Sep 24, 2002 3 min read

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Residents of coastal Louisiana towns began heading north and out of the way of Hurricane Isidore as forecasters predicted the storm could hit the Gulf Coast this week. Many in coastal towns boarded up their homes and stocked up on bottled water, canned goods and other supplies.

Scott Avenzino, a charter boat captain in Venice, said he was hauling his boat out of the marina and towing it north.

Forecasters said the storm was likely to start veering northward on Monday or Tuesday in the direction of Louisiana or Texas.

“It’s never too early to get out of here,” Avenzino said Sunday.

Officials with the state and 12 south Louisiana parishes had a conference call with National Weather Service forecasters on Sunday to discuss whether Isidore would move toward the Louisiana coast.

The area is particularly vulnerable to storms because of its low terrain and limited escape routes.

“Frankly, I am a little concerned about the potential. This is as close to a hurricane prediction for our area that we have had for some time,” said Dick Gremillion, the Calcasieu Parish emergency preparedness director.

But officials stressed that the storm is several days away from endangering the U.S. coast, and could hit anywhere from Texas to western Mississippi.

At 8 a.m. Monday, Isidore was 60 miles south of Merida, a Mexican state capital on the Yucatan Peninsula that has about 800,000 people.

It was drifting southward at about 5 mph.

Forecasters said it was likely to head westward and over the Gulf of Mexico later in the day.

In Holmes Beach, Fla., south of St. Petersburg, a German tourist drowned in the gulf Sunday in rough surf attributed to the hurricane.

The body of Adolf Buttner, 60, was found about 200 yards offshore.

On the Yucatan, Isidore drove tens of thousands of people from their homes, shredded trees, knocked out power and prompted the state oil company to evacuate 8,000 oil workers from a number of drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Workers on oil and gas rigs off the Louisiana coast were moved onto land last week as the storm gathered strength. The rigs had minimal crews by Sunday.

Walter Maestri, Jefferson Parish’s emergency preparedness director, said people who rely on health support systems should begin “thinking about immediately leaving the area.”

Christina Gallusser, a spokeswoman with the Calcasieu Parish emergency preparedness office, recommended that most residents simply keep a close eye on reports about the storm’s movement.

“We’ve gotten many phone calls,” he said. “Nobody knows where it’s going, so they’re looking to us for instructions.”

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On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/