Lt. Gen. Russel Honore
Courtesy US ArmyCNN has an interview Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is urging people to follow evacuation orders near the rising Red River. Cold temperatures are going to make this flood more dangerous, because if people get stuck in the frigid waters they won't be able to last long waiting for rescue before hypothermia sets in.
As Thor pointed out in another post, the frigid waters are also have a negative effect on the improvised sandbag dams that are holding back the rising waters.
Honore talked about the danger implicit in the sandbagging effort. The volunteers shoring up the sandbag walls are doing great work to help the community, but the leaders of this effort have to calculate and predict when or if the waters will break through. If those volunteers aren't evacuated before the waters rush in it might be too late for a safe escape.
He puts it pretty clearly at the end of the interview:
CNN: What's your final message for residents in the region?
Honore: Get out of there...
Tags : A graduate student at MIT has developed software that will help emergency managers plan better, safer, more efficient evacuations.
5-Day Track Forecast Cone: 5-Day Track Forecast Cone: The black line and dots show the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast track of the center at the times indicated.
Courtesy NOAATropical storm Gustav is nearing hurricane strength as it is about to hit Jamica on its way to the Gulf Coast. Gustav has already been responsible for 23 deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
After striking Haiti as a Category One hurricane on Tuesday Gustav weakened to a tropical storm but is gathering strength again.
Satellite image of Gustav
Courtesy NOAAAs the storm approaches the Gulf Coast is it possible it could make landfall near New Orleans. Current predictions place it just to the east, but folks in New Orleans are bracing for it all the same. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency yesterday and announced plans to begin evacuating coastal areas. Forecasters warned that the average error in landfall predictions at this point is about 300 miles, meaning Gustav could hit anywhere from southern Texas to the Florida panhandle.
Oil prices rose as a result of the possible impact the storm could have on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Some oil companies have already been evacuating crews from oil rigs.
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