Louisiana On Track for Another Disaster

You'd think after the mess that was Katrina that the folks in Louisiana would really be on top of their game by now to avoid the breakdown in leadership that occurred in August. Not so:

A mock evacuation that was supposed to be part of a two-day statewide hurricane preparedness drill was canceled after a misunderstanding about who had jurisdiction over a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer park.

The two-day statewide drill that began Tuesday was aimed at avoiding the chaos that followed last year's deadly Hurricane Katrina, which hit the state Aug. 29 and killed more than 1,000 people. The drill is expected to continue Wednesday.

The mock evacuation was to take place in the state's largest FEMA trailer park in Baker, 10 miles from Baton Rouge. The park has more than 500 camper-style travel trailers that house about 1,500 people displaced by Katrina.

[...]

But the Baker evacuation was canceled because of an apparent communication breakdown, said JoAnne Moreau, director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

"We were unable to get any information from the state or federal government on what policies or procedures were for evacuating those sites - whose jurisdiction it was," Moreau said. "We're very disappointed we didn't get to work with the people who live on the trailer site."

The hurricane season starts in a few days, and the experts are predicting at least 6 strong storms. Louisiana clearly isn't ready.