I Applaud This But....

Bring on the soapbox, it's time for a bit of a rant.

Let's go back to Thursday, when Gustav's track has yet to be clearly defined, but without a turn westward, things are not looking good for New Orleans. I'm watching the local news and see a story about local air evac and ambulance teams being deployed the next morning to help evacuate the hospitals and nursing homes.

This is followed by another story about charter busses and Amtrak working deals to evacuate those who don't have their own means out of the city. Then the National Guard arrives in droves, c-17s are more common on the tarmack at Louis Armstrong Airport than commercial flights to help evacuate.

And Mayor Nagin orders a mandatory evacuation. This was a shocker. When we were preparing to evacuate for Katrina, I distinctly remember him saying on a live news interview "legally I cannot to you that you have to leave." Meaning that by doing so, hospitals would close and emergency personnel would be scarce. That's when the head of the hurricane center (also on the interview) jumped in and said something to the effect of "he may not be able to, but I've seen countless hurricanes and you MUST get out .... now!"

Don't get me wrong, I think all of these proactive measures to prepare for the now eminent arrival of Gustav are great - and having 90-95% of the coast evacuated is excellent. BUT my question is, why now? Why did we not have the foresight to do this three years ago?

Granted the storm surge and flooding associated with being on the eastern side of the eye are much worse than the ones you get on the western front (as with Katrina), we were expected a direct hit in 2005. The AP took this picture of Tulane's athletic facilities after the levee breech. The squareish looking building was my office on the side overlooking the baseball field; my parking spot next to the tennis courts at the bottom of the photo. And this is on the "good side."

It's extremely disheartening to think what things will be like come Monday evening. One of our most unique cities, and now one of my favorite places to visit, could once again be submerged. Hopefully this time, the levees have been shored up, people took the warnings seriously and things will not be as catastrophic.

As I did a little more than three years ago to the day, I ask all of you to pray for all of our friends and former co-workers who still call NOLA home. From what we understand, they've all evacuated and are now playing the waiting game until they are allowed back...hopefully to unflooded homes that are still standing.