Gustav Update: For those following

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http://www.nbc33tv.com/news/27720899.html

Governor Jindal's Afternoon Update on Hurricane Gustav Preparedness Efforts
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Governor Jindal's Afternoon Update on Hurricane Gustav Preparedness Efforts

Story Published: Aug 31, 2008 at 4:54 PM CDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2008 at 5:10 PM CDT

Governor Bobby Jindal held a press conference to give an update on state preparedness measures surrounding the impact of Hurricane Gustav on Louisiana.

Governor Jindal said, "Hurricane Gustav is a Category 3 storm, but is only 15 miles-per-hour below Category 4 level. We will be experiencing tropical storm force winds to begin as early as late this evening.

Currently, the National Hurricane Center predicts there is only a small window for intensification, which is good news, but could change track at any point.

Governor Jindal said, "If the storm track remains perfectly on course as predicted by the Hurricane Center, it could slow down and lose half of its power as it moves through Louisiana in the first 12 hours, which means we will see up to around 10 inches of rain even in central Louisiana."

Governor Jindal added that all 64 parishes in the state have now declared a state of emergency. In addition to yesterday's parish evacuations, Lafayette has issued a voluntary evacuation order today, Acadia reports that 1/3 of their population has evacuated, Jefferson Parish reports that they are 80 to 90 percent evacuated, and the National Guard has assisted 4,500 residents out of Jefferson Parish.

More than 14,930 residents have been evacuated out of New Orleans, the Houma area reported that they have evacuated all their nursing homes and homebound residents, and with FEMA assistance, 2 trains of more than 2,000 people have been evacuated from New Orleans. FEMA has also coordinated 22 flights of more than 2,240 people to shelters in six other states to assist in evacuation efforts.

The Governor said he spoke to President Bush this morning and that he agreed to activate Title 32, which activates federal funding for National Guard units in other states, instead of just relying on federal reimbursement. The Governor said he has also spoken to Senator McCain, Senator Biden, and Senator Obama, who called for updates on the storm. Additionally, the Governor spoke to Secretary Chertoff, FEMA Administrator David Paulison, and Commander of the US Northern Command Gen. Victor Renuart today on the state's federal assistance needs. Governor Jindal said he requested six to seven more DMAT teams to assist in medical special needs evacuation, and that the President also said he would provide aircraft support in the evacuation efforts to continue every 30 minutes.

Governor Jindal said he also spoke to Texas Governor Rick Perry earlier this morning to thank him for their state's support by sending six C-130s needed to evacuate special needs patients from Lakefront Airport in New Orleans, in addition to his conversations with the Governors of Mississippi and Alabama. The Governor said Alabama has offered to shelter 10,000 more people in general shelter facilities.

[Mind_your_head]

1. Well, while not 'perfect'.....that's a little bit "more like it"

how 'it' (protecting our citizens from REAL and IMMEDIATE DANGER ~ not pie-in-the-sky-made-up-shit-TERROR *EEEECK* :eyes:) SHOULD be done!