Preparations
Fourteen hours prior to Edith making landfall in Central America, the National Hurricane Center warned citizens about the extreme danger of the approaching hurricane, and asked them to prepare for hurricane conditions. While the storm was located in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center issued a Hurricane Warning from Cameron to Morgan City, Louisiana eighteen hours before the hurricane made landfall. Edith later struck land in the middle portion of the warning area.
In Belize, officials ordered the mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas, resulting in hundreds of residents leaving to the United States through the international airport. Officials sent police troops to maintain order and prevent looting.
In the Gulf of Mexico, several oil facilities were closed or placed on automatic controls. Drilling rigs as far east as the coastal waters off of Mississippi were prepared to evacuate in the event Edith moved further east than anticipated. Additionally, thousands evacuated coastal areas of Louisiana prior to the arrival of the hurricane. Several shelters opened in coastal cities, and many people prepared for the hurricane by purchasing emergency supplies. Officials closed schools throughout much of southern Louisiana.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Edith (1971)
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“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)
“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.)
“Whatever may be the reason, whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain: he missed the bus.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)