Inside Hurricane Katrina Page #3

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The U.S. Coast Guard

puts helicopters, planes

and cutters on standby.

Out in the Gulf, oil companies

evacuate their rigs.

The work stoppage will have

an immediate impact nationwide...

The Gulf accounts

for more than 25 percent

of America's oil

and natural gas production.

New Orleans is

by far the biggest city

in the likely path of Katrina.

She's now expected to hit

the Gulf coast in 72 hours.

Over the coming days,

two Louisiana politicians

will play leading roles

in determining the city's fate.

49-year-old ray Nagin is

a former cable TV executive,

elected as Mayor in 2002.

62-year-old Kathleen Blanco

is a veteran of state politics,

and the first woman to serve

as Louisiana Governor.

It's Friday night

in the French Quarter.

On Bourbon Street, the etouffee

flies out of the kitchens

and the freewheeling jazz bands

are moving feet.

People down here,

they don't fear hurricanes.

They honor them...

Big easy style, with

a mind-numbing concoction...

Called a hurricane.

11:
00 P.M. Friday night.

The National Hurricane Center

forecasts

that Katrina will hit land here,

in the town of buras, Louisiana,

60 miles southeast

of New Orleans.

This prediction will turn out

to be extraordinarily accurate.

Saturday, August 27, 2005.

Katrina is now a deadly

category 3 hurricane.

Her winds hit 115 miles an hour.

She draws awesome power

from the Gulf,

and propels a storm surge

ahead of her.

7:
30 A.M. Baton Rouge.

A Louisiana emergency official,

Jeff Smith,

has gathered his counterparts

for another conference call.

Narrator:
The FEMA liaison

wants Louisiana officials.

To make a key decision

about relief supplies.

Narrator:
Evacuations

are underway this morning.

In low-lying areas south

and east of New Orleans.

Under the state's

emergency plan,

those counties... or "Parishes,"

as they call them in Louisiana...

Are the first to evacuate,

because they're

the most vulnerable.

The policy is very simple.

It's "get out of here"

and "get out of here as quickly

as we possibly can."

So all the state agencies,

the local agencies,

everybody is working together

to accomplish that goal.

Narrator:
It's a kind

of gentlemen's agreement.

The goal is to let people

in the surrounding communities

get out of harm's way

before traffic from New Orleans

clogs up the interstates.

For the city, the process begins

at the point when forecasts say

that tropical storm force winds

will hit the coast in 30 hours.

That point is approaching

this afternoon.

1:
30 P.M.

This is not a test.

This is the real deal.

And I don't want to panic you...

Narrator:
In accordance

with this plan,

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin

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