COAST GUARD CONTINUES SEARCH, RESCUE OPERATIONS

Published Aug 31, 2005 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

Coast Guard crews on boats and aircraft continue to make search and rescue efforts a top priority today throughout the Gulf Coast region and plan on continuing recovery operations throughout the night.

More than 40 Coast Guard aircraft from as far away as California and Massachusetts, along with aircraft from the Army and Air National Guard, have saved hundreds of people since the hurricane made landfall Monday. The Coast Guard received more than 350 requests for help today, many from urban areas in New Orleans, but also from along the Mississippi coast, where people were stranded on rooftops due to severe flooding.

Additional Coast Guard small boats and cutters are poised to join the search and rescue efforts Wednesday and will stage off the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi to provide communications and fueling for aircraft, as well as to patrol nearby waterways.

Other Coast Guard assets, including hazardous material disposal teams, aids to navigation teams and disaster assistance relief teams, continue to work in conjunction with local, state and federal agencies on other relief and recovery missions to minimize the economic and environmental impacts from the hurricane.
The Coast Guard urges all citizens to stay off the waterways and to avoid areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Latest Updates:

The Mississippi River is open from the Sea Buoy to Mile Marker 507 to tug and barge traffic only. Deep draft ships may move within anchorages if they have pilots on board. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is open from Mile Marker 177 (west of Harvey Locks) to Mile Marker 89 (east of the Harvey Locks).

The Ports of Mobile, Gulfport, Pascagoula, Pensacola and Destin/Panama City are closed. All bridges, floodgates and locks are closed in the vicinity of the Port of New Orleans.

The Coast Guard and representatives of the petroleum industry are surveying damage to offshore oil platforms. Five drilling rigs are reported missing, seven are reported to be adrift and two are listing.

The various branches of the armed forces are working closely together, with coordination among Navy, Army, National Guard and Marine Corps assets in the relief and recovery operations.

Important Phone Numbers:

If rescue assistance is needed in the vicinity of New Orleans, call (225) 925-7708 or -7709.
For regular news updates, including high-resolution, downloadable images, please visit the Coast Guard's Hurricane Katrina Incident Management Site, http://www.uscgstormwatch.com.

For general media inquiries, please contact the Eighth District Incident Management Team information officer at (314) 539-3900 ext. 2264.

For New Orleans-specific media queries, please contact the information officer at (318) 443-2565; for Alabama and Mississippi-related media inquiries, please contact the Sector Mobile information officer at (251) 441-5915 or -6653.