Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Athens ISD enrolls 146 evacuees

Goose Creek ISD adds 255 evacuees and Barbers Hill adds 90

Now an evacuation plan is suppose to work

Beaumont Enterprise:

Images of New Orleans residents trapped at the Superdome paired with those of flooded school buses have made some question whether Southeast Texas can help residents without transportation get out if a hurricane approaches.

Emergency managers think so.

Evacuation plans for Jefferson and Orange counties include using school buses to transport residents without vehicles to shelters further north.

Under the system used three years ago when Hurricane Lili threatened Southeast Texas, city buses take Jefferson County residents to designated locations, where school buses pick them up to get them out of the area.

"If anyone wanted to leave during Lili, they had the opportunity," Jefferson County Emergency Management Coordinator John Cascio said.

In Texas, emergency management plans must attempt to determine how many people have no vehicle and make provisions for public transportation, Orange County Emergency Management Coordinator Chuck Frazier said. Orange County also uses school buses with pick-up points scattered through low-income neighborhoods, he said.

...

Cascio noted that Jefferson County has a much smaller population than New Orleans, but it still takes 29 hours to evacuate. In Orange County, evacuation time is estimated at 32 hours.

With more people, including an estimated 100,000 with no vehicles, New Orleans needs even more time. That city's emergency management plan, accessible online at www.cityofno.com, said a general evacuation order should be issued 48 hours before a hurricane makes landfall.

That is one reason Mayor Nagins waiting 16 hours after he was told by the weather service that evacuation was needed was a critical mistake. He gave New Orleans less than 24 hours to do a mandatory evacuation when his plan said he needed 48 hours.