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)  Paulison, in a broadcast interview, said Gustav "will test parts of the levee that were not tested during Katrina." The Army Corps of Engineers have made those levees stronger since Katrina "but there are still a lot of vulnerabilities. This could be a much worse storm. Hopefully, it won't be, but the possibilities are definitely there."

After visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency's operations center, Mr. Bush said he was assured that New Orleans' levees "are "stronger than they have ever been."

But he said people across the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans need to understand there is a serious risk of flooding from a storm of this size.


Gustav Tears Through Cuba

In Cuba, at least 300,000 people were evacuated from Gustav's path as screaming 140 mph winds toppled telephone poles and fruit trees, shattered windows and tore off the tin roofs of homes.

"Every area where the storm passed is reporting damage to homes and public buildings," writes CBS News producer Portia Spiegelbaum from Havana.

Cuban Civil defense chief Ana Isla said there were "many people injured" on Isla de la Juventud, an island of 87,000 people south of the mainland, but no reports of deaths. She said nearly all the island's roads were washed out and some regions were heavily flooded.

"It's been very difficult here," she said on state television.

Forecasters said Gustav could hit Category 5 - the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale used to rate tropical cyclones - with winds above 155 mph on Sunday. It was expected to make landfall Monday along the U.S. Gulf coast, and authorities issued a hurricane watch from eastern Texas to the Alabama-Florida border.

More than 1 million Americans made wary by Hurricane Katrina took buses, trains, planes and cars as they streamed out of New Orleans and other coastal cities, where Katrina killed about 1,600 people in 2005.

Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, which was devastated three years ago by Hurricane Katrina, issued a mandatory evacuation order beginning 8:00 a.m. and warned that anyone found off their own property after it takes effect can be arrested.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today asked all federal firearms and explosives licensees and gun dealers to store and secure their inventories and records from storm damage or theft during or following a natural disaster.

Gustav already has killed 81 people by triggering floods and landslides in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

(This image taken by the GOES-12 satellite at 4:45 a.m. EDT Aug. 31, 2008, shows Hurricane Gustav in the Gulf of Mexico and, to the east, Tropical Storm Hanna approaching the Turks and Caicos Islands.)

Cuba's top meteorologist, Jose Rubiera, said the storm brought hurricane-force winds to much of the western part of Havana, where power was knocked out as winds blasted sheets of rain sideways though the streets and whipped angry waves against the famed seaside Malecon boulevard. One small town was destroyed.

In the Gulf of Mexico, where about 35,000 people work staffing offshore rigs and production facilities, among other tasks, oil companies wrapped up evacuations in preparation for the storm.

More than three-fourths of the Gulf's oil production and nearly 40 percent of its natural gas output were shut down on Saturday, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore activity.

The U.S. Gulf Coast accounts for about 25 percent of domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output, according to the MMS. The Gulf Coast also is home to nearly half the nation's refining capacity.

Analysts say prolonged supply disruptions could cause a sudden price uptick for gasoline and other petroleum products.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna was projected to near the Turks and Caicos Islands late Sunday or on Monday, then curl through the Bahamas by early next week before possibly threatening Cuba.

As it spun over open waters, Hanna strengthened slightly and had sustained winds near 60 mph early Sunday. The hurricane center warned that it could kick up dangerous rip currents along parts of the southeastern U.S. coast.

The U.S. State Department urged Americans to be aware of the risks caused by Hanna to people traveling to the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It urged U.S. citizens lacking safe shelter to consider leaving while flights are still available.

[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.