Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Gustav swells to dangerous Cat 3 storm off Cuba

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands - Gustav swelled to a fearsome Category 3 hurricane early Saturday with winds of 115 mph as it approached western Cuba on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast three years after Hurricane Katrina.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami called the storm “dangerous” and said it had reached the status of a major hurricane, the second one of this Atlantic season after Bertha in July.

Gustav, which killed 71 people in the Caribbean, rolled over the Cayman Islands Friday with fierce winds that tore down trees and power lines. It was expected to cross Cuba’s cigar country Saturday and head into the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday.

Gustav first struck Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, the smaller easternmost “Sister Islands” in the chain. Storm surge and heavy rains flooded the streets.

Two people were knocked down by huge waves as they tried to take pictures of the storm on Little Cayman, but there were no other immediate reports of injuries, said Hemant Balgobin, disaster manager for the Red Cross in the British territory.

There were reports of damaged homes in Cayman Brac and flooding throughout the islands but authorities had not yet fully assessed the situation, said Balgobin, who was on Grand Cayman, the largest in the chain.

“Things weren’t really as bad as they could have been,” he said.

More than 1,100 people spent the night in government shelters in the three islands as high waves and heavy winds battered the chain, the National Emergency Operations Center said in a statement. Most people hunkered down in private homes or hotels.

By 5 a.m. EDT Saturday, Gustav’s eye had left the Caymans behind and was about 255 miles east-southeast of the western tip of Cuba. It was moving northwest near 12 mph.

Caymans authorities did not impose a curfew but urged people to remain indoors to avoid interfering with emergency workers.

Hotels asked guests to leave and, after the airport closed, prepared to shelter those who remained. Chris Smith, of Frederick, Maryland, said his hotel handed out wrist bands marked with guests’ names and room numbers so that “if something happens they can quickly identify us.”

“That was a little bit sobering,” he said, standing outside the hotel with his luggage.

The storm killed four people in a daylong march across the length of Jamaica, where it ripped off roofs and downed power lines. About 4,000 people were displaced from their homes, with about half relocated to shelters. Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the government sent helicopters Friday to rescue 31 people trapped by floods.

At least 59 people died in Haiti and eight in the Dominican Republic.

Gustav could strike the U.S. Gulf coast anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Texas, but forecasters said there is a better-than-even chance that New Orleans will get slammed by at least tropical-storm-force winds.

As much as 80 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil and gas production could be shut down as a precaution if Gustav enters as a major storm, weather research firm Planalytics predicted. Oil companies have already evacuated hundreds of workers from offshore platforms.

Retail gas prices rose Friday for the first time in 43 days as analysts warned that a direct hit on Gulf energy infrastructure could send pump prices hurtling toward $5 a gallon. Crude oil prices ended slightly lower in a volatile session as some traders feared supply disruptions and others bet the U.S. government will release supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Gustav was projected to hit Cuba’s Isle of Youth, then cross the main island into the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday. Cuban state television announced that effective Saturday, all buses and trains to and from Havana will be suspended until further notice.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna was projected to curl westward into the Bahamas by early next week. It had sustained winds near 50 mph early Saturday.

Along the U.S. Gulf Coast, most commemorations of the Katrina anniversary were canceled because of Gustav, but in New Orleans a horse-drawn carriage took the bodies of Katrina’s last seven unclaimed victims to burial.

President Bush declared an emergency in Louisiana, a move that allows the federal government to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance in storm-affected areas.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said an evacuation order was likely, though not before Saturday, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it expects a “huge number” of Gulf Coast residents will be told to leave the region this weekend.

(AP)

Residents begin leaving Gulf Coast ahead of storm

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hurricane Gustav grew into a dangerous storm Saturday, and as city officials started evacuating the residents that couldn’t get out on their own, some people weren’t waiting to be told to leave.
Cars packed with clothes, boxes and pet carriers drove north among heavy traffic on Interstate 55, a major route out of the city. Gas stations around the city hummed. And nursing homes and hospitals began sending patients farther inland.

