Further Statement by the President on Hurricane Hilda.

IF A STATE could be awarded a medal for coolness under fire, I would be here today to give one to Louisiana.

The evacuation of over 100,000 persons from the coastal areas in the 96-hour warning period before Hurricane Hilda struck was a miracle of organization. It was a tribute to the qualities of your State and community leaders, from Governor McKeithen on down. It was a great display of the courage of the people of the State of Louisiana.

Hilda was probably the best tracked and most accurately predicted hurricane in history. We had 4 full days' notice, which is enough time to prepare for the worst, and thereby to avoid much of the disastrous death toll of Hurricane Audrey in 1957, when 534 lives were lost.

This is an example of the way in which your Government makes the fullest use of modern technology in the interests of our people. Hurricane Hilda was under surveillance by four different land-based weather radars. The Tiros weather satellite provided valuable observation of the storm. Most important of all, Hurricane Hilda was traced by reconnaissance planes of the United States Air Force and the United States Weather Bureau. Those civilian employees of the United States Government were willing to risk their lives to probe the severe interior of the storm. They, too, deserve our praise.

From the moment the storm was discovered a wide range of Federal activities were begun. Even before the storm hit the coast, Federal disaster experts from the Office of Emergency Planning were dispatched to Louisiana from around the Nation.

During this preparatory period, and ever since, cooperation among Federal, State, and local officials was of the highest order.

As you know all too well, the property damage and the loss of life, while less than it might have been, was nonetheless a tragic loss.

Immediately upon receipt of Governor McKeithen's request for aid last Saturday afternoon, I declared a "major disaster." Within minutes of my declaration $1 million in Federal disaster relief funds was flowing to Louisiana. Long-term, low-interest loans under the Small Business Administration are available to individual victims of the hurricane, and teams from the Department of Agriculture and the United States Public Health Service have been on the scene to help you.

The American National Red Cross, through the efforts of dedicated volunteers, had provided shelter and sustenance to thousands of displaced persons.

You will not bear this tragedy alone. We will work together to restore your highways, repair your public facilities, and protect the health of your citizens.

We must continue to work to improve our weather warning services so that these devastating storms can be tracked and predicted even more accurately. The time has also come to find out whether there is anything that can be done to diminish the destructive force of the storm itself.