Monday, September 1, 2008

Gustav Evacuation Was Smooth


New Orleans Times-Picayune's Sarah Carr writes that most everyone got out of town in time. There were no major problems like three years ago with Katrina.

The largest government-assisted evacuation in New Orleans' history wrapped up smoothly Sunday after about 18,000 people boarded government-provided buses, trains and airplanes over three days to flee Hurricane Gustav.

By noon Sunday, the flow of evacuees coming through the Union Passenger Terminal on Loyola Avenue had slowed to a trickle, with more National Guard soldiers, police and volunteers filling the station than evacuees.

I'm confident "everybody who wanted to leave was able to leave," said Michael Chertoff, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who visited the terminal as evacuations wrapped up.

Chertoff said early estimates suggest that a high percentage of the city's population evacuated, but he stressed that could not be confirmed until the storm passes. "There may be people hiding in their houses," he said.

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