Hurricane Gustav

It is now a Caterory 3 Hurricane; It may pick up strength in the Gulf before hitting New Orleans.


Let's this storm weakens



Meanwhile people are starting to evacuate. They should head east from New Orleans.

The brunt of the storm may hit just to the south and west of the city according to latest predictions from the Weather Channel.


It looks like it will hit sometime late Monday and into early Tuesday

It is now moving over Western Cuba;

Winds 125 mph.

Heavy Rainfall is pelting Cuba

Hurricane Advisory in Effect for New Orleans and the Gulf Region.

It's a category 4 now.

It could reach Category 5 status.

Over Western Tip of Cuba


Should reach the U.S Gulf Coast late Monday

gs78 wrote:

It could reach Category 5 status.

Over Western Tip of Cuba


Should reach the U.S Gulf Coast late Monday

The positive thing, if there is any, is that the storms normally decrease in speed before hitting land.

New Orleans orders mandatory evacuation

Aug 30, 10:26 PM (ET)

By BECKY BOHRER

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Spooked by predictions that Hurricane Gustav could grow into a Category 5 monster, an estimated 1 million people fled the Gulf Coast Saturday - even before the official order came for New Orleans residents to get out of the way of a storm taking dead aim at Louisiana.

Mayor Ray Nagin gave the mandatory order late Saturday, but all day residents took to buses, trains, planes and cars - clogging roadways leading away from New Orleans, still reeling three years after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city and killed about 1,600 across the region.

The evacuation of New Orleans becomes mandatory at 8 a.m. Sunday along the vulnerable west bank of the Mississippi River, and at noon on the east bank. Nagin called Gustav the "mother of all storms" and told residents to "get out of town. This is not the one to play with."

"This is the real deal, this is not a test," Nagin said as he issued the order, warning residents that staying would be "one of the biggest mistakes you could make in your life." He emphasized that the city will not offer emergency services to anyone who chooses to stay behind.

Nagin did not immediately order a curfew, which would allow officials to arrest residents if they are not on their property.

Gustav had already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean, and if current forecasts hold up, it would make landfall Monday afternoon somewhere between East Texas and western Mississippi.

Forecasters warned it was too soon to say whether New Orleans would take another direct hit, but residents weren't taking any chances judging by the bumper-to-bumper traffic pouring from the city. Gas stations along interstate highways were running out of fuel, and phone circuits were jammed.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said they were surprised at how quickly Gustav gained strength as it slammed into Cuba's tobacco-growing western tip. It went from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane in about 24 hours, and was likely to become a Category 5 - with sustained winds of 156 mph or more - by Sunday.

"That puts a different light on our evacuations and hopefully that will send a very clear message to the people in the Gulf Coast to really pay attention," said Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison.

Levee building on the city's west bank was incomplete, Nagin said. A storm surge of 15 to 20 feet would pour through canals and flood the neighborhood and neighboring Jefferson Parish, he said.

Nagin estimated that about half the population had left and admitted officials were worried that some people would try to stay.

Even before the evacuation order, hotels closed, and the airport prepared to follow suit.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff planned to travel to Louisiana on Sunday to observe preparations. Also, likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are traveling to Mississippi on Sunday to check on people getting prepared.

As part of the evacuation plan New Orleans developed after Katrina, residents who had no other way to get out of the city waited on a line that snaked for more than a mile through the parking lot of the city's main transit terminal. From there, they were boarding motor coaches bound for shelters in north Louisiana. The city expects to move out about 30,000 such residents by Sunday.

"I don't like it," said Joseph Jones Jr., 61, who draped a towel over his head to block the blazing sun. "Going someplace you don't know, people you don't know. And then when you come back, is your house going to be OK?"

Jones had been in line for 2 1/2 hours, but he wasn't complaining. During Katrina, he'd been stranded on a highway overpass.

Others led children or pushed strollers with one hand and pulled luggage with the other. Volunteers handed out bottled water, and medics were nearby in case people became sick from the heat.

Unlike Katrina, when thousands took refuge inside the Superdome, there will be no "last resort" shelter. "You will be on your own," Nagin said.

About 1,500 National Guard troops were in the region, and soldiers were expected to help augment about 1,400 New Orleans police officers in helping patrol and secure the city.

Standing outside his restaurant in the city's Faubourg Marigny district, Dale DeBruyne prepared for Gustav the way he did for Katrina - stubbornly.

"I'm not leaving," he said.

DeBruyne, 52, said his house was stocked with storm supplies, including generators.

