Preparations
Initial reactions to the approaching hurricane in the Yucatán Peninsula were regarded as calm by the United States media. Mexican officials declared an emergency alert by September 2, although they did not advise any evacuations. Meteorologists in the United States urged those living near the coast to move inland immediately. Fearing significant loss of life and property, the Red Cross began preparations for the approaching hurricane in Belize. The following day, the Mexican Army rushed to set up emergency operation centers and shelters in five cities. Mobile communication units and relief teams were prepared for deployment following the storm's passage. Many of the nearly 35,000 residents in and around the city of Chetumal evacuated to higher ground.
Although it initially threatened the United States city of New Orleans, the hurricane turned west prior to making landfall and spared the area from severe damage. Contrary to its actual path, forecasters predicted the hurricane to execute an eastward swerve toward Florida. Had the cyclone instead continued northward and traveled over Lake Pontchartrain, low-lying areas could have suffered "catastrophic" flooding. Over 100,000 residents of the Gulf Coast, mostly in Louisiana and Mississippi, evacuated in advance of the hurricane, causing heavy congestion on highways. About 60,000 people sought shelter in facilities across the New Orleans region, according to Red Cross officials.
Hurricane warnings were issued along the coast, while Coast Guard personnel went door-to-door on Grand Isle urging residents to leave the area. From there through the coast of southwestern Florida, small craft were advised to remain near shore due to rough seas. Offshore, workers were removed from oil rigs. Many Mississippi citizens, having experienced the destruction of Hurricane Camille just five years earlier, quickly left their coastal homes.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Carmen
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“In all the important preparations of the mind she was complete; being prepared for matrimony by an hatred of home, restraint, and tranquillity; by the misery of disappointed affection, and contempt of the man she was to marry. The rest might wait. The preparations of new carriages and furniture might wait for London and the spring, when her own taste could have fairer play.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)