Preparations
The U.S. Weather Bureau office in New Orleans issued gale warnings and a hurricane watch from Freeport, Texas to Grand Isle, Louisiana in its second advisory. In its next advisory, the tropical storm warnings were changed to hurricane warnings as Cindy reached hurricane status. The warnings were extended to include Galveston, Texas and Vermillion Bay, Louisiana and small boats were told to remain in port while shipping traffic in the path of Hurricane Cindy were warned of the deteriorating conditions. Inland, the Weather Bureau stated in their advisory that flood warnings would be issued since the storm was forecast to bring heavy rain to eastern Texas and western Louisiana. In Lake Charles, Louisiana, forecasters advised residents to take preparations and evacuate in anticipation that Cindy would cause flooding in low-lying areas. Another Weather Bureau center in Corpus Christi, Texas, stated in its advisory that Cindy was no threat to the city as the center of the storm was moving northeastward. However, the Bureau warned residents about the threat of high surf along the southeastern Texas coast. A weather station in Galveston issued gale warnings and meteorologists predicted that the storm would bring high tides and squalls five feet above normal to the city. The Galveston weather center also advised residents to go to storm shelters until the rough seas subsided.
Forecasters at the Weather Bureau forecast center in Port Arthur, Texas, predicted that Cindy would bring tides four feet above normal and advised residents in Port Arthur to take precautionary measures. In its 0000 UTC (7:00 p.m. CST) advisory on September 17, forecasters expected the flooding from Hurricane Cindy to be limited to coastal sections of Port Arthur and not significantly affect inland areas stretching from the Intercoastal Channel Bridge to the Sabine Pass Highway. In addition, forecasters predicted that the storm would bring severe thunderstorms and tornadoes and thus prompted a tornado watch in a 60 mile (97 km) radius, stretching from College Station, Texas to Lafayette, Louisiana.
Overall, 9,600 residents in Louisiana and eastern Texas were evacuated in response to the warnings. Offshore, many oil rigs were evacuated.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Cindy (1963)
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“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)
“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)
“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)