Sep
1
Thousands flee Hurricane Gustav
Filed Under BBC News, News, Top Stories
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Hundreds of thousands of people have been fleeing the southern US coast as Hurricane Gustav approaches land.Authorities have ordered the evacuation of New Orleans and an estimated 1.9 million people along the Gulf coast have been heading inland.
The Category Three storm is expected to make landfall at midday local time.
The storm has prompted the Republicans to scale back their national convention where John McCain is due to accept the party’s nomination for president.
President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney have scrapped plans to address the event in St Paul, Minnesota on Monday.
Dangerous surges
The first storm force winds are already being felt across Louisiana, and forecasters warn heavy rain bands are approaching New Orleans.
At 1000 GMT on Monday, the eye of Gustav was about 40 miles (70km) south-east of the Louisiana coast.
Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center say that at the current speed, the centre of the storm would hit the coast by midday local time.
They warned that Gustav’s winds were at speeds of 115 mph (185km/h) and could bring “extremely dangerous” storm surges 14ft (4.2m) above normal. Isolated tornadoes are also possible in the area.
The storm has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean, causing widespread damage in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the past week. At least 300,000 people were evacuated in Cuba as the storm brought extensive flooding and some severe damage, but no reports of deaths. Some got a little bit panicky earlier on, a bit like the opening a door on an aeroplane syndrome, but we’re not paying it too much attention
Cian Heasley
In a bar in New Orleans
Tracking Gustav on the web
In New Orleans, a dusk-to-dawn curfew is in force across the city, which is described as being like a ghost town. The 7,000-strong Louisiana National Guard has been mobilised and support requested from other states. The New Orleans mayor has warned looters will be sent to jail.
Crime was a major problem in the New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city three years ago, causing disastrous floods.
The exodus of an estimated 1.9 million people from the Louisiana coast is said to be the largest evacuation in state history. Tens of thousands are also reported to have left coastal Mississippi, Alabama and south-eastern Texas.
Few remain
Roads out of New Orleans - much of which lies below sea level - were crammed with traffic throughout Sunday.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal appealed to residents: “If you’re hearing this, seeing this, if you’ve not evacuated, please do so. There’s still a few hours left.” FLASHBACK TO KATRINA
Katrina struck US Gulf Coast in August 2005 as a category three storm, killing more than 1,800 people
New Orleans was 80% flooded after storm surge breached protective levees
US Government was blamed for slow, botched response that exacerbated disaster
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced
Flashback: Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told local TV that only about 10,000 residents remained in the city, where rain began falling at sunset on Sunday.
The BBC’s Kevin Connolly, in New Orleans, says the mood among the city’s remaining residents is of hope and fear.
Sandra Taylor, from Lafayette, Indiana, is visiting her daughter, who had a baby nine days ago.
“Where we live it’s not in a flood zone, and we’re quite sheltered,” she said. “There’s a few that have battened down, and sealed all the windows and stuff and disappeared. But there’s a lot of other neighbours around, so I think we’re just going to play the three little pigs - if one house blows away, we’ll shift to the next one.”
Cian Heasley, has joined a few other friends at a bar in New Orleans “waiting out the storm with two generators, a lot of liquor and food”.
“We feel quite safe at the moment. There aren’t any windows but there are two sturdy doors so we feel secure. We’re just drinking and watching TV and staying calm really.
“I think the whole speech about it being the ‘mother of all storms’ is trying to scare everyone, and force people to leave the city.”
Restaurant worker Dustin Goza agreed.
“In some ways it’s good that people are being given a chance to prepare but I think it’s also an overreaction,” he said.
“The rain has been stopping and starting and you can feel the pressure so you know a storm’s on its way. It’s feeling quite gusty. I’ve put some tape up in preparation around windows but that’s it.”
Oil watch
In 2005, three-quarters of New Orleans was flooded by a storm surge that claimed more than 1,800 lives in coastal areas.
All eyes will be on the city’s levees, which Category Three storm Katrina swept away under a wall of mud and water.
Out in the Gulf of Mexico, most oil production has been shut down. Three years ago, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the region’s oil infrastructure and sent oil prices soaring.
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