Louisiana has had a great deal of practice with dealing with adverse weather since Hurricane Katrina, and it knows what to do as Tropical Storm Harvey made landfall as it moved from Texas to the state's border, Sen. Bill Cassidy said Wednesday.
"When what happens like South Texas, there is almost nothing you can do except evacuate," said the Louisiana Republican on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "We're prepared and have things forward positioned and shelters ready to go. There have been some rescues in southwest Louisiana, according to the sheriff. But we feel prepared."
The greatest difference in the 12 years between Harvey and Katrina is that "everybody has picked up their game," said Cassidy. "We again forward position resources, things such as trucks carrying gasoline so if people have to evacuate, then we have the trucks ready to fill the gas stations so you don't run out. That's one example."
Cassidy told the program that on Tuesday night, he was with a person from the Louisiana State University Health Science Center in Shreveport, when word came from the governor to create a shelter for 1,300 people from Texas, but the shelter also could receive people from Louisiana.
"Before it was done on an ad hoc basis, but now it's like we're ready," said Cassidy. "We have systems and put it in gear. We've learned our lesson."
Cassidy said shelters in his state also are ready to accept people from Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, both of which flooded on Wednesday.
"All across the nation after Katrina, people received folks from the flooded areas of New Orleans and surrounding parishes, and we're very emotional and thankful for our fellow Americans," said the Senator. "Whatever we can do to pay it back and pay it forward, we'll absolutely do."
Cassidy said he also sees further cooperation between state and federal officials going on since Katrina.
"We've learned that after Katrina, when it took an emergency appropriation to give FEMA the resources it needed, Congress set up a fund so FEMA can pull down dollars that don't need a special appropriation," said Cassidy. "We have forward positioned, if you will, the financial assets needed for FEMA to do its work."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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