Post-Dennis happenings in Louisiana

LaPlaceFF · #1 Postby **LaPlaceFF** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:49 pm

I am listening to talk radio here and this is what I am hearing:

1)The Jefferson Parish president was chastised for having a evacuation order released too early.

2) Peopled complained about gas price gouging during the wait for the starm.

N2Storms · #2 Postby **N2Storms** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:57 pm

The price of gas here in Panama City went up an average of 20-25 cents a gallon last Thurs. Most merchants said that they were in the process of raising their prices and it was just coincidental that Dennis was threatening our area at that time....yeah, right....

#3 Postby **HollynLA** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:09 pm

From what I understand is that is was just a coincidence that gas prices spiked as Dennis was on his way.

As far as the evacuation order in Jefferson too early, it was just a voluntary evacuation. LA's new plan is supposed to start evacuations 50 hours before a storm (which is rediculous, it's barely in the gomex) and we were within 50 hours and in the cone of error, so I think it was okay to do so. What do they think, a storm is going to be correctly forecasted here 50 hours out? Possibly, but not likely. This plan is not going to work. I an assure you that if a major hurricane was threatening SE LA and was forecasted to come directly here, people would not be sitting around waiting until their PHASE is called to leave. It just isn't going to work like that.

mitchell · #4 Postby **mitchell** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:17 pm

HollynLA wrote: people would not be sitting around waiting until their PHASE is called to leave. It just isn't going to work like that.

Kind of like asking people to board an aircraft back to front...apparently beyond the capability of the human species. :wink:

HurryKane · #5 Postby **HurryKane** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:23 pm

mitchell wrote:
HollynLA wrote: people would not be sitting around waiting until their PHASE is called to leave. It just isn't going to work like that.
Kind of like asking people to board an aircraft back to front...apparently beyond the capability of the human species.

That's why Delta instituted zone boarding. But your zone doesn't correspond to where you sit, so...yeah. It's like Southwest's A/B/C boarding but still with assigned seating.

And even then, there's always a backup in the aisle because someone hasn't learned from experience. Correlation: no matter what they do, evacs from NOLA are going to be unpleasant.

#6 Postby **HollynLA** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:34 pm

Love the analogy about airplane boarding. I've always wondered what idiot decided to load the plan from front to back... :roll:

We're all standing there in the aisle waiting to get past the moron who thought carry on meant he could carry on his entire luggage rack and take his sweet arse time putting it away.

zoeyann · #7 Postby **zoeyann** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:45 pm

I do not know about the airplane comparision(never been on one), but it is clear that the new plan is not going to work. Contraflow looks very confusing and apparently there are still problems with parish to parish communication.

HurryKane · #8 Postby **HurryKane** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:47 pm

HollynLA wrote:Love the analogy about airplane boarding. I've always wondered what idiot decided to load the plan from front to back...
We're all standing there in the aisle waiting to get past the moron who thought carry on meant he could carry on his entire luggage rack and take his sweet arse time putting it away.

Egggsactly. They're from the "I just can't understand why 10 lbs of crap won't fit in a 5 lb sack" school of thought.

NC George · #9 Postby **NC George** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:09 pm

HollynLA wrote:From what I understand is that is was just a coincidence that gas prices spiked as Dennis was on his way.

Nothing coincidental about it at all. Prices shot up in Asia on reports a category 4 storm was bearing down on the GOM oil fields. So gas prices went up in response. On Monday (first day of trading after storm) prices in Asia went back down below $60 a barrel. Now the question is - if they raise local gas prices so quicky in response to the price per barrel rising, why aren't the prices dropping just as fast now that the emergency is over, and the price per barrel is back down?

#10 Postby **micktooth** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:15 pm

I think most of the concern was Mr. Broussard, the Parish President, scaring people with his wording. He said he wanted the state police to start contra flow on the highways while the storm was still near Cuba. Contraflow is a worst case scenario play. All models and mets were looking east of NO. I think calling for an evac was ok, just the way he did it stunk. He threw out the whole coordinated plan agreed upon by all of the local parishes. I am wondering where he got his meteorological info from? Again, if the models were trending to NO it might have been a better call. Just my opinion. By the way, I evacuated for Georges and Ivan but this past weekend I swam with my kids and played tennis.

#11 Postby **Steve** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:17 pm

A friend of mine (privvy and in on the dreaded "conference calls") said it wasn't so much that Jefferson called for the mandatory but that they wanted the contraflow put in place as well. That dooms everyone in lower St. Bernard and Plaquemines as they would have to use state highways and/or biways if the interstate system was turned one-way only. I thought the move to call for the voluntaries in JP was fine and didn't break the spirit of the contraflow plan. And let's face it, some of those EM guys do panic with a possible Cat 4 bearing down on the area (especially Dr. Maestri who is a doom and gloomer though completely practical).

Add to that, that the previous conference call at 10pm the night before, President Broussard didn't mention he was going to do this at all, and you can see why everyone in the other parishes was ticked.

As a resident of Jefferson, I can see the point. Traffic bottlenecks in our areas as it is, much moreso during a mandatory evacuation. We also need to be able to get around and tie up the loose ends. But it was a premature jump of the gun by Parish officials. The other thing to note is that the timing was right. It was approximately 50 hours prior to the onset of tropical storm force winds which is when Level I is evacuations are issued. Had it been a real emergency, things would have worked better. As it turned out, it gives the headsup that there are likely to be a lot of false alarms since 50 hours out from tropical storm winds is an awful long time.

Steve

#12 Postby **micktooth** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:24 pm

Steve, I strongly agree! Especially on Dr. "Worst Case Scenario" Maestri.

#13 Postby **crazycajuncane** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:29 pm

It'll take a long time to perfect this system. I mean.. who knows when a Cat.4 is going to change its' mind and head the other way? Look at the last minute scares in Mississippi! Until we know 50 hours out exactly where the storm is going, our evacuation plan will have some flaws.

Brent ~crazycajuncane

Post-Dennis happenings in Louisiana

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