Gustav Gains Speed Headed For La.

As Category 3 Hurricane Approaches New Orleans, Curfew Will Go Into Effect At Dusk; Bush, Cheney Cancel RNC Visits

(CBS/AP)  As the Mayor of New Orleans said, Gustav is not a storm to play with. And most people are heeding the call.

The mandatory evacuation of the city ahead of Hurricane Gustav began Sunday morning, with residents on the city's vulnerable West Bank told to start leaving first.

By noon, residents in the rest of the city were supposed to be out of their homes and heading to safety.

City officials were nervously watching the storm's track. Gustav roared into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after destroying homes and roads in Cuba. It picked up speed as it moved northwest at 17 mph with winds of 115 mph with higher gusts, according to the National Hurricane Center's 2 p.m. EDT update. Some re-intensification is forecast during the next 12 to 24 hours, and Gustav could regain Category Four strength later today or tonight.

Hurricane-force winds extended 50 miles from the storm's center, which is about 270 miles southeast of the Mississippi River's mouth.

It was projected to make landfall Monday, and could bring a storm surge of up to 20 feet to the coast and rainfall totals of up to 15 inches.

Mayor Ray Nagin called Gustav "the mother of all storms," and says anyone ignoring calls to leave would be on their own.

In addition to more than 80 deaths attributed to the storm in the Caribbean, a man was swept overboard from a motor vessel 80 miles west of Key West while the boat was passing through heavy weather associated with Gustav.

The man was found dead at approximately 10:50 a.m.


"This Is Still A Big, Ugly Storm"

At a press conference this afternoon, Nagin said the last buses will leave the city by 3 p.m., and that a dusk-to-dawn curfew would be in place for anyone who chose to remain. "Anybody who is on the street after the curfew kicks in will be arrested," Nagin said.

Although according to the mayor there have been only a handful of arrests so far, "We will have zero tolerance for looters. You will go directly to Angola prison, and God bless you when you go there."

Nagin did not minimize the danger posed by Gustav: "Since we are on the wrong side of the storm, we should start to see tornado threats," he said. "This is still a big, ugly storm. It's still strong and I urge everyone to leave."

Nagin expressed some hope that since Gustav has shown to be a fast-moving storm, it might make landfall before gaining even more strength over the Gulf, and would not linger long to dump even more rain on the area.

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Click here for more about CBS News' complete coverage of Hurricane Gustav.

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Calls Go Out In Texas, Ala., Mississippi

Mandatory evacuations have also started in parts of southeast Texas, and are set to continue through midday across a three-county region stretching to the Louisiana state line, with the last mandatory evacuation starting at noon in Beaumont.

In Mississippi, Jackson County officials said there would be a mandatory evacuation for all residents living in low-lying areas, mobile homes, cottages and FEMA travel trailers beginning 8 a.m. Sunday.

The Mississippi Department of Mental Health removed dozens of patients from the South Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Long Beach. Other community living facilities were also evacuated.

In Alabama, Gov. Bob Riley issued a mandatory evacuation order for some coastal parts of Mobile and Baldwin counties in response to Hurricane Gustav.

The evacuation order, effective at 7 a.m. Sunday, covers areas south of Interstate 10 in the southernmost part of Mobile County and on the west side of Mobile Bay, east of Dauphin Island Parkway.

(A Mississippi Highway Patrol vehicle attempts to make its way through northbound traffic on U.S. 55 Sunday as evacuees line the interstate on their way out of the path of Hurricane Gustav, Aug. 31, 2008.)

In Baldwin County, the evacuation order includes Fort Morgan Peninsula and Plash Island.

The order did not immediately include Orange Beach where thousands of tourists, including some Louisiana evacuees, have rooms. Tourism officials estimate some 40,000 visitors are on the Alabama coast for Labor Day.

"We basically have the rest of Sunday to complete the evacuation of the coast of Louisiana as well as evacuation activities in Texas and Mississippi," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said this morning.

Remarking on reports of coastal residents choosing to stand guard over their property, Chertoff said, "That strikes me as exceptionally foolish. People should heed the instructions to evacuate and protect their own lives."

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Gustav weakened slightly over Cuba and again over the Gulf of Mexico but was expected to regain strength as it moves over warm waters toward the U.S. coast, possibly becoming a top-scale Category 5 hurricane later on Sunday.

Even after slowing to Category 3 status before sunrise Sunday, Gustav packed top winds at 120 mph at 8:00 a.m. The storm was centered 375 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Forecasters upgraded a hurricane watch to a warning for over 500 miles of U.S. Gulf coast from Cameron, Louisiana, near the Texas border to the Alabama-Florida state line, meaning hurricane conditions are expected there within 24 hours.

Forecasters said Gustav was just short of Category 5 strength when it made landfall Saturday on mainland Cuba near the community of Los Palacios in Pinar del Rio.