“I’m getting out of here. I can’t take another hurricane,” said Ramona Summers, 59, whose house flooded during Katrina. She hurried to help friends gather their belongings. Her car was already packed for Gonzales, nearly 60 miles away to the west of New Orleans.

Gustav swelled into a major hurricane south of Cuba and could strike the U.S. coast anywhere from Mississippi to Texas by Tuesday.

Forecasters said if Gustav follows the projected path it would likely make landfall on Louisiana’s central coast, sparing New Orleans a direct hit. But forecasters caution it is still too soon to say exactly where the storm will hit.

“Any little jog could change where it makes landfall,” said Karina Castillo, a hurricane support meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center said.

President Bush called Gulf Coast governors Saturday and told them they would have the full support of the federal government, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Mayor Ray Nagin’s spokeswoman said buses and trains would begin Saturday taking the city’s estimated 30,000 residents who are disabled, elderly or need help leaving the area to shelters in central and northern Louisiana, as well as out of the state.

“We will start moving residents from the 17 pickup areas that are located throughout the city,” Nagin spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said.

Police and firefighters were set to go street-to-street with bullhorns over the weekend to help people direct people where to go. Unlike Hurricane Katrina, there will be no shelter of last resort in the Superdome. The doors there will be locked.

Those among New Orleans’ estimated 310,000 to 340,000 residents who ignore orders to leave accept “all responsibility for themselves and their loved ones,” the city’s emergency preparedness director, Jerry Sneed, has warned.

Officials plan to announce a curfew that will mean the arrest of anyone still on the streets after a mandatory evacuation order goes out. Police and National Guardsman will patrol after the storm’s arrival, and Gov. Bobby Jindal has said he requested additional search and rescue teams from other states.

Evacuation of coastal parishes was likely to start on Saturday, Jindal said. In St. Mary Parish, which hugs the coastline, the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival—the state’s oldest chartered harvest festival usually held over the Labor Day weekend_ has been canceled, officials said.

Meanwhile, Jindal said the state would likely switch interstate lanes on Sunday so that all traffic would flow north, in the direction an evacuation would follow.

For the third day in a row, Jindal stressed that people with the means should stock up on food, water and other essentials, and prepare to head away from the coast.

“We all still have personal responsibility,” he said. “Now’s the time to begin making evacuation plans.”

Gustav strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane early Saturday as it headed for western Cuba. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said it was a dangerous storm and could strengthen once it gets over the warm waters of the Gulf bound for the U.S. coastline early next week.

The storm has already killed 78 people in the Caribbean, and forecasters said it had become the second major hurricane of the Atlantic season, following Bertha in July.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the center of Gustav was about 185 miles east of the western tip of Cuba. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, just 6 mph shy of the Category 4 threshold. The center of Gustav was to pass over western Cuba later Saturday and strengthening is forecast after it reaches the Gulf of Mexico.

New Orleans has taken steps to make sure everyone has a chance to leave. The state has a $7 million contract to provide 700 buses to evacuate the elderly, the sick and anyone around the region without transportation.

LSU’s Health Care Services Division began moving patients Friday from its hospitals to facilities north of Interstate 10. A complete evacuation from Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Houma and Dr. Walter O. Moss Regional medical Center in Lake Charles should be finished by Saturday evening. Partial evacuations are scheduled for hospitals in Bogalusa and New Orleans and University Medical Center in Lafayette has been placed on alert.

The entire Louisiana National Guard, over 7,000 members, was activated on Friday. Guardsmen also were readying in Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. More than 1,500 guardsmen were sent to New Orleans to assist with evacuations and prevent looting. Jindal sought to reassure New Orleans residents, who recall rampant looting during Katrina, that the guard and New Orleans police would fight any recurrence.

“We don’t want folks worrying about their property. It is time for people to be worried about their personal safety,” Jindal said.

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