Revised evacuation plan puts emphasis on mass transit

NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Ray Nagin revealed a new evacuation strategy for New Orleans on Tuesday that relies more on buses and trains and eliminates the Superdome and Convention Center as shelters.

“There will be no shelter of last resort in the event of a major hurricane coming our way,” Nagin said.

The mayor, facing a runoff election May 20, has been criticized for failing to get the city’s most vulnerable residents out of town as Hurricane Katrina approached.

The Superdome and the Convention Center became scenes of misery for days after the Aug. 29 hurricane as thousands of evacuees languished with shortages of food and water.

The mayor announced the plan on the same day the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report critical of levee designs in the New Orleans area by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The report found evidence of designs based on outdated land-elevation data, which resulted in miles of levees that did not climb as high above sea level as they were supposed to, often missing the mark by 2 feet or more.

Nagin said he was confident that repair work on the levees would leave the city more secure than before Katrina.

His new evacuation plan focuses on getting everyone out of the city for hurricanes stronger than Category 2, or those with sustained winds of 111 mph or higher. Katrina is believed to have been a Category 3 or 4 when it hit New Orleans.

Nagin said the Convention Center will be a staging point for evacuations, not a shelter.

“There will be a mandatory evacuation, and I would be shocked if people did not abide by it,” Nagin said.

Nagin also said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had cleared the way for the use of Amtrak passenger trains in the event of an evacuation.

An alternative plan for smaller storms, relying on temporary shelters in the city, is being devised for those now living in FEMA trailers. Most trailers become unstable once wind speeds surpass 45 mph.