Council Questions Effectivness of City Evacuation Plan

New York, NY —

The failure to effectively evacuate people in the wake of Katrina has New York City council members worried about how well new york would handle the same challenge. WNYC'S Bob Hennelly has more.

Today the council's committee on Public Safety will hear from Commissioner Joe Bruno of the Office of Emergency Management. Mayor Bloomberg said last week the city can handle 7OO,OOO people, roughly twice the number of people it estimates live in the parts of the city vulnerable to a hurricane-generated storm surge.

The council will also hear from Assemblyman Richard Brodsky who wants the city to publicly release the entireity of it's plan. Brodsky contends the city is underestimating the number of evacuees and is too reilaint on mass transit which could be disrupted by flooding.