they are helpless due to living their whole life on the dole. Anywhere they go they will have to be housed, fed and given medical attention. After being there a while they will commit crimes, then they will reproduce. There will be ripples effects from that, too.

[gheemaster38]

Aftermath of Gustav:

People may be dying again because they didnt heed the week of warnings that were given.

McCain-Will wanna Nuke New Orleans

OBama- Will give a goood Speech

Bush- WIll silently be praying for January 20th..

In the end, Nothing ever really changes.

[no2zeebas]

What does being ''''On Alert'''' in New Orleans really mean? Like in scoping out where all the pre-flood HD TVs are?

Posted by haoli25 at 02:07 PM : Aug 28, 2008

I can picture them now carrying the latest 65" widescreen plasma''s in shopping carts...

[sly_64]

I beleive there is a God, just not the bible fairy tales.

[haoli25]

What does being ''On Alert'' in New Orleans really mean? Like in scoping out where all the pre-flood HD TVs are?

[mo005]

Gonna flush that toilet for good this time. I can here the whining already ( where''s my free stuff)

[sistatee-2009]

"the state has arranged for buses and trains to take people to safety."

Let me guess. They''re taking them to hotels and motels where WE get to pay for the room for the next two years, until somebody throws them out on the street. How many times do we get to play this game?

[xxunknown]

i think they handled hurricane faye pretty well....what do you think they did wrong with handling faye?
-------------------------------
By my estimation what they handled wrong about Faye was that they didnt go surfing during high tide.

[redhed1246]

I pray for everyone in New Orleans. It''s my favorite city in the world. My husband and I just got back from there a few weeks ago for our wedding anniversary. It broke my heart to see the homes that were still empty with X''s on the fronts. The water levels still on the homes. The homeless living in tents under the bridge. I hope all of you and your families make it safe through this!!! Love NOLA and all it''s people..

[questionnews]

You can bet that there will be people going into New Orleans during the storm to take advantage of some good old fashion pillaging & looting.

I wouldn''t be surprised if someone right now is renting tour buses & arranging the "Loot New Orleans Tourbus Extravaganza!!" You have to bring your own hammer, bolt cutters & gun though. Or you could just steal them while you''re there!!