Residents from Florida to Louisiana flee Ivan
Frightened residents of the Gulf Coast from Florida’s Panhandle to Louisiana’s bayous boarded up windows, packed and hit the road Tuesday as Hurricane Ivan charged in their direction.
Schools and coastal casinos were ordered closed and more than 1 million people were urged to evacuate the vulnerable New Orleans area.
A hurricane watch was posted for a 420-mile-long swath from St. Marks in the Florida Panhandle, just south of Tallahassee, to New Orleans and Morgan City, La.
Authorities ordered or strongly urged residents and tourists to evacuate coastal areas of the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Schools were closed in New Orleans and parts of Florida, Mississippi and Alabama, and some areas started opening shelters. Panama City Beach was deserted at dawn Tuesday.
“This is a serious storm that requires serious action to get people out of harm’s way,” Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said.
Ivan, a killer blamed for at least 68 deaths in the Caribbean, was a Category 4 hurricane at early afternoon with top sustained wind at 140 mph, down from 160 mph — Category 5 strength — earlier.
“That’s a monster they’ve got out there. I’m not taking any chances,” Irvin Bruce said as he and his wife, Lillian, packed to leave the Copa Casino in Gulfport, Miss., to return to their home west of New Orleans. If necessary, he said, they would keep going west.
Although they’re on the western side of the watch area, New Orleans and its suburb of Jefferson Parish urged their population of around 1 million to head for higher ground, and suburban St. Charles Parish ordered its 49,000 residents to leave.
New Orleans is flanked by the Mississippi River and broad Lake Pontchartrain, and needs a system of canals and huge pumps to keep it dry because parts of it are as much as 10 feet below sea level. The city hasn’t taken a major direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy in 1965, which flooded some neighborhoods up to 7 feet deep. Many highways leading out of the metro area are prone to flooding, severely limiting escape routes.
The spot where the center of the storm would make landfall was anyone’s guess, but New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin noted that hurricane-strength wind extended as far as 100 miles out from Ivan’s center. He declared a state of emergency.
“We don’t know if were going to get a punch in the mouth or a kick in the knee. But we’re going to get hit,” Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard said at a news conference.
Forecasters warned that Ivan still could strengthen before hitting shore. They also said it could slow down or stall over the Appalachians this weekend, raising the risk of serious flooding.
At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Ivan was centered about 405 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 420 miles south of Panama City, the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving north-northwest at 9 mph.