Northcom Gustav Assistance

U.S. Northern Command, headquarteredin ColoradoSprings, is playing an integral part in preparing for hurricane Gustav’s landfall.

Commander Gene Renuart saysfourteenairplanes are carrying out evacuations, including one med-evac plane sent by Canadian Command for assistance.

Renuart says Northcom, and the Nation, is significantly better prepared than it was for Katrina, “But it’s a hurricane, it’s a natural disaster that has an element of unpredictablility with it so damage will occur. Our role is to make sure we are there to support all those post-landfall operations and we have a good plan in place to do that.” He says.

They have over five-thousand personnel in and around New Orleans. Renuart says that force could increase to twelve-thousand.