23 September 2005
Texas, Louisiana Brace for Another Hurricane
Military, relief resources positioned to move after storm strike
By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington – Residents of the Gulf Coast states of Texas and Louisiana are boarding up windows, securing everything possible and heading inland, all in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Rita, swirling in the Gulf of Mexico with an expected landfall in the early hours of September 24.
Churning a course across the Gulf of Mexico for days, Hurricane Rita is designated a Category 3 storm and is expected to bring high tides and surging seas to approximately 650 kilometers of shoreline across the two states.
It is the second major hurricane to strike the United States in less than four weeks, and government officials at the national, state and local levels are working to ensure that they and their citizens are better prepared to withstand nature’s powerful forces than were their neighbors, who took the brunt of Hurricane Katrina August 29. (For more information on that storm and its aftermath, see Hurricane Katrina.)
President Bush will monitor the U.S. government response to Hurricane Rita the night of September 23 in Colorado at the U.S. Northern Command, one of several regional command centers of U.S. defense forces.
The president is watching federal assistance to state and local responders, and the role the U.S. military may play in supporting them in coping with catastrophic domestic disasters.
“Our job is to assist -- prepare for and assist -- the state and local people to save lives and to help these people get back on their feet,” Bush said September 23 before leaving Washington.
HOUSTON BRACES
Houston, the single largest urban area in Rita’s path, is a significant national center for the oil and chemical industries.
As a result, there is a sizeable international presence in the city, and the U.S. State Department is taking steps to encourage readiness among the 37 consulates and diplomatic missions in the city and the foreign nationals they serve.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the agency is encouraging foreign nations to maintain contact with their missions as they make plans to find safety in the storm.
A significant number of Houston’s almost 2 million people have evacuated the city, acting on the advice of city officials.
Located about 77 kilometers inland from the Gulf of Mexico, Houston is on Galveston Bay, a major access point to the open ocean and a major channel through which a hurricane storm surge could reach the low-lying city.
The city has issued very specific warnings to citizens, complete with colored maps and escape routes to emphasize the areas vulnerable to flooding in the event of a serious hurricane. The maps and escape routes can be viewed on the Houston Web site.
PREPAREDNESS
U.S. military and National Guard units are on a state of alert to be ready to enter the storm zone after a strike.
The U.S. Navy has positioned five ships in the eastern Gulf of Mexico that will be ready to “follow the storm” ashore, according to Lieutenant General Russel Honore, the lead military official overseeing the response to Hurricane Katrina.
Thousands of troops are already in position in the region involved in the clean up of the Gulf Coast, and they will be available for repositioning if necessary after Rita strikes.
Civilian agencies also have stepped up preparedness, with more than 400 medical team personnel and 14 search-and-rescue teams on the way to Texas, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
In addition, the Northern Command is staging a fleet of helicopters to move into the stricken area to help with damage assessments and search and rescue.
“It is a very coordinated operation,” said Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the chief federal official overseeing the recovery operation on the Gulf Coast. “We have total visibility of the resources at the state, local and federal level.”
A SECOND BLOW
The disruption and potentially dangerous trial of a major hurricane is an ordeal for the millions in its path, but even more so for the hundreds of thousands who now face a second strike in less than a month.
A few hundred thousand people evacuated from Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina went to Houston and now must endure a second flight from a storm.
Eastern Louisiana could take the full force of the storm’s blast, just as the western part of the state did at the end of August.
The city of New Orleans, almost drained this week from the meters of floodwater that swamped 80 percent of the city, now is vulnerable to another round of flooding as it is deluged by Rita’s heavy rains.
With Hurricane Rita still almost 300 kilometers out to sea September 23, high water had begun to churn and breached the damaged levees of New Orleans. News reports say water is surging back into the city, which remains largely depopulated.
Rita also has dashed the hopes of New Orleans city officials.
On September 15, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin invited residents of lightly damaged neighborhoods on the high ground to begin returning home in hopes of bringing the city known as the Big Easy back to life. (See related article.)
The approach of Hurricane Rita and the ongoing potential for another flood forced city officials to withdraw the invitation.
Only after Rita is past and the damage assessed will displaced New Orleanians learn more about when they can return.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
