New Orleans Considers Evacuation as Gustav Looms

[tekisui]

NEW ORLEANS, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast, New Orleans residents on Wednesday again faced the prospect of an evacuation as Tropical Storm Gustav loomed.

Not since Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which followed in its wake, have residents faced government orders to evacuate their homes and businesses. Many are still struggling to rebuild their lives in a city famed for its jazz clubs and Mardi Gras festival.

On Wednesday, two days before the third anniversary of Katrina's Aug. 29, 2005, landfall, Gustav drifted away from Haiti and the Dominican Republic after killing 22 people. It could hit the U.S. Gulf Coast around Monday.

The storm was expected to strengthen to a hurricane over the Gulf's warm waters, and U.S. landfall could be anywhere from the Florida panhandle to Texas.

But Gustav's most likely track is directly toward New Orleans.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal put New Orleans residents on alert, saying evacuations could begin as early as Friday.

City officials said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin would order an evacuation if Gustav looked likely to come ashore with wind speeds over 111 miles per hour (178 kph) -- a Category 3 hurricane or higher on the 5-step Saffir-Simpson scale.

"It's still too early to tell exactly what it's going to do," city emergency preparedness director Jerry Sneed said.

link: http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN27500423._CH_.2400

[malaise]

1. There goes Jindal's convention n/t

[tekisui]

3. How are things down there, now?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. McCain and Fuckface

has better hurry up and get that birthday cake mixed up and into the oven.

I'd hate like hell for them to miss their obviously joyous observance of the old fuck's birthday.

[El Supremo]

4. When does the RNC start?

[tekisui]

6. Monday, September 1st.

[C_U_L8R]

5. They'll need to truck in

extra cake to the RNC convention

[tekisui]

7. Gustav Blamed for 22 Deaths in Haiti and Dom.Rep.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- At least 22 people died in severe flooding and landslides triggered when Hurricane Gustav hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic, officials said Wednesday.

The tropical storm that became a Category 1 hurricane in less than 14 hours in the Caribbean Monday hit Haiti's southern coast Tuesday morning, bringing torrential rains. Haitian radio and CNN reported the swaths of water cut one village in two, as U.S. forecasters in Miami warned of 12 inches of rain with double that possible in isolated areas.

Gustav's winds diminished from 95 mph to 60 mph Wednesday, although it stopped moving forward during the morning for several hours, adding to the deluge. U.S. forecasters said it would move west and become a hurricane once over open waters.

Haitian radio said the country was still trying to recover from last week's arrival of Tropical Storm Fay, which killed at least 50 people, most of whom were in a bus washed away in a landslide.

Gustav was blamed for 14 deaths in Haiti and eight in the Dominican Republic, including six children overwhelmed by a mudslide in Santo Domingo, CNN International reported.

"It has been raining, and it continues to rain," said Michaele Gedeon, president of the Haitian Red Cross. "We have a saturation that is causing floods in several parts of the country. Our volunteers were mobilized some 48 hours ago."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/27/Gustav_blamed_for_22_deaths/UPI-17801219869620/