Bush, Cheney Cancel Trips To GOP Convention

Concerns over the hurricane led the White House to announce Sunday that neither President Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney will travel to the Republican National Convention in Minnesota.

Mr. Bush was scheduled to speak to the RNC in St. Paul on Monday night.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said alternate plans for the convention are being prepared.

President Bush will be heading to Texas on Monday to meet emergency workers and evacuees, in Austin and San Antonio.

Mr. Bush called New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin this morning, letting him know that he was "checking in and getting ready to go through this with him again."

Nagin told the president that though the forecast was not good, he was pleased with the support he was getting from the federal government and FEMA.

Mr. Bush got an update on the storm, which could make landfall along the Gulf Coast as early as Monday, during a visit to Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters. At a briefing, Mr. Bush sat next to agency director David Paulison and watched a live briefing on a large video screen on Gustav's track and strength.

His Homeland Security chief warned that Gustav could prove more challenging than Katrina and the nation's disaster response coordinator worried about New Orleans' fragile levees.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Paulison have visited the region to monitor developments; Chertoff was returning there Sunday. Equipment and people were put in position and safe shelters readied, with cots, blankets and hygiene kits en route.

Chertoff, who planned to remain in Baton Rouge, La., for the duration of the storm, said coordination among response officials was much better than it was during Katrina.

But he acknowledged some shortcomings so far, including buses that had yet to arrive at evacuation points and last-minute decisions by hospitals to move critically ill patients out of the storm's way.

With New Orleans' mandatory evacuation getting under way, internal government briefing documents obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday said Louisiana was short 750 buses needed for evacuation. Chertoff said school buses were expected to fill in for the contract buses that had not appeared and that the Canadian military was lending planes to help evacuate hospital patients.

"This is probably the case with almost any emergency, which is as soon as you make contact with the enemy, the plan starts to suffer some alterations," Chertoff told reporters at Andrews Air Force base before his departure. He said reports that some Louisiana residents apparently have decided to ride that storm out in their homes "strikes me as exceptionally foolish."

Gustav is "going to be, in some ways, more challenging than Katrina," Chertoff said.

Also in advance of the storm, security firm Blackwater Worldwide, in a notice released on Friday, called for submissions by "qualified security personnel" for possible deployment into areas affected by Hurricane Gustav. Applicants, the notice states, must be U.S. citizens. Contract length is to be determined.

Blackwater gained controversy over its deployment of private security personnel in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina, in addition to its work for the State Department in Iraq.

There is no indication that Blackwater personnel would actually be contracted by the Department of Homeland Security. National Guardsmen and New Orleans police are already in the city and will be patrolling during curfew.

[missingamerica]

Ugh, the global warming comments are getting to be so tiresome. Yes it''''s getting hotter, yeah sure ice-caps are melting...

There is nothing that can be done in a realistic timeframe to reverse the damage that has been done already [...]

All the global warming issues have done is create new ways for companies to market things to the every day consumer...slap a "We''''re Green!" lable on anything and it will be bought.

Posted by reusabletp at 06:48 PM : Aug 31, 2008

Interesting...I gather you hate people who say anything about global warming and favor protecting the environment - and thus our children?

I would point out that you may indeed be correct - too many decades of listening to people who deride the idea of taking care of the only planet humans have to live on may indeed have already pushed us past the tipping point.

The "Butterfly Effect", and all that...

On the other hand, if an arsonist uses gasoline to set your house on fire, do you just allow him to throw more gasoline on the fire while you stand there and tell your family "Oh, it is probably too late..."?

Or do you knock the S.O.B. down, and do what you can to save what is left?

[reusabletp]

Ugh, the global warming comments are getting to be so tiresome. Yes it''s getting hotter, yeah sure ice-caps are melting...

There is nothing that can be done in a realistic timeframe to reverse the damage that has been done already, wind energy could be built and equipped to power 20% of the nation by the year 2030...only 11 years away and only a fifth of OUR country, only 194 other countries to deal with. And all this would do is lower oil dependancy and water usage. It would''nt suck all the bad carbon up and put it in a rocket ship to be shot to the sun. Same can be said with the "hybrid" cars. All the global warming issues have done is create new ways for companies to market things to the every day consumer...slap a "We''re Green!" lable on anything and it will be bought.

We can''t build a giant air conditioned dome with a carbon filter around the planet to regulate temperature.

These poor people that are in the hurricane''s path are dealing with a natural occurence in nature, hurricanes have been around for a long time. These hurricanes didn''t start becomming active just because Al Gore released a documentary.

[barbaram99]

Not Again. Them poor people. Get Out Dears. Yer Mayor saids so on TV. I am hoping the bloody storm don''t hit and goes out to sea..''member they need help and America first.

