Here's the Plan -- At Least They Had One

One of my correspondents from Louisiana sent me this link to the City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. It makes for interesting reading. Check it out.

It's a long read but Annex 1 deals specifically with hurricanes. [Part 1 of the annex describes warning procedures; Part 2 deals with evacuations.

Here we read:

The authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane.

So, both the governor and the mayor were tasked with ordering evacuations. But the plan specifically places responsibility for issuing the evacuation order with the mayor.

The person responsible for recognition of hurricane related preparation needs and for the issuance of an evacuation order is the Mayor of the City of New Orleans. Concerning preparation needs and the issuance of an evacuation order, The Office of Emergency Preparedness should keep the Mayor advised.

Now this is interesting -- the time requirements for evacuation notices.

Using information developed as part of the Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Task Force and other research, the City of New Orleans has established a maximum acceptable hurricane evacuation time standard for a Category 3 storm event of 72 hours. This is based on clearance time or is the time required to clear all vehicles evacuating in response to a hurricane situation from area roadways. Clearance time begins when the first evacuating vehicle enters the road network and ends when the last evacuating vehicle reaches its destination.

Clearance time also includes the time required by evacuees to secure their homes and prepare to leave (mobilization time); the time spent by evacuees traveling along the road network (travel time); and the time spent by evacuees waiting along the road network due to traffic congestion (delay time). Clearance time does not refer to the time a single vehicle spends traveling on the road network.

Note there is no mention of category four or five storms. Note also that evacuation should have been ordered 72 hours before landfall. Special needs evacuation should have begun 60 hours before landfall. General evacuation would, the plan says, take up to 48 hours.

Mayor Nagin issued a voluntary evacuation order at 5:00 pm CST on Saturday, August 27th and made it mandatory the following day. Was this sufficient time? Katrina hit the shore at 6:10 am CST on Monday. You do the math.

For those who say there was no plan, there certainly was -- it just wasn't adequate to the emergency, nor was it implemented properly.

Oh, and by the way, the Mayor did not issue a mandatory evacuation order until after he had been called by the Governor and told to do so, and she did not make the call until after she had been urged to by the only official who understood that such an order had to be given -- President Bush. So, you have state and local officials dithering until prodded into action by the President. Read it here. Hat tip Gateway Pundit, here.