Thousands flee New Orleans as Gustav nears
Mayor C. Ray Nagin urges residents to evacuate and warns of tornadoes and storm-surge flooding.
NEW ORLEANS — Thousands of cars and buses clogged the highways from New Orleans as residents abandoned their homes today in a massive mandatory evacuation to escape Hurricane Gustav, which churned toward the Gulf Coast with powerful winds topping 125 mph.
The storm had downgraded slightly overnight from its Category 4 status, with winds in excess of 156, but forecasters expected the tempest to strengthen as it approached the mainland. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin had earlier described Gustav as "the storm of the century," packing far stronger winds and storm surges than even Hurricane Katrina, which raked across New Orleans three years ago, causing 1,800 deaths and vast flooding and destruction.
"This is still a big, ugly storm," Nagin said during a morning press update. "It's still strong, and I strongly urge everyone to leave."
Nagin warned of the possibility of spinoff tornadoes as early as tonight. He said he was concerned about the ability of the city's internal levees to ward off Gustav's powerful storm surge from the Lower 9th Ward and other low-lying areas, and he also warned that gaps in the Harvey Canal would endanger the city's West bank.
Officials and witnesses said traffic spilling out west of the city toward Houston and Dallas was flowing smoothly, but public safety officials were having a harder time managing the flow toward Alabama and Mississippi, whose own Gulf Coast evacuees had taken to the road.
"Going east is much slower," Nagin warned evacuees.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew goes into effect tonight, Nagin said, and he warned any resident who considered remaining that they could not expect any city services once Gustav barrels inland. Most neighborhoods, he said, were cooperating.
"If we're getting any reports of resistance," he said, "it's Uptown." Police reported crowds of residents still milling in the Uptown area, which was devastated by Katrina's flooding in 2005.
At least 14,000 to 15,000 residents had already evacuated the city before noon, Nagin said. He warned those who remained that looting would not be tolerated and anyone arrested would be transported to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. "You'll go directly to the big house," Nagin said bluntly. "God bless you if you go there."
"You need to be getting your butts moving out of New Orleans now," Nagin said Saturday in describing Hurricane Gustav, a storm the National Hurricane Center said could be a Category 5 -- the top intensity -- when it enters the Gulf of Mexico today.
