KoriEllis
09-14-2004, 05:31 PM
Evacuees Flee New Orleans Ahead of Ivan
46 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!
By DOUG SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Faced with a nightmare scenario of floodwaters that could drown this below-sea-level city, thousands of evacuees jammed highways Tuesday in an agonizingly slow escape from 140-mph Hurricane Ivan as it bore down on four Gulf Coast states.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic flowed out of this city of 1.5 million amid a state of emergency and dire warnings that an Ivan-sized storm could could essentially overflow Lake Pontchartrain, overwhelming this saucer-shaped city with up to 20 feet of water.
"Hopefully the house will still be here when we get back," said Tara Chandra, a Tulane University physician who packed up his car, moved plants indoors and tried to book a Houston hotel room.
Chandra wanted to ride out the storm but his wife wanted to evacuate. "All the news reports are kind of freaking her out."
Forecasters say Ivan, a killer blamed for at least 68 deaths in the Caribbean, could strengthen back to Category 5, 160-mph power by the time the massive storm makes landfall as early as Thursday.
With hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph across an area nearly 200 miles wide, it threatened significant damage no matter where it strikes. That prompted officials to order or strongly urge people to flee in a danger zone stretching from Morgan City and New Orleans in Louisiana to St. Marks in the Florida Panhandle.
"I beg people on the coast: Do not ride this storm out," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said, urging people in other parts of the state to open their homes to relatives, friends and co-workers.
New Orleans, the nation's largest city below sea level, also may be its most vulnerable in a hurricane, and Mayor Ray Nagin was among the first to urge residents to get out while they can. The city's Louis Armstrong Airport was ordered closed Tuesday night.
Up to 10 feet below sea level in spots, it sits between the nearly half-mile-wide Mississippi River and the Rhode Island-sized Pontchartrain, relying on a system of levees, canals and huge pumps to keep dry.
The city hasn't taken a major direct hit since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged some parts of the city in 7 feet of water.
But experts say Ivan could be worse, sending water pouring over the levees, flooding to the rooftops and turning streets into a toxic mixing bowl of raw sewage, gas and chemicals from nearby refineries.
By midday Tuesday, Interstate 10, the major hurricane route out of New Orleans, was bumper-to-bumper, and state police turned the interstate west of the city into a one-way artery out. U.S. Highway 59, the old major route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, also was jammed.
In the French Quarter, plywood and closed shutters were the order of the day and business appeared slow — but not dead. Cafe du Monde was sparsley filled, and a man playing a trombone outside the cafe had a box full of tips.
"They said get out, but I can't change my flight, so I figure I might as well enjoy myself," said George Senton, of Newark, N.J., who listened to the music. "At least I'll have had some good coffee and some good music before it gets me."
Tourist Dee Barkhart, a court reporter from Baltimore, was drinking Hurricane punches at Pat O'Brien's bar. She thought about leaving as the storm approached, but decided against it.
"I looked into earlier flights, but they were hundreds of dollars more and I wasn't sure I could switch flights," she said. "I figure I'm happier sitting here drinking hurricanes than sitting at the airport worrying about them."
But Barkhart's drinks would have to be for the road. The bar planned to close by nightfall.
Elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, thousands of residents, gamblers and tourists crowded northbound roads out of the storm's path.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic jams in Mississippi were compounded by motorists heading north from New Orleans, and inland motel were booked as far north as Jackson, Miss., and Montgomery, Ala.
Dennis Nowell, co-owner of Ventilated Awnings in Gulfport, Miss., tugged at a mounted largemouth bass hanging from the wall as he packed up his belongings.
"That's what you do. You get your valuables that can't be replaced and you get out of town," Nowell said before heading north to Jackson.
Mississippi regulators ordered a dozen casinos along the state's 75-mile-long coast to close at noon Tuesday but many gamblers pumped slot machines right up to closing.
"I don't worry about what's going to happen tomorrow. We can't control it anyway," said Ed Bak of Fairfield, Ohio, who dropped quarters into a slot machine at the President Casino.
In Alabama, Gov. Bob Riley ordered the evacuation of coastal resorts where thousands of vacationers already had been packing and heading out.
"This is a serious storm that requires serious action to get people out of harm's way," Riley said, adding that incoming lanes may be closed to turn some highways into one-way evacuation routes.
Along Florida's Panhandle, the sounds of buzzing saws and drills filled the air as people protected their homes. The Ivan Hair Studio and Spa in Panama City Beach was closed and one home offered a spray-painted warning: "Ivan, Do Not Enter."
"We are just hoping to still be here," said Matt Claxton, an assistant manager of a Perdido Key seafood restaurant where workers boarded up and brought patio furniture inside.
Alice Allgood, 75, made a whirlwind six-hour dash from Marietta, Ga., to button up the Panama City Beach summer home enjoyed by three generations of her family and bring home scrapbooks and photo albums.
While her son, John, made quick work of protective panels with a circular saw, Allgood removed a blue sunfish plaque bearing her name and her late husband's name, Jim, from a front-door post.
"We may be doing this for nothing," Mrs. Allgood said, holding a piece of plywood in place as her son hammered spikes through it. "But I sure am going to sleep better. It's good to know we're covered — then it's up to somebody besides us."
