NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans area emergency managers are preparing for what could be a very busy year in the tropics. Thursday, experts at Colorado State University released their annual hurricane season outlook.
They are forecasting 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes.
“We don’t know if they’re going to end up in the Atlantic, whether they’re going to end up in the Gulf, but we do know that they’re going to be more storms out there that we’re going to have track and keep an eye on,” Jefferson Parish Emergency Operations Director Joe Valiente said.
“We can’t control a hurricane forecast that does seem to be very, very extreme this year, but what we can do is we can plan for it and we can determine our fate with our planning, our preparation and our recovery from these events,” New Orleans Homeland Security Director Collin Arnold said.
Valiente just got back from a national hurricane conference where the experts warned about rapid intensification.
“One of the hurricanes that they highlighted was Hurricane Otis that went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 storm in less than 24 hours,” Valiente said. “So, what occurred there can occur anywhere.”
Arnold said less time to prepare could mean less time to evacuate.
“One of the plans that we’re working on, and we have been working on since Ida is the idea of refuge and sheltering, even if we have to do that through a storm. It’s not something we’ve had to focus on in the past.”
Families need to be prepared to quickly move out if an evacuation order is given.
“We’re asking everyone in the Jefferson Parish area, in the metro area to plan early, have a plan, have an escape route, make sure you have all your supplies in order,” Valiente said.
Rene Poche at the Army Corps of Engineers said hurricane risk reduction infrastructure in the New Orleans area is better than it was before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when 80 percent of New Orleans flooded.
“The two big pieces that stand out are the surge barrier in the east and west closure complex on the Westbank of the Mississippi,” Poche said. “We’ve basically shut the city off, the metro area off from storm surge. Before, pre-Katrina surge could come up into the canals and everything. The water was everywhere. Now, we’ve taken the fight to the storm with these structures.”
Poche also says the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project now being built in St. John Parish is expected to provide surge protection in the River Parishes as well.
“We’re making great progress out there. I wouldn’t go as far to say that’s there’s any type of risk reduction available out there, but we are making progress.”
The Colorado State Forecast is well above the averages of 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
“Our evacuation times are going to be shorter, and we need the public to be ready to evacuate when they’re told to do so,” Valiente said.
“It doesn’t matter how many storms are predicted, it only takes one and you have to be ready for that one,” Poche said.
Arnold is urging residents to stay connected by signing up for local text message alerts. In Orleans, text NOLAREADY to 772-95. In JP, text JPALERT to 888-777
Hurricane season begins on June 1 and finishes November 30.
Watch the full WWL Louisiana interview with NOHSEP Director Collin Arnold below:
