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August 31st, 2008
Posted: 04:07 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator David Paulison said Sunday that his agency had gathered thousands of meals, liters of water and other supplies for evacuees ahead of Hurricane Gustav’s expected arrival. He said the supplies, which also included cots and generators, could be quickly moved “wherever the storm happens to make landfall.” Like other officials, Paulison urged Gulf Coast residents to evacuate, particularly those in New Orleans. “I cannot emphasize enough the need to evacuate the city,” he said, speaking a news conference. He also encouraged evacuees to register with FEMA’s family registry locator system, so family members could locate them. There was no such system in place during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, “and it was very difficult for families to locate family members,” he said. The registration could be accessed via FEMA’s Web site — www.fema.gov — or by calling the agency at 1-800-588-9822, he said. “I told you before we were going to be ready for this storm,” he said. “I think we’re showing you we are ready for this storm. “Again, we cannot — I can’t stop the damage from happening. We can’t stop the storm from coming in. What we can come is be as ready as possible,” he said. Paulison said a number of hospitals that had planned to ride out the storm were now moving critical-needs patients, and several nursing homes had asked for help at the last minute. The majority of those in the nursing homes were bedridden, he said. “We had to get extra resources in there,” he said, particularly aircraft. Texas National Guard, U.S. Northern Command and others are helping, he said. “It looks like now we’re going to have enough aircraft to get everybody out.” Richard Rowe, Northcom’s chief operations officer, said he expected Northcom to fly some 1,300 patients out of the Gulf Coast region, and said the command had begun to move up to 16,000 other people out of New Orleans. They were flying them to Nashville, Tennessee; San Antonio, Texas; Louisville, Kentucky; and Fort Smith, Arkansas, he said. Rear Admiral Sally Brice-O’Hara of the U.S. Coast Guard told mariners to get out of harm’s way. “Mariners have to heed the advice, take precautions, find safe haven, stay out of this weather,” she said at the same news conference. |
 
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