Lesson Learned

Today, the city of New Orleans breathed what can only be one of the biggest collective sighs of relief since 1815. Hurricane Gustav, other than strengthening as some forecasts suggested, weakened slightly and then veered off to the West, making landfall about 70 miles away from the city. All indications point to the levees having held thus far (another surge is likely, but there have been no major breaks so far), the oil infrastructure not having been damaged, and few casualties after a prompt and well-organized evacuation. The lesson of Katrina, it seems has been learned.

This conclusion can be drawn not only because of the fact that the city will come out of the even relatively unscathed, but because of the response prior to the storm. The evacuation, urged by both Governor Jindal and Mayor Nagin, was both better organized and more widely heeded than the one in 2005. As of now, according to this article in Reuters, over 14,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to the area, and up to 50,000 are on standby. The state of Louisiana has been walking on eggs about the storm for days now, urging caution and preparedness in every aspect of the impending hurricane. In short, it appears that everything is under control.

However, though it seems that the handling of approaching storms has seen a marked improvement since the political disaster that was Katrina, it is worth noting that Gutsav, as a citizen quoted in the above article said "doesn't have no punch." As an acid test of the infrastructure of the city, Gustav is a gimme. The storm surge from Katrina was fully 28 feet; from Gustav, 10-14 feet. Where Katrina's winds were 125 MpH, Gustav's are 110. Katrina, as it made landfall, was a category 3, weakened mere hours before from the fourth strongest hurricane on record; Gustav was a mere category 1, that had peaked fully a day and a half earlier at category 4. That the levees have avoided major breaks should be no surprise. The fact that the atmosphere was so tense beforehand speaks strongly to the tenuous nature of improvement, and the depth of the disaster previous.

Gustav, so far, has been an example of a proper response to a major hurricane that Katrina was the antithesis of. However, it also underlines a few areas that are in obvious need of improvement. Even though the city seems to have escaped disastrous levee breaks on the order of Katrina's, there have been some close calls; waves have been reported as lapping at the tops of some levees, and one nearer the epicenter of the storm had water flowing over it (though it hadn't broken) at one point. Clearly, had the storm been but a little stronger, there could have been massively more damage than the 6-10 billion estimated so far. The city, as well as the nation at large, has apparently learned a lot about how to respond to a hurricane. Preparing for the worst of hurricanes, though, may still need some improvement.

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	Caution urged as Gustav weakens	BBC News	Tue Sep 2	0
	Hurricane Gustav slams La.; 1M without power	Associated Press	Wed Aug 27	0
	New Orleans residents returning home after Gustav	Associated Press	Mon Sep 1	10
	Gustav revives question: Is New Orleans worth it?	Associated Press	Tue Sep 2	30
	Weakened Gustav Tests New Orleans Levee System	The Washington Post	Mon Sep 1	1