Reacting to Gustav

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

Hurricane Gustav, thankfully, did not strike Louisiana with the same force Hurricane Katrina did in 2005, nor did Monday’s storm come close to claiming the 1,600 lives that were lost in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast three years ago.

Still, the initial death toll from Gustav, eight from weather-related accidents and three ill patients who died while being evacuated, probably would have been greater had it not been for the mandatory evacuations that caused nearly 2 million residents to flee New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. With the use of trains and buses, the evacuation to shelters in neighboring states reportedly went rather smoothly considering the number of people involved.

On that score alone, city, state and federal authorities performed much better than they did in response to Katrina. And the American Red Cross provided shelter for 50 percent more people on the eve of Gustav than it did before Katrina landed.

But it is far too early to tell whether government authorities, including those at the oft-criticized Federal Emergency Management Agency, are prepared for the aftermath when evacuees begin to return home. We hope they learned a lesson from Katrina that victims cannot afford to wait months, and sometimes longer, for housing and financial assistance. A repeat performance of slow and dispassionate responses, as occurred with Katrina, would be an embarrassment to this nation.

With tropical storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine heading our way, we stand a good chance of putting more evacuation plans to work. But resettling people is just as important as getting them out of town.

This will be no easy task in New Orleans and surrounding areas, where 1.4 million households lost power. While the city’s major levees did their jobs, for the most part, the streets are still a mess and will be difficult to navigate.

Residents understandably will be under a lot of stress when they return home. The speed and efficiency with which they will be able to return to their normal lives will be a litmus test to see just how much we learned from Katrina.