US orders troops in, vessels out of Gustav area

28 August 2008 21:24  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--Federal officials have put 65,000 National Guard troops on alert in four US Gulf Coast states and soon will begin ordering commercial vessels out of harm’s way in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav, US authorities said on Thursday.

Brigadier General Donald Fick, joint staff director for the US National Guard, said the 65,000 guard soldiers and air personnel positioned in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama will be ready to perform life-saving, rescue and restoration tasks as soon as the storm moves ashore.

At 14:00 Eastern Time (18:00 GMT) Tropical Storm Gustav was located 40 miles (65km) east of Kingston, Jamaica, according to the National Hurricane Center.  The storm is expected to regain hurricane status later on Thursday as it moves northwest into open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The centre projects landfall by the hurricane on the Louisiana coast around Tuesday morning.

Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Fick said National Guard forces deployed in the four states also will be available to help local police maintain order, restore communications links and ensure the continuity of government agencies.

US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Brian Salerno said cutters, other surface ships, helicopters and additional assets normally based in the anticipated hurricane landfall area - which could be as much as 300 miles wide - are being shifted to other locations so they will be able to sail or fly back into the strike zone once the storm hits.

Salerno said that 48 hours ahead of Gustav’s landfall, the Coast Guard will notify commercial vessels in the ports of Houston, New Orleans and others along the Texas-Louisiana coasts to put to sea if able and move away from the strike zone.  Commercial vessels inbound to the Port of Houston and to New Orleans will be warned off, and those two major ports will be closed 12 hours before the storm hits shore, he said.

Salerno said it is important to move as many vessels as possible out of the impact area so they do not become casualties of the storm themselves and perhaps serve as channel obstructions as well.

US Army and Navy forces and vessels of the US Northern Command also will be available to support federal agencies, local government and National Guard units if the need arises, said Rear Admiral Christopher Colvin, the command’s operations officer.

“But in general we have found that state and local agencies along the Gulf Coast are tremendously more capable than they were three years ago,” Colvin said.  “Hopefully they will not need assistance from our units and vessels, but we will be available.”

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By: Joe Kamalick
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