Hurricane Gustav
Coming three years after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and nearby Gulf Coast regions, the impending arrival of Hurricane Gustav in the same area in 2008 raised concerns that similar misfortunes might befall the area comparable to the calamities that occurred during the first storm. These concerns over the imminence of Gustav were especially heightened by widespread criticism lobbed at the state and federal government responses made to Hurricane Katrina’s previous impact. With the United States presidential elections being prepared for in campaigns by prospective candidates, Presidential hopeful Barack Obama and John McCain kept the possible effects of Hurricane Gustav in mind as they monitored their public images. Likewise, the administration of President George W. Bush made early precautions to avoid drawing the same kind of criticism over its handling of Gustav as had occurred with Hurricane Katrina. Ultimately, in comparison to the long-lasting repercussions suffered from the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, the effects of Hurricane Gustav were less overtly disastrous. That being said, several dozen deaths and significant amounts of damage were suffered as a result of Gustav.
One response to the widespread criticisms elicited by the governmental handling of Hurricane Katrina was to begin evacuation efforts early on. At the point when Hurricane Gustav had only reached the point of Haiti, officials in the state of Louisiana began discussing plans for moving residents out of potentially affected areas. At first, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced, on August 30, that residents of the city should start evacuating the area if it was possible for them. By the next day, mandatory evacuations had been ordered. In responding to the problems that had afflicted evacuation efforts during Katrina, different venues were chosen for the safe housing of evacuees, and evacuation materials were secured ahead of time in quantities estimated to be sufficient for meeting demand. Measures were also adopted for attempting to keep highways and other roads open for the passage of evacuees from Gustav.
The eventual results of Gustav’s landfall in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana were, as had been hoped by planners for the response to the storm, less disastrous than those suffered from Hurricane Katrina.
In total, forty-eight deaths were blamed on Hurricane Gustav, with two deaths caused by a tornado that had been created by Gustav. Thirty-four parishes (the equivalents of counties for other states) were declared disaster areas by the Bush Administration, which subsequently dispatched the president to the areas in question in the interests of remedying lingering bad will from memories of the handling of Katrina. A major component of the previous storm’s devastating effect had been the breaching of levees, which thus was also a concern in preparing for the arrival of Gustav. Though water was splashed high enough to go over flood walls, it did not cause any breaches, which avoided a major cause of flooding. Recovery efforts proceeded quickly enough for the restoration of power to be effected and allow New Orleans’ official reopening on September 4.
