Evacuation could begin Friday
Dave Cohen Reporting
Emergency planners say a phased evacuation of South Louisiana may start Friday as they watch Gustav's track.
"I am very concerned about it," says Tab Troxler, Director of Emergency Preparedness in St. Charles Parish. He adds that an evacuation this time could be the largest ever.
"Katrina went pretty well with the evacuation... but there really were not that many parishes in South Louisiana actually calling for any kind of mandatory evacuation," Troxler told WWL First News. He says the best guess from the Hurricane Center as of 4am called for a landfall somewhere around Morgan City, Louisiana Tuesday or Wednesday, and that would mean clearing out a lot more people.
"That brings a lot of other parishes into play... that would have a need and most likely would have to call for an evacuation," Troxler says. He adds that when you look at evacuating everyone from Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson, St. Charles, LaFourche, Terrebonne and further west; it would be unprecedented.