TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Gustav Keeping Residents Out

ADVERTISEMENT

The Washington Post

Published: September 3, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - Even though Hurricane Gustav did not wreak the destruction expected when it struck the Gulf Coast on Monday, officials said Tuesday that they were not ready to allow many of the 1.9 million Louisiana residents who had evacuated to return.

Although the worst was avoided - there were no major levee breaks of the sort that inundated New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal cautioned that the state still faces major hurdles before life returns to normal.

"This was a serious storm that has caused major damage," Jindal said, as the hurricane's trailing edge continued to dump rain across the state. Massive power outages were among the most immediate problems, with some towns completely without electricity.

About 1.4 million customers are without power in Louisiana, and vast portions of the New Orleans and Baton Rouge metropolitan areas have been knocked off the national electricity grid, said Kevin Kolevar, assistant secretary of energy.

Of immediate concern were about a dozen hospitals that had limited electricity service, raising the possibility that some of the 800 patients will need to be evacuated, in addition to the hundreds already removed to more secure facilities, Jindal said.

State and federal officials said they were moving fuel to hospitals and other key facilities to ensure that they can continue to run generators.

Maj. Gen. Don Riley, deputy commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, said Gustav damaged the roofs of about 25,000 homes, compared with 200,000 damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The corps estimated it will need to remove 10 million cubic yards of debris, compared with 120 million cubic yards after the 2005 storms, Riley said.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT