'You need to be scared,' New Orleans mayor warns evacuating citizens as Hurricane Gustav prepares to strike
Eddie Wrenn
- Gustav 'will become a catastrophic Category 5 storm'
- Towns in Cuba wrecked as storm rips through buildings
- John McCain: We may have to suspend my nomination due to Gustav
- Storm may strike U.S. coast as early as Monday
- Crude oil prices could soar
A million people have boarded up their homes and businesses and taken to highways along the U.S. Gulf Coast as Hurricane Gustav prepares to strike Louisiana.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say they are surprised at how quickly Gustav gained strength as it charged toward Cuba.
It went from a tropical storm to a Category 4 in about 24 hours, and is likely to become a Category 5 - with sustained winds of 155 mph (249 kph) or more - by Sunday.
Power of the storm: A truck is thrown off the highway by Hurricane Gustav in Los Palacios, Cuba on Sunday
Traffic backs up along westbound Interstate 10 as residents leave New Orleans on Saturday
Forecasters said Gustav could weaken a little ahead of a likely collision as early as Monday with the U.S. Gulf Coast roughly around Louisiana. But forecasters cautioned that the storm track could vary.
'This is a little more than what we had in mind in such a short time,' said Richard Knabb, a senior hurricane specialist at the center.
'This is the mother of all storms,' the New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, said. 'This storm is so powerful and growing more powerful everyday that I'm not sure we've seen anything like it.'
Gustav has already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean.
A mandatory evacuation order is expected, with hotels closed and the New Orleans airport preparing to follow suit.
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin told residents: 'You need to be scared; you need to get your butts out of New Orleans now.
'This is the mother of all storms. I am not sure we have seen anything like it.'
Canal Boulevard, one of New Orleans's busiest streets, is eerily empty as people flee to avoid Gustav
The hurricane left a swath of devastation across Cuba's western province of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth, residents and eye-witnesses in the communist-ruled island reported.
No deaths had been reported as of Sunday afternoon, however, a full day after the storm packing 145 mph (230 kph) winds crossed Cuba.
Gustav had already killed at least 86 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
Reuters cameraman Heriberto Rodriguez said: 'High tension towers were twisted and down, roofs blown off entire towns, schools destroyed and in Palacios even the baseball stadium's walls were gone.'
Residents could be seen crying over the foundations of their homes or wandering around aimlessly.
There was little information from the Isle of Youth, 40 miles (64 km) off the southwestern coast, which was raked by Gustav before it made landfall in the southern coast town of Palacios.
Torn down: Residents make their way through a street in Consolacion del Sur, Cuba, on Sunday
State television showed pictures of destroyed homes, submerged factories and boats lifted from their moorings and left in city streets.
The storms 150 mph (240 kph) winds scattered trees and telephone poles like toothpicks. The 800,000 residents of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth remained without power on Sunday, as did many of the more than three million residents of adjoining Havana province and the capital.
Where Gustav's eye hit nothing stood. Up to 100 miles (160 km) to the east in Matanza, wind gusts downed trees and damaged buildings, telephone and electricity lines.
The city of Havana's streets were littered with branches, shrubs, trees and light poles.
Wind and rains damaged banana plantations and other crops in Havana province, the capital's bread basket.
Damage to recently harvested tobacco in Pinar del Rio, the heart of Cuba's prized industry, was still being tallied.
The Cuban weather service said one of its stations measured a gust of 204 mph (340 kph), the highest ever recorded
The government reported some minor injuries. But hurricane deaths are rare in Cuba, where evacuations are well-organized and begin early.
Devastated: People stand on the street in Paso Real de San Diego, Cuba in the hurricane's aftermath
Back in New Orleans, there was relief for pet-owners, who were allowed to bring their four-legged friends with them.
Many owners stayed in the city during the catastrophic 2005 Hurricane Katrina because they could not take their pets to shelters and could not bear to leave without them.
Among the horrors of Katrina were dead dogs bobbing in the drowned streets of the city, 80 percent of which was flooded
'This city has been hit so badly, they've lost so much, and the last thing they have to hold on to is their animal,' said Laura Bergerol, a volunteer with Animal Rescue New Orleans.
Lines of people wait to be evacuated from the city by buses and trains at the Union Passenger Terminal
President George W. Bush called Gulf Coast governors and told them they would have the full support of the federal government, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
Energy companies shut down three-quarters of oil production in the Gulf and prepared for the strongest storm in three years to hit an area that produces a quarter of U.S. crude and 15 percent of its natural gas.
People queue up to be evacuated from the train station in New Orleans
Bush also received regular updates from aides about the storm's path and the government's preparations.
He announced he plans to travel to Texas on Monday to visit an operations center that is coordinating the state's emergency response.
He warned the storm was 'dangerous' with a 'serious risk of significant flooding' and advised residents to listen to local and officials instructions. He said he hoped to visit Louisiana 'as soon as conditions permit.'
Republican presidential hopeful John McCain urged his party 'to take our Republican hats off and put our American hats on' as he put most of his party's national convention on hold.
The Arizona senator, who will accept the presidential nomination on Thursday night, said only those portions of the programme that are absolutely necessary to fulfil requirements will be held.
Campaign manager Rick Davis said: 'The programme will be business only and we will refrain from any political rhetoric that would be traditional at an opening session of a convention.'
Plans for the rest of the week will be finalised later, as the situation with Gustav develops.
Menace: The center of Tropical Storm Gustav pictured over the Caribbean Sea on Friday
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said he will tap his huge political network of donors and volunteers.
'I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there, if it becomes necessary,' Obama told reporters after attending St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Lima, Ohio.
'I think we can activate an e-mail list of a couple of million people who want to give back.'
He said donations could include cash, goods and individual labour.
Taking everything they could carry, hundreds of people wait hours for buses and trains at the Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison are in the region monitoring developments and safe shelters are being readied, with cots, blankets and hygiene kits en route.
Unlike Hurricane Katrina, when thousands took refuge inside the Superdome, there will be no 'last resort' shelter, and those who stay behind accept 'all responsibility for themselves and their loved ones,' said the city's emergency preparedness director, Jerry Sneed.
Advocates criticized the decision not to establish a shelter, warning that day laborers and the poorest residents will fall through the cracks.
Many of the 30,000 people being rushed out of New Orleans tonight have no idea where they are going
Gustav dumped up to 12in of rain yesterday as it crossed Cuba, where 13,000 residents and 4,000 tourists were evacuated from low-lying coastal regions. In Havana, hotels and shops boarded up their windows and all buses and trains were cancelled.
Cubans take shelter underneath a porch as Hurricane Gustav hits Los Palacios, Havana
Cuba: Palm trees blow in the high winds in Pinar del Rio
Whipping up: High winds from nearby Hurricane Gustav kick up waves before dawn, in George Town, Grand Cayman Island
The island boasts one of the best organised disaster-preparedness systems in the region.