With landfall of Hurricane Ida expected in about two days, New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell says it is too late to call a mandatory evacuation of the entire city.
"Our time of even implementing contra flow, we don't have the time to do so," the mayor said during a Friday evening news conference. "Therefore, the city cannot issue a mandatory evacuation because we don't have the time."
The mayor said she is confident the improved levees of the hurricane risk reduction system can handle the seven to eleven foot storm surge Ida is forecast to bring to the New Orleans region. And she said the state has pre-positioned assets in the event a citywide evacuation is needed after the storm has passed.
A mandatory evacuation was ordered for parts of the city outside the levee system: Venetian Isle, Lake Catherine, and Irish Bayou. And Mayor Cantrell has urged a voluntary evacuation for the rest of New Orleans
Hurricane Ida Press Conference
Posted by Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Friday, August 27, 2021
