Canada sends aid ahead of Gustav

September 1, 2008 Iron Mill Interactive Media politics 0

Opinion

Barry Artiste

It’s nice Canada can offer support to their neighbours to the south at home in Louisiana, as US Troops assist Canadian Troops in Afghanistan.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=759856

(Photo Inset) Stephen Morton/Getty Images Members of the Louisiana National Guard patrol around the Superdome as Hurricane Gustav approaches Sunday.Stephen Morton/Getty Images

Canada sends aid ahead of Gustav

Canwest News Service

Published: Sunday, August 31, 2008

A Canadian Forces C-17 carrying a military medical team and emergency supplies was expected to arrive from CFB Trenton Sunday to assist U.S. forces preparing for Hurricane Gustav, which is expected to hit land here as early as Monday with a force comparable to the devastating Hurricane Katrina.

The massive Globemaster left CFB Trenton at 12:42 p.m. Sunday afternoon bound for Louisiana, where thousands of people in New Orleans and across the U.S. Gulf Coast fled their homes as Hurricane Gustav barrelled through the Gulf of Mexico packing a punch potentially as powerful as Katrina, the storm that devastated the coastal city three years ago.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered mandatory evacuation of the city of 239,000 and told residents “This is still a big, ugly storm, still strong and I encourage everyone to leave.

” Not everyone is leaving though, according to Global National’s Paul Johnson in New Orleans. “They defy the evacuation order because they’re afraid to leave their homes empty . . . or can’t stomach the indignity of being an evacuee,” Johnson said.

“Canadian Forces medical personnel were on board to conduct a mass evacuation and assist U.S. medical personnel with any medical issues over there,” Isabelle Hotte, a spokeswoman for the Department of National Defence, said Sunday. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department posted warnings against all travel to the region.

Reporters were told as many as 4,000 Canadians are in Louisiana.