With all of the blog posts in the aftermath of Katrina blaming the city and the Mayor for the evacuation debacle (specifically, the lack of available buses), I was surprised that none of them actually attempted to contact the city or NORTA (the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority). I contacted NORTA spokeswoman Rosalind Blanco Cook, and she was kind enough to explain NORTA's involvement in the evacuation, both pre- and post-Katrina. Her detailed response is posted below. Some important points to note:
1) Buses were being used to evacuate special needs patients to Baton Rouge on Saturday, before the hurricane hit. This was in accordance with the City's plans.
2) Some buses were moved out of flood-prone areas to safer ground prior to Katrina's landfall.
3) The RTA was asked to participate in evacuating people from the Superdome to Baton Rouge on Monday afternoon. The evacuation started on Monday afternoon, with LIFT vehicles (for the disabled) being used to take people in the Superdome to Baton Rouge.
4) Many RTA employees that were in New Orleans after the hurricane had passed were trapped by the flooding.
Her response is posted below.
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The Regional Transit Authority worked very closely with city officials to establish a hurricane evacuation plan. RTA staff attended numerous meetings throughout the year with the purpose of assisting the City of New Orleans in formulating a plan that would help with the evacuation of its citizens, in particular those residents with no other means of transportation. Representatives of the Mayor's Office, the City of New Orleans Health department, and the Red Cross also attended these meetings.
The City supported a plan that designated the Superdome as a special needs evacuation center. On the afternoon of Saturday August 27, 2005, James Tillie was requested by the city to supply ten LIFT vehicles as well as fixed-route buses to assist in evacuation. According to the City's plan, special needs patients would be admitted to the Dome beginning at 8 a.m. on Sunday, August 28, and that by 10 a.m., thirty vehicles including ambulances, EMS vehicles from throughout the state, and the RTA LIFT vehicles and buses would take those special needs patients to Baton Rouge where they would be able to get medical attention. According to the City's initial plan, only special needs patients would be evacuated from the City. The Mayor would continue to encourage citizens to heed his message and evacuate the City. On Sunday morning, the Mayor issued a mandatory evacuation order.
Beginning at noon on Sunday (as previously planned by the City), RTA would provide fixed-route buses to provide transportation from twelve sites (schools, community centers, senior citizen centers) to the Dome, which would be the designated a refuge of last resort. The Times-Picayune published the list of all the pick-up sites, and television and radio stations also aired the information. In addition to this participation, RTA continued running its regularly scheduled routes throughout the day until the mandatory curfew issued by the mayor went into effect that evening.
Following customary hurricane procedure, RTA's essential personnel gathered at the A. Philip Randolph facility on Canal Street on Sunday afternoon. The facility served as a central post for those operators who were on stand-by and for those operators who would be ready to put service back on the street as soon as the weather allowed.
On Monday afternoon, after the hurricane had passed, the City asked that the RTA participate in evacuating citizens from the Superdome to Baton Rouge. RTA provided the service requested. LIFT vehicles were shuttling back and forth from Baton Rouge, until the Department of Transportation stopped the vehicles from returning to New Orleans because operators had been driving over the number of hours that the state allows.
Later on Monday afternoon, the Randolph facility started taking on water in the yard where buses and streetcars were parked, as well as in the first floor lobby and offices (the Canal facility had never flooded in the past). The water rose very swiftly. By early Tuesday morning, with water in the lobby (as well as on Canal Street) exceeding four and a half feet, RTA administrators determined that it was necessary to evacuate the 250-300 employees and family members from the facility. There was no power, the generator failed on Monday night. Water and food were limited and toilet facilities were no longer working properly. After calls to the state, RTA staff and administrators decided it was time to take matters into its own hands. At that point, it was a matter of saving the lives of those who just a few hours before were helping New Orleans residents escape their neighborhoods. Over 150 employees and family members, including the elderly and babies, walked in water that exceeded four feet to Claborne Ave. and then up the interstate to the Crescent City Connection, where they received a ride via RTA vehicles to the Westbank terminal.
Early in the afternoon, CFO Mark Major secured a boat from a relative and convinced those remaining at Randolph that the situation was worsening and that it was necessary to evacuate the building. He and Jacques Robichaux and other RTA personnel worked throughout the afternoon shuttling people from the facility, down Canal Street to a point around Basin Street where they were picked up by an RTA truck. Each trip, RTA administrators, staff, and their families rode in the back of the truck, clinging to the sides, and were shuttled across the CCC to the other side of the River. Late in the evening, RTA's MCI buses brought the worn out staff and their families to safety in Baton Rouge. Most of the RTA group arrived in Baton Rouge well after midnight. But, many of those who were the last to leave the Randolph facility were stranded on the Broad Street overpass until 2 a.m. and did not arrive in Baton Rouge until several hours later.
Per your question (ed: regarding the buses recently discovered in satellite imagery at Poland Wharf): The buses were not moved from the Canal facility. The 100 or so buses on Poland Wharf were brought there before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina from our facility called ENO, which is near Almonaster, an area that does flood. Some of the buses were used later by the police department and the National Guard.
Let me assure you that our operators acted professionally and followed the City's plan. RTA has suffered as the rest of the City. Although most of our employees have lost their homes or have had extensive damage to their property, we continue to move forward, and we will play a major role in the redevelopment of our beloved city.
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I also asked about NORTA's role in the evacuation of the Superdome/Convention Center after their employees were evacuated from the Canal St. building. Her response:
"After RTA evacuated the building on Canal Street, there was no way to get to Poland because of the flooding. The military and the police utilized many of the buses that were left at Poland Ave. No, RTA was not asked to do evacuations on Wednesday until the end of the evacuation. By that time, all of our employees were also evacuees. From what I understand from the Department of Transportation, FEMA had secured hundreds of privately operated buses and brought them to a designated highway stop near New Orleans. From what I have heard, FEMA did not give the orders to move these buses, but you would need to confirm that with FEMA, FTA, and DOT."
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