Nine months after Hurricane Katrina, the president of Jefferson Parish, La. , is looking toward the next hurricane.
“I’m focusing on the upcoming hurricane season,” said Aaron Broussard. “There was a lot of destruction to Jefferson Parish.”
Hurricane Katrina caused nearly 1,600 deaths when it struck in August 2005. And while the death toll in Jefferson Parish was lower than expected with 33, Broussard said he is updating the parish’s evacuation plan to find ways to minimize the damage if there is another hurricane.
“Compared to St. Bernard and Orleans Parish we were very fortunate that we weren’t decimated as bad as our neighbors,” Broussard said. “Based on the way the hurricane was tracked, I was expecting extreme destruction.”
The parish faced Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005 , and sustained wind damage and flooding from breached levees.
Broussard is currently making modifications to his existing evacuation plan to better prepare his parish, which stretches from the south end of Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico at Grand Isle, La., for the upcoming hurricane season.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this year’s hurricane season could be very active with 4 to 6 major hurricanes. It is not, however, expected to surpass 2005, which reports state was the busiest and deadliest season on record.
“Hurricane Ivan revealed the flaws in the program,” Broussard said. “The evacuation plan for the region got tremendous amount of population out.” He added that more than 80 percent of the population was evacuated for Katrina.
“We’re revamping every aspect of our emergency preparedness plan,” said Broussard. “We’re leaving no stone unturned.”
Several aspects of the evacuation plan have been worked on by Broussard’s administration.
Among the changes:
- Broussard has set up safe houses for pump stations, which allows the pump operators to stay in the area during a hurricane. Broussard made the change after he was criticized for evacuating the pump operators during Hurricane Katrina, which was part of the Emergency Management Plan before he was in office.
- Broussard’s administration is working on establishing shelter for people now in FEMA trailers.
- Setting up an evacuation plan for indigent citizens. “We will be using public transportation to bring them to predetermined sites,” Broussard said.
The official Jefferson Parish Web site, jeffparish.net, offers explanations for the modifications to the parish’s emergency preparedness plan. On the Web site, Broussard invites all residents to review the latest revisions.
Broussard may best be remembered by citizens when he criticized the federal government on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sept. 4, 2005 . Broussard was asked general questions about the situation in Louisiana and accused the federal government of abandoning the victims, sparking widespread criticism about his composure as a leader.
“We have been abandoned by our own country,” he told the television audience. “Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history.”
A visibly upset Broussard later added, “Nobody’s coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.”
Broussard broke down in tears, and was not shown again in the telecast. Broussard, however, has no apologies for his reaction.
“You don’t prepare how you’re going to respond to questions on national television,” Broussard said. “You were looking at an official that had frayed nerves. The tragedy created a great deal of stress.”
While Broussard encountered many emotions in the aftermath of Katrina, he said two things kept him going: faith and adrenaline.
“I depend on faith to jumpstart me and keep me strong,” he said. “That adrenaline allows you to stay up for long hours and push you.”