[generey]

LAST CALL


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by tpraskac at 05:39 PM : Aug 31, 2008


Six pack of Bud Light please! (I''ll get more when I run out about ten miles north!). (Mabye two or three miles in this traffic!).

[tpraskac]

THINK OF THIS. THE LEVEES WERE BUILT BUT NOT FINISHED. THE WATER WILL GO TO THE LEFT AND RIGHT OF THE LEVEES THUS CAUSING HORRIC FLOODING. IN OTHER WORDS THE LEVEES AT THIS POINT IN TIME WILL BE MEANINGLESS UNLESS THE WORK WAS FULLY COMPLETED AND WAS NOT.

[realpatriot1]

Xlib,

Biden''s remark about Convenience store clerks was aimed at Pakastanis. Jindal is Indian.

Just as McCain doesn''t know the difference between Shiites & Sunnis, you don''t know the difference between Indians & Pakastanis.

[realpatriot1]

ojamo,

Every major coastal city in the U.S. will eventually be underwater if nothing is done soon regarding global warming and the glaciers continue to melt at their current rate. Try having an intelligent discussion about that with these bloggers.

But I do agree with the point you''re making. The rebuilding should be focused well north of the coast and Lake Pontchaltrain.

[pensacola98]

I think people forget that the most damage sustained is in the east side of the storm - meaning Mississippi is the place where more destruction will be experienced. The levy breach occurred 3 days after Katrina had passed. In fact, remember that helicopters were flying through clear skies covering the levy breach and more helicopters were repairing it? That is evidence that the winds of Katrina were long gone. I was flying over Mississippi to see the damage over Biloxi, Bay St. Louis and Gulfport, and it was easy to see the scale of destruction that few were around to even report.

Most in New Orleans always knew that the west side of a hurricane isn''t too windy or damaging as the east side, and choose to stay, but the levy breach was what got them in trouble from three days of high water, not the hurricane. Mississippi coastline was 95% destroyed. The stench of flying over Mississippi coastal areas was over-powering. Volunteer rescue personnel often showed up, gasped for fresh air and abandoned the scene.

Katrina for New Orleans was purely a political memory, but for Mississippi, the scale of disaster from Katrina was beyond imagination. Few pay tribute to Mississippi for what they were given to overcome.

[tpraskac]

LAST CALL

[tpraskac]

Reason bush is so concerned? ITS NEAR TEXAS

[sistatee-2009]

Why are they taking the evacuees from New Orleans to eastern Texas? Isn''t the storm going to hit west of N.O. and move into Texas? Seems like they''re evacuating people INTO the path of the hurricane. Shouldn''t they be going northeast with these people?

[tpraskac]

if you dont go you deserve what you get coming to you

[xlib]

Why I remember a time when looters were shot. Not saying that''s a good thing to do but I guess it was effective.
Also read somewhere, certianly not here, that it was Bobby Jindal R-LA)that gave the order to evavuate NO while also having the National Guard at the ready. Also read that he had not intention of going to the covention for a number of days before anyone else decided it would be best to stay home and run your state. Yep, same Bobby Jindal (R-La) with the same ethnic background that ole joe bident slammed. God, I would pay to see those two in a debate.
Also understand that ole chocolate city, school bus, amtrax nagin didn''t come home early from the party in Denver. But hey, he''s sure to get voted back in office again.

[andor3]

what?! abandon NO? sounds like cut-and-run!

[buckeye_qt]

Seriously... anyone who has lived in NO knows what can happen when a hurricane threatens the city and surrounding areas like this. Can''t believe anyone is staying. Oh, and Bush didn''t say looters would go straight to prison. Nagan did. Should get it right... Complain about Bush if you want, but make sure you have the facts straight when you do!

[slim1h2o]

Lookout folks, we have Hanna coming too.

Tis the season!!

[noboundary]

A couple of things:

1) The Dutch don''t have to deal with Gustav-level hurricanes.

2) NO is built on river sediment which is no where near fully consolidated, so over time NO keeps dropping further below sea level - not a pleasant prospect.

[pensacola98]

In Pensacola, skies are cloudy and wind is causing some high-voltage power lines to "slap" and make contact, causing brownouts. Also, insects are being observed to fly and land in unprotected places making them vulnerable to their predators. Many frogs are croaking and crickets are buzzing in the daytime...something unusual, since they usually do this at night. It is sign that animal behavior can predict some weather phenomena.

[arcomcbride]

isn''t it time we ask the Dutch how they do it? 12 feet below see level , they know how that feels.

[irliberal]

New Orleans was a big, thriving city for more than 150 years, since before Mark Twain. Anyone arguing that it now has to be abandoned to the sea is (gasp) admitting that climate change is real.

Posted by alan7388 at 01:03 PM

No, they''ll never admit that. Logic, facts, figures mean nothing to that kind of deliberate ignorance.