Please, Mr. Secretary, don't make comparisons to the nightmare that was Katrina, a category 5 taking up the whole Gulf at one point. By some early reports, winds in New Orleans stayed at less than 75 mph for the duration, meaning that Gustav was not a hurricane at all in this city, but a tropical storm. You continue to heap disrespect on those who suffered here 3 years ago, and you further undermine your Office's credibility. You can only endanger our citizens again as the Secretary who cried wolf.
September 2, 2008 9:51 PM
As we closely monitor Gustav's landfall from Baton Rouge's Emergency Operations Center and remain poised to begin response efforts, I want to briefly update you with some of what I saw on the ground as we finalized our preparations yesterday.
People are taking this storm seriously. More than a million residents have evacuated well ahead of landfall, and those with special needs have been moved out of harm's way.
I've been spending time with Governor Jindal and Mayor Nagin and have been in close communication with Governor Barbour, as well as other state and local officials. I can tell you that preparations for this storm were well coordinated at every level, and everyone is now focused on responding as quickly as possible.
FEMA has pre-positioned assets and personnel in strategic locations and is poised to move in as soon as it's safe to assist with response and recovery operations. Other DHS personnel including ICE, CBP, TSA and Coast Guard teams have been deployed to assist with evacuations and are standing by to begin search and rescue operations as needed. Additional federal partners, including the Department of Defense and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have also deployed assets and personnel to the region and are preparing for response activities.
This will be a severe hurricane and is having a major impact as it continues to move ashore. While the levees around New Orleans have been strengthened since Katrina, there is a still a real risk of flooding because of possible overtopping and rain.
For those who must shelter in place, I hope that you heeded advice to be prepared to sustain yourself for at least 72 hours. This means having enough food, water, and medicine to last for three days.
I'll continue monitoring the storm from Louisiana and will update you as time and circumstances allow. I encourage you to visit www.ready.gov for additional preparedness information.
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Close this window Jump to comment formPlease, Mr. Secretary, don't make comparisons to the nightmare that was Katrina, a category 5 taking up the whole Gulf at one point. By some early reports, winds in New Orleans stayed at less than 75 mph for the duration, meaning that Gustav was not a hurricane at all in this city, but a tropical storm. You continue to heap disrespect on those who suffered here 3 years ago, and you further undermine your Office's credibility. You can only endanger our citizens again as the Secretary who cried wolf.
September 2, 2008 9:51 PM