New Orleans evacuated as Katrina bears down By Mark Coultan New York and Rick Wilking New Orleans August 30, 2005
Page Tools Email to a friend Printer format Drivers and passengers try to escape hurricane Photo: Reuters
IT WAS the combination of circumstances that emergency management authorities hoped would never come to pass — the perfect storm heading towards the most vulnerable coastal city in the US.
New Orleans was bracing for one of the most powerful hurricanes in recorded history, which threatened to flood the historic city. The French Quarter, including famous Bourbon Street, was quiet, most of its bars and restaurants boarded up.
The hurricane has also affected supplies of oil from the Gulf of Mexico, with the price of oil briefly hitting $US70 a barrel.
The Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, ordered a compulsory evacuation of the city after President George Bush declared it a natural disaster area in advance of the storm, which was accompanied by winds of 260 km/h.
"We are facing a storm most of us have feared. This is not a test, this is the real deal," Mr Nagin said.
A large hurricane hitting New Orleans is a worst-case scenario for emergency management. A city of 500,000 with a greater suburban population of 1.3 million, New Orleans was built on land that is largely below sea level.
Authorities estimated that about a million evacuated the city before authorities closed roads when conditions became too dangerous.
