News

May 22, 2019 | From City of New Orleans

City of New Orleans Completes Hurricane Evacuation Exercise, Announces New Processing Center

NEW ORLEANS — Today, the City of New Orleans and its partners completed a partial drill of the City-Assisted Evacuation plan, which offers an evacuation option of last resort for residents otherwise unable to leave during a mandatory evacuation ahead of a major hurricane.

“It is important to remember that this plan is an option of last resort, but we do know our responsibility as a City in making sure that we can accommodate the needs of our people,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said. “Priority will always been given as it relates to individuals who need evacuation assistance due to transportation, financial and/or medical needs.”

Evacuation Drill a Success

The exercise, led by the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP), tested air evacuation, a small but key component of the larger plan that leverages bus and air travel to evacuate an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 New Orleans residents to shelters around Louisiana and in neighboring states during a mandatory evacuation order. The City’s nonprofit partner, Evacuteer, provided more than 50 volunteers to participate in today’s drill, with some role-playing as evacuees and others practicing the ticketing process that evacuteers would take on in a real-life evacuation.

Also included in the exercise were representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration, Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Department of Children and Family Services, Louisiana National Guard, Jefferson Parish Emergency Management, and the Louis Armstrong Airport.

Smoothie King Center to be used as Processing Site

Today, City officials also announced a significant change to the evacuation plan that will now utilize the Smoothie King Center as the Orleans Parish City-Assisted Evacuation processing site in place of the formerly-used Union Passenger Terminal. As the population of New Orleans continues to grow, including the small subset of individuals estimated to need evacuation assistance due to transportation, financial, or medical needs, the City began to seek alternative venues better suited for growing evacuee numbers.

The Smoothie King Center was an ideal candidate. Officials began to develop a plan in the summer of 2018 that has been finalized for the 2019 hurricane season. Today, the City estimates that use of the new processing location will nearly quadruple the throughput, or number of people that can be evacuated at one time, during a mandatory evacuation. Additionally, the Smoothie King Center better accommodates individuals on the Special Needs Registry who may have medical or mobility equipment and may require additional assistance.

The change in processing venue does not change how evacuees will access the evacuation program. The sites of the 17 evacuation pickup points — or "evacuspots" — remain the same. Each are marked by a 14-foot metal statue resembling a person hailing a bus. Evacuees using the City-Assisted Evacuation program during a mandatory evacuation should go to their nearest evacuspot to be brought by Regional Transit Authority bus to the Smoothie King Center for processing and transportation to a State- or Federally-run shelter. Five of the evacuspots have indoor areas specifically designated for the elderly or people with minor medical or mobility needs.

Residents with access or functional needs preventing them from physically getting to an evacuspot may be eligible to be picked up from their home by a paratransit vehicle or other accommodation through the City’s Special Needs Registry, run by the New Orleans Health Department. Residents who cannot evacuate on their own and who use life support systems, have trouble walking, are blind or deaf, are on dialysis or have intellectual or mental health disabilities should call 3-1-1 or go to specialneeds.nola.gov to sign up for the Special Needs Registry. Health Department staff will help these individuals determine the best evacuation plan based on their needs, which could include special transportation and sheltering at a Medical Special Needs Shelter.

Locations of the 17 evacuspots are listed below. Additional information and an interactive map is available at ready.nola.gov/evacuate.

Senior Evacuspots

  • Arthur Monday Center, 1111 Newton Ave.
  • Central City Senior Center, 2101 Philip St.
  • Kingsley House, 1600 Constance St.
  • Mater Dolorosa, 1226 S. Carrollton Ave.
  • Sanchez Center, 1616 Caffin Ave. (also serves as general population)

General Population Evacuspots

  • Dryades YMCA, 1924 Philip St.
  • East New Orleans Library, 5641 Read Blvd.
  • Harriet Tubman Charter School, 2832 General Meyer
  • Louis Armstrong Park, 801 N. Rampart St.
  • Lyons Center, 624 Louisiana Ave.
  • Mary Queen of Vietnam Church, 14001 Dwyer Blvd.
  • McMain High School, 5712 S. Claiborne Ave.
  • Palmer Park, S. Claiborne & S. Carrollton
  • Smith Library, 6300 Canal Blvd.
  • Stallings Center, 4300 St. Claude Ave.
  • Walmart, 4301 Chef Menteur Hwy.
  • Warren Easton High School, 3019 Canal St.

The City encourages all New Orleanians to remember that the first line of defense against a disaster is personal preparedness. Learn more about getting ready for hurricane season at ready.nola.gov/hurricane and sign up for emergency alerts by texting your zip code to 888777.

NOHSEP Director Collin Arnold said, “Although this evacuation plan is an option of last resort, we know that many of our most vulnerable residents have no other way of getting out ahead of a storm. The success of today’s exercise and the addition of the Smoothie King Center as a processing site are clear indications that the City of New Orleans is ready should a major storm come our way.”

SMG Manager T.J. Boudreaux said, “On behalf of SMG, we are happy to partner with the public safety team from the City. We are pleased to announce the Smoothie King Center as the processing center for evacuation of the residents of New Orleans. For the last several months I’ve been working with this team to have the Smoothie King Center configured for the hurricane season as a processing center. We think that the location, as well as the layout and the available capacity of the facility, will have an added benefit for expediting the processing time for the citizens that need to be evacuated.”

New Orleans Regional Transit Authority Director Jared Munster said, “The RTA is committed to the safety of the community, our employees, and protecting our transportation system. In the event of a City-Assisted Evacuation, we will activate our hurricane plan and stand ready to provide transportation to the Smoothie King Center from 17 designated evacuspots, as well as assisting home-bound individuals get from their residences to the Smoothie King Center.”

Evacuteer Executive Director Jillian Sandoval said, “I am so grateful for all of the volunteers who showed up to participate in today's evacuation exercise, especially our community partners with Job Corps and Limitless Vistas, Inc. We know that it will take the effort of hundreds of Evacuteer volunteers to help our neighbors get to safety during a mandatory evacuation, and we hope that today's experience will encourage more people to get involved in our mission.”

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