"I stayed for Katrina," he said, "and I'll stay again."

Many residents said the early stage of the evacuation was more orderly than Katrina, although a plan to electronically log and track evacuees with a bar code system failed and was aborted to keep the buses moving. Officials said information on evacuees would be taken when they reached their destinations.

Advocates criticized the decision not to establish a shelter, warning that day laborers and the poorest residents would fall through the cracks.

About two dozen Hispanic men gathered under oak trees near Claiborne Avenue. They were wary of boarding any bus, even though a city spokesman said no identity papers would be required.

"The problem is," said Pictor Soto, 44, of Peru, "there will be immigration people there and we're all undocumented."

Farther west, where Gustav appeared more likely to make landfall, Guard troops were also being sent to Lake Charles.

The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and part of Texas, meaning hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Two East Texas counties also issued mandatory evacuation orders, and authorities in Mississippi, also battered by Katrina, began evacuating the mentally ill and aged from facilities along the coast.

National Guard soldiers on Mississippi's coast were going door-to-door to alert thousands of families in FEMA trailers and cottages that they should be prepared to evacuate Sunday.

In Alabama, shelters were opened and 3,000 National Guard personnel assembled to help evacuees from Mississippi and Louisiana.

"If we don't get the wind and rain, we stand ready to help them," Gov. Bob Riley said.

---

Associated Press writers Peter Prengaman, Janet McConnaughey, Alan Sayre, Allen G. Breed, Mary Foster and Stacey Plaisance contributed to this report from New Orleans. Doug Simpson in Baton Rouge, La., and Michael Kunzelman in Gulfport, Miss., also contributed.

I'm pretty terrified to say the least.

My mom's friend lives there with her husband and her 2 young sons.... She is pretty upset.

It's hurting me, and I'm not even home--where it's coming.

------------
EDIT:
Just in case anyone was wondering, right now I am in Houston.
We are going back home (about 5 minutes from Baton Rouge) first thing tomorrow morning.

Please pray for the safety of all people involved in this massive storm.

cdurbfan22 wrote:

It's hurting me, and I'm not even home--where it's coming.

------------
EDIT:
Just in case anyone was wondering, right now I am in Houston.
We are going back home (about 5 minutes from Baton Rouge) first thing tomorrow morning.

Please pray for the safety of all people involved in this massive storm.

And Let's hope this storm loses its punch


You be careful, too Cdurb!

If this storm becomes a Category 5

New Orleans could be destroyed.

They gotta get the people outta there.


It may end up being a lot worse than Katrina.


Though I think Nagin is an idiot for not using the Superdome as a shelter

The Superdome is designed to withstand Hurricanes


Most buildings and homes in New Orleans are not

Gustav currently has winds of 130 miles an hour; it has weakened somewhat after it plowed through Cuba;


However; it will intensify; possibly reaching Category 5 status as it moves across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico later tonight and during the day on Sunday

They are crazy if this Hurricane hits again, and the fools rebuild there again!!! The land is sinking, move the city inland further!!!

cdurbfan22 wrote:

I'm pretty terrified to say the least.

Living in Florida, I have been through my share of hurricane scares....God be with you, cdurb!!

tigersaint wrote:

cdurbfan22 wrote:

I'm pretty terrified to say the least.

Living in Florida, I have been through my share of hurricane scares....God be with you, cdurb!!

Thanks Saint, you be careful too in FL, you never know how much rain could come your way.

Everything is incredibly orderly down there this time! They cannot screw up again! Thankfully the Superdome is closed.

It's so much better.

Everything is.

Our governor is to thank for that. He's handling it as well as you could have basically.

Pets too! That was so painful to watch seeing that people couldn't bring their pets 3 years ago!

You couldn't help but feel bad for those not wanting to leave for that reason.

At least they are sensitive to pet owners this time.

Very much so...and the media fortunately has picked up on it!

laprimamirala wrote:

Very much so...and the media fortunately has picked up on it!

hard to believe!

And who has stopped their election schedule, because they are concerned about the people???? Not Obama....., but McCain!

President Bush said that he's going to be here tomorrow, probably after the worse weather that comes though.

Hope everything is ok cdurb.

ing for your safety.

Thanks Garrett, I really appreciate it.

Dont mention it

Here it comes...

Tornado Watch in effect until 7 AM this morning.

cdurbfan22 wrote:

Here it comes...

Tornado Watch in effect until 7 AM this morning.

Stay Safe Cdurb!