U.S. Northern Command, based in Colorado, and the U.S. Transportation Command contracted airplanes to evacuate up to 16,000 people from New Orleans beginning Saturday. The Denver-based American Humane Association sent personnel to Louisiana to help care for pets of evacuating residents. KUSA-9News also reported that at least 89 cats are being sent to shelters in Colorado.
The Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross was rounding up 400 volunteers to help set up emergency shelters for evacuees, said spokesman Robert Thompson.
On Friday, two disaster-response teams from Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 8 left the Federal Center in Lakewood for Louisiana. An 80-member search- and-rescue team, one of 28 nationwide under the Department of Homeland Security, also left Lakewood on Friday. The Associated Press
