Profile: Louisiana State Police

The Louisiana State Police activates the Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge, and opens a toll-free hotline. The center will monitor the path of Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, local troops have placed additional troopers on telephone standby in preparations to assist with increased traffic flow. [Louisiana State Police, 8/27/2005; Louisiana State Police, 8/27/2005]

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco orders Louisiana State Police and Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to implement the Contraflow Plan (see 4:00 pm August 27, 2005) beginning 4:00 pm. State Police announce that they have already staged necessary assets in anticipation of the Contraflow implementation. Police remind all drivers to be cautious. If a minor crash occurs, motorists should move the vehicles off the roadway and notify local law enforcement. Traffic will be heavy. Police request that residents “please be patient and courteous to other motorists.” [Louisiana State Police, 8/27/2005]

Police activate the state’s redesigned Contraflow Plan, which allows traffic to use both sides of highways leading out of the New Orleans area, including I-10, I-12, I-55, I-59, and the Causeway. Thousands of southeastern Louisiana residents clog all major freeways as they flee the area for higher ground. [Louisiana State Police, 8/27/2005; Times-Picayune Blog, 8/28/2005]

The Louisiana State Police issue a report outlining the status of evacuation orders in Southeastern Louisiana as of 1:30 am this morning:
Ascension Parish: Recommended Evacuation at dawn Sunday
Assumption Parish: Recommended Evacuation
Jefferson Parish: Recommended Evacuation, except for Grand Isle, Crown Point, and Barateria
Jefferson Parish—Grand Isle, Crown Point, and Barateria: Mandatory evacuation
Orleans Parish: Recommended Evacuation
Lafourche Parish: Evacuation ordered at dawn Sunday
Plaquemines Parish: 50 percent of residents have evacuated so far; 40 percent expected to evacuate between 2:00 and 6:00 am. All remaining residents should evacuate by 2:00 pm Sunday
St. Bernard Parish: Strong recommendation of evacuation
St. Charles Parish: Mandatory evacuation effective 9:00 am Sunday
St. James Parish: Recommended evacuation of low-lying areas for mobile and manufactured homes
St. John Parish: Recommended evacuation. If track of storm remains the same, a mandatory evacuation will be issued by 7:00 am.
Tangipahoa Parish: Precautionary evacuation. Further evacuation notification will begin at 7:00 am Sunday
Terrebone Parish: Recommended evacuation for south of Intercoastal City. Mandatory evacuation begins at 6:00 am Sunday. (All other areas under recommended evacuation) [Louisiana State Police, 8/28/2005]

Although Mayor Nagin will not officially announce the mandatory evacuation for another hour, the Louisiana Police issues a news release at 8:17 am this morning, announcing that that New Orleans is now under a mandatory evacuation order, along with several other nearby parishes. [Louisiana State Police, 8/28/2005] CNN announces the mandatory evacuation around this time as well, reporting that Mayor Nagin will make the official announcement within the hour. [CNN, 8/28/2005]

The Contraflow Plan, which was activated 24 hours ago to expedite evacuation of Southeastern Louisiana (see 4:00 pm August 27, 2005), ends at 4:00 pm today according to State Police, and the roads return to the two-way traffic. (The Times-Picayune reports that Contraflow ends at 5:00 pm. [Times-Picayune Blog, 8/28/2005] ) Police warn that the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway will close when maximum sustained winds reach 35 mph. [Louisiana State Police, 8/28/2005]

When Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans, the Louisiana National Guard almost immediately loses all forms of communication, according to Lt. Col. Schneider. Louisiana State Police also lose communications as well, according to Sgt. Lawrence McLeary, a state police officer in the Baton Rouge emergency center: “We lost contact with our personnel there. We lost contact with our troupe on the north shore, located in Mandeville. So we had—I mean, it was a pretty tense time, because we had no idea what was taking place in those areas.” The landlines are no longer operable. Cell phone towers have toppled; some are under water. Power is out and so it is impossible to recharge battery-operated radios. Guard generators, which could have charged these devices, are in either Iraq or Baton Rouge, according to a National Public Radio report. [National Public Radio, 9/9/2005 Sources: Pete Schneider, Lawrence McLeary] FEMA emergency officials will wait days to receive working satellite phones. [Los Angeles Times, 9/11/2005]