Jindal on Hurricane Gustav

Hurricane Gustav
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* Advocate Capitol News Bureau
* Published: Aug 31, 2008 - UPDATED: 5:30 p.m.


Gov. Bobby Jindal on Sunday afternoon renewed his pleas for residents of coastal Louisiana to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Gustav.

“I know I sound like a broken record,” Jindal told reporters. “I want everybody in coastal Louisiana to take this seriously.”

The governor said the storm remains a “very strong Category 3” hurricane that is close to becoming Category 4.

If tracking predictions are totally accurate, he said, it could produce storm surges of up to 12 feet on the West Bank of New Orleans and various spots around Lafourche Parish.

A slight change in the predicted course, Jindal said, could produce major problems in the Houma area.

“You would have flooding in many densely populated areas,” he said.

State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson estimated that roughly 95 percent of 1.2 million residents of 19 coastal parish residents under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders have left. He said about 200,000 people have left New Orleans.

“The cameras we are looking at shows very little movement in New Orleans,” said Edmonson.

However, Jindal said there is urgency for holdouts to leave ahead of tropical storm winds, which could begin in coastal parishes on Sunday evening. When those winds begin, he said, it will make driving conditions dangerous.

“Don’t just look at landfall,” the governor said. “Look at the first onset of those tropical winds.”

Jindal said that, while the vast majority of coastal residents have left, there continues to be “a small number of people we will still have to encourage to evacuate.”

He added, “We know it is not going to be a false alarm for Louisiana’s coast.”

Forecasts say that the storm could lose half of its power 12 hours after reaching land. But Jindal noted that even central Louisiana parishes could face prolonged periods of heavy rain, possibly 12 inches.

Jindal also said that, despite a last-minute glitch with buses set to haul evacuees, the state has ample resources to aid those seeking higher ground.

The state originally had a contract to use 700 coach buses to transport residents who need assistance. Jindal said the contractor only produced 200 buses.

But the governor said state education officials helped line up hundreds of school buses as replacements, with about 1,000 available at one point.

“We have more capacity than demand,” Jindal said.

Jindal also said that:

--All 64 parishes in Louisiana have declared states of emergency.

--About 8,400 inmates have been moved to higher ground.

--Contraflow may end by midnight on Sunday after beginning at 4 a.m.