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Gustav Reveals Some Weaknesses

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 12, 2008

Though federal, state and local officials were rightly praised for their speedy reaction to the threat of Hurricane Gustav last week, the storm that hit southeast Louisiana also exposed weakness in the hurricane-defense system.

Not only were some evacuees put on buses without knowing where they would be taken, last week some were returned to their communities to find they had no power, no water and no place to stay.

For instance, state transportation officials returned 200 residents to Houma, La., without alerting local officials. No shelter had been opened for them. Most could not return home because of wind and rain damage.

"The state didn't even call us," said interim Terrbonne Parish Manager Pat Gordon. "We didn't tell them to bring anybody back. I have no idea who organized those buses to show up."

The parish managed to open up an emergency shelter, but evacuees wondered why they were forced to return to a community still dealing with widespread damage and preparing for another Gulf storm. Much of Houma is without power, water or sewer service.

Of course, transporting nearly 2 million residents is a massive undertaking, and some missteps are to be expected. Such lapses do not compare to the debacle of Hurricane Katrina, where officials on all levels appeared ill-prepared and slow to react.

But Gustav showed the evacuation process, while much improved, requires the utmost monitoring and coordination, something Florida emergency officials should keep in mind.

Gustav also should wash away any doubts about the need to rebuild Louisiana's coast. Because of ill-designed flood control projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the checkerboarding of the coast with canals built to serve the offshore oil industry, the state loses more than 25 miles of coastal wetlands a year.

Dikes prevent the Mississippi River's muddy flow from replenishing the coastal land. The canals allow salt water to wash away the land.

Michael Grunwald of Time magazine reports how the coastal wetlands and islands protect the public.

"The brunt of the storm passed directly over the coast's best-preserved barrier island, Grand Isle, which sapped its power; Gustav also seems to have passed over another speed bump in the form of a rare swath of healthy marshes."

Grunwald quotes Louisiana State University coastal scientist Robert Twilley, who said, "It's really incredible: A slight variation of the track either way could have meant six more feet of storm surge."

Most people, at least those not in southeast Louisiana, may rate the Gustav experience as a government success story. But a closer look shows there are still natural-disaster lessons to be learned, and none more important than the need to protect and restore the nation's natural storm buffers.

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