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46 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!
By DOUG SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Faced with a nightmare scenario of floodwaters that could drown this below-sea-level city, thousands of evacuees jammed highways Tuesday in an agonizingly slow escape from 140-mph Hurricane Ivan as it bore down on four Gulf Coast states.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic flowed out of this city of 1.5 million amid a state of emergency and dire warnings that an Ivan-sized storm could could essentially overflow Lake Pontchartrain, overwhelming this saucer-shaped city with up to 20 feet of water.
"Hopefully the house will still be here when we get back," said Tara Chandra, a Tulane University physician who packed up his car, moved plants indoors and tried to book a Houston hotel room.
Chandra wanted to ride out the storm but his wife wanted to evacuate. "All the news reports are kind of freaking her out."
Forecasters say Ivan, a killer blamed for at least 68 deaths in the Caribbean, could strengthen back to Category 5, 160-mph power by the time the massive storm makes landfall as early as Thursday.
With hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph across an area nearly 200 miles wide, it threatened significant damage no matter where it strikes. That prompted officials to order or strongly urge people to flee in a danger zone stretching from Morgan City and New Orleans in Louisiana to St. Marks in the Florida Panhandle.
"I beg people on the coast: Do not ride this storm out," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said, urging people in other parts of the state to open their homes to relatives, friends and co-workers.
New Orleans, the nation's largest city below sea level, also may be its most vulnerable in a hurricane, and Mayor Ray Nagin was among the first to urge residents to get out while they can. The city's Louis Armstrong Airport was ordered closed Tuesday night.
Up to 10 feet below sea level in spots, it sits between the nearly half-mile-wide Mississippi River and the Rhode Island-sized Pontchartrain, relying on a system of levees, canals and huge pumps to keep dry.
The city hasn't taken a major direct hit since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged some parts of the city in 7 feet of water.
But experts say Ivan could be worse, sending water pouring over the levees, flooding to the rooftops and turning streets into a toxic mixing bowl of raw sewage, gas and chemicals from nearby refineries.
By midday Tuesday, Interstate 10, the major hurricane route out of New Orleans, was bumper-to-bumper, and state police turned the interstate west of the city into a one-way artery out. U.S. Highway 59, the old major route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, also was jammed.
In the French Quarter, plywood and closed shutters were the order of the day and business appeared slow — but not dead. Cafe du Monde was sparsley filled, and a man playing a trombone outside the cafe had a box full of tips.
"They said get out, but I can't change my flight, so I figure I might as well enjoy myself," said George Senton, of Newark, N.J., who listened to the music. "At least I'll have had some good coffee and some good music before it gets me."
Tourist Dee Barkhart, a court reporter from Baltimore, was drinking Hurricane punches at Pat O'Brien's bar. She thought about leaving as the storm approached, but decided against it.
"I looked into earlier flights, but they were hundreds of dollars more and I wasn't sure I could switch flights," she said. "I figure I'm happier sitting here drinking hurricanes than sitting at the airport worrying about them."
But Barkhart's drinks would have to be for the road. The bar planned to close by nightfall.
Elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, thousands of residents, gamblers and tourists crowded northbound roads out of the storm's path.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic jams in Mississippi were compounded by motorists heading north from New Orleans, and inland motel were booked as far north as Jackson, Miss., and Montgomery, Ala.
Dennis Nowell, co-owner of Ventilated Awnings in Gulfport, Miss., tugged at a mounted largemouth bass hanging from the wall as he packed up his belongings.
"That's what you do. You get your valuables that can't be replaced and you get out of town," Nowell said before heading north to Jackson.
Mississippi regulators ordered a dozen casinos along the state's 75-mile-long coast to close at noon Tuesday but many gamblers pumped slot machines right up to closing.
"I don't worry about what's going to happen tomorrow. We can't control it anyway," said Ed Bak of Fairfield, Ohio, who dropped quarters into a slot machine at the President Casino.
In Alabama, Gov. Bob Riley ordered the evacuation of coastal resorts where thousands of vacationers already had been packing and heading out.
"This is a serious storm that requires serious action to get people out of harm's way," Riley said, adding that incoming lanes may be closed to turn some highways into one-way evacuation routes.
Along Florida's Panhandle, the sounds of buzzing saws and drills filled the air as people protected their homes. The Ivan Hair Studio and Spa in Panama City Beach was closed and one home offered a spray-painted warning: "Ivan, Do Not Enter."
"We are just hoping to still be here," said Matt Claxton, an assistant manager of a Perdido Key seafood restaurant where workers boarded up and brought patio furniture inside.
Alice Allgood, 75, made a whirlwind six-hour dash from Marietta, Ga., to button up the Panama City Beach summer home enjoyed by three generations of her family and bring home scrapbooks and photo albums.
While her son, John, made quick work of protective panels with a circular saw, Allgood removed a blue sunfish plaque bearing her name and her late husband's name, Jim, from a front-door post.
"We may be doing this for nothing," Mrs. Allgood said, holding a piece of plywood in place as her son hammered spikes through it. "But I sure am going to sleep better. It's good to know we're covered — then it's up to somebody besides us."
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