Bush Okays Hurricane Gustav Emergency Aid

With Hurricane Gustav just leaving Cuba, and already a category 3 storm, President Bush wasted no time in clearing both Louisiana and Texas to receive federal emergency aid. The action authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide residents of the states with any equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.

On Thursday, FEMA announced that the agency had already positioned meals, water, generators and other emergency survival equipment in the Gulf Coast region, ready to be deployed as needed.

With the most probable track of Gustav still brining the storm on shore near New Orleans on Sept. 2, Bloomberg.com reported that Louisiana officials had already prepared to activate state evacuation plans for its southern parishes. Mandatory evacuations could begin as early as Sunday morning, according to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who said that busses had already been assembled and that Amtrak had volunteered to assist.

Clearly, federal and state officials are doing everything they can to prevent a repeat of the tragically failed emergency response to Hurricane Katrina that nearly wiped out New Orleans and killed over 1,800 people just three years ago.

• Louisiana Gustav Emergency Information
  
• Texas Gustav Emergency Information

Also See: FEMA Prepares as Gustav Aims at New Orleans