Hurricane Watches up For Southeast Louisiana

That Contra-Flow was well named. I can't figure how that slipped in as a valid evac plan. That is the one that shuttles people from NO over into MS and prevents MS coastline from evacuating.

On the phone to my brother last night I was talking about what a huge mess it would be if they ever had to evacuate Jackson Cty MS. The entire cty is low-lying and any serious hurricane threat would mean evacuation of pretty much everyone in the cty.

According to an article from WLOX online I read yesterday:

"Following Hurricane Dennis in July, which caused scattered damage and flooding problems from Jackson County northward along the state's east side, Latham said he had serious concerns about the numbers who chose not to heed evacuations. He said based on a survey conducted after Dennis, it appeared 'the general public is very tired and weary of evacuations. We are worried many people will not evacuate.'"

My brother told me that when Georges (a Cat 2 that made landfall at Ocean Springs) hit, that in the eastern part of the cty, near the AL line, there were people who didn't evacuate and who drowned in their homes. He said there was over 10 feet of water in some places there, and he had participated in rescue efforts there, where he was using a boat and the street signs, which he said are 8' high, were under water.

Anyway he said that the county sent everyone a map recently in the mail showing the evacuation routes and the funny thing was that they highlighted every road out of the county. There are only about four or five roads out of the county (not counting I-10 which simply runs along the coast), and they are all tiny back roads that are prone to flooding in places. In the event of a coastal evac, some of them would be congested just north of the county with people leaving from AL or from Biloxi area, preventing residents from getting very far. Of course you can't specify additional roads if they don't exist.

There are so many problems with resources and $$$ even beyond the evacuation logistics, for this area of the N GOM. I really hope the models don't start to turn east because by then all the NO folks will be in hotels in central MS, which will be full, and many of the gas stations will be out of gas, and where will those people on the MS coast go. At least in MOB they can head towards Montgomery or ATL on I-65 or east on I-10.

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