~NeonFire372~
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I've been watching the coverage on the news all morning... anyone here from the New Orleans/LA area?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/01/gustav/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/01/gustav/index.html
(CNN) -- Hurricane Gustav began to lash the southern Louisiana coastline early Monday as it moved closer to an expected midday landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
Police cars patrol Canal Street on Sunday night as wind and rain from Gustav arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The U.S. Geological Survey says Gustav has already caused a nearly 9-foot storm surge in Pointe a La Hache, Louisiana, about 40 miles southeast of New Orleans. Another 1 to 3 feet of surge could occur, the USGS said.
Forecasters warned that a surge of 10 to 14 feet would cause life-threatening flooding. The elevation of the town, the seat of Plaquemines Parish, is 3 feet above sea level.
Power went out around 6 a.m. (7 a.m. ET) Monday in the western part of downtown New Orleans, and lights also went out in the French Quarter at about 10 minutes later, CNN correspondents Chris Lawrence and Anderson Cooper reported. Beth Raley, a spokeswoman for Entergy power, said about 92,000 customers had lost power by 8 a.m.
Around 8 a.m., Children's Hospital in downtown New Orleans lost power and switched to generators. A short while later, East Jefferson General Hospital lost power and was running on generators.
CNN's Ali Velshi was hunkered down in a house on Grand Isle, Louisiana, south of New Orleans, where only a handful of people remained.
When high winds first kicked up about 3:15 a.m. (4:15 a.m. ET) Monday, the barrier island's electric power went out, Velshi said. A storm surge of at least 14 feet is expected there, he said.
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"The levee on the beach seems to be holding up," said Grand Isle Fire Captain Deacon Guidry. "The water is just starting to rise from the bay side."
Guidry completed an inspection tour of the island just before dawn. He said that he saw sheet metal from roofs on the road and power lines down, even before Gustav's powerful winds had reached the island.
Guidry, who is staying with others from the island in a reinforced house, said the flooding pattern is similar to that of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with the storm surge washing over from the backside of the island. At 5:30 a.m. CT, floodwaters surrounded the house, cutting off all exits from the island.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed flood gates on the Harvey Canal on the west bank of the Mississippi River on Monday. The step, not unexpected, is the first significant measure to prevent flooding of parts of Jefferson Parish that did not flood during Katrina.
Property damage from Gustav could total $8 billion, just 25 percent of Sunday's estimate, according to a federally supported computer projection issued Monday morning. Sunday's estimate of $32.8 billion in property damage was based on winds of 126 mph.
The projection now says about 78,036 buildings will be moderately damaged and 13,286 buildings destroyed. It estimates Gustav will leave behind 13 million tons of debris, less than half of Sunday's projection.
Forecasters warned Monday morning Gustav could stall over Louisiana and northeast Texas for several days, which would "exacerbate the threat of heavy rains and inland flooding."
With hurricane-force winds extending 70 miles (113 kilometers) from the storm's center, the islands and shoreline were already feeling the reach of Gustav's fury. Sustained winds of 91 mph (146 kph) and gusts of 117 mph (188 kph) were measured in Southwest Pass, Louisiana, around 4 a.m., the hurricane center said.
Gustav's center was about 85 miles (137 kilometers) south of New Orleans and about 20 miles south-southeast of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, at 6 a.m. (7 a.m. ET), the hurricane center said.
Gustav was moving northwest at about 16 mph (26 kph), headed for an expected landfall on Louisiana's coast southwest of New Orleans around midday, the hurricane center said.
Gustav's winds make it a dangerous Category 3 storm, but no more strengthening was expected before landfall, the hurricane center said.
Nearly all of the roughly 2 million people in coastal Louisiana and the New Orleans area had cleared out ahead of Gustav on Sunday night.
Road, rail and air links out of New Orleans began to close as the first storm bands began to strike the city. But fewer than 10,000 people were thought to remain in New Orleans, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said, citing the city's police chief.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had demanded an evacuation of the city, which still is recovering from Katrina.
Jindal said New Orleans' levees should "barely hold or barely be overtopped" if the storm, as predicted Sunday evening, hit southwest of the city.
But even a slight shift to the east could bring "very significant flooding in these areas," he said. iReport.com: Did you stay? Share your story
A leading researcher said the hurricane probably would test New Orleans' western levees, which, unlike levees in other parts of the city, didn't receive the brunt of Katrina's force in 2005. The western levees are low in some sections, he said.
"From the west bank of New Orleans all the way across to Morgan City ... we're going to see communities potentially go under water from levee overtopping and potential breaching," said Louisiana State University professor Ivor van Heerden, who warned long before Katrina that a major hurricane would be catastrophic for New Orleans. Video Watch residents leaving »
Hurricane-force winds could hit Louisiana's southern coast by sunrise Monday, and the storm's center could hit southwest of New Orleans by early Monday afternoon, CNN meteorologists said.
Storm surges of 10 to 14 feet above normal tides are expected near and to the east of Gustav's center, forecasters said. Rain accumulations of 6 to 12 inches are possible over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches, through Wednesday morning, according to forecasters.
Gustav killed at least 51 people in southwestern Haiti and eight in the neighboring Dominican Republic last week before moving to Cuba, which said it evacuated 250,000 people from the storm's path. No storm-related deaths in Cuba were immediately reported; a Cuban official said many people were injured on Cuba's Isle of Youth. Video Watch residents talk about damage in Cuba »
In New Orleans, Lt. Col. Jerry Sneed, the city's emergency operations chief, said government agencies had evacuated 18,000 residents who were without transportation.
Jindal said the New Orleans area had finished evacuating homebound and nursing home patients by 7 p.m. ET Sunday, and 73 critical care patients deemed safe to move still were in the process of being moved out of the area. Video Watch why one New Orleans man refuses to leave »
Some critical care patients had to stay at medical facilities. Eighty patients remained Sunday evening at New Orleans Children's Hospital, more than half of them in a critical care unit.
Highways out of town were packed all day Sunday with evacuees from Louisiana and Mississippi.
"It was bumper-to-bumper for about 10 hours trying to get out," said Roberto Ascencio of the New Orleans suburb of Gretna.
Charter flights, paid for with federal funds, carried thousands of evacuees to other Southern cities. The air evacuation was part of a detailed plan developed in response to criticism after Katrina, a Category 3 storm, flooded most of New Orleans, flattened beach towns in Mississippi and killed more than 1,800 people.
Nagin said New Orleans would impose a "dusk-to-dawn" curfew for anyone left. Video Watch Nagin voice concern about storm's potential effect on the city »
The city-wide curfew will continue until the threat of the storm passes, Nagin said, warning that looters would be dealt with harshly. Video Watch Nagin warn would-be looters »
"Anybody who's caught looting in the city of New Orleans will go directly to Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary]. You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You go directly to the big house, in general population," he said.
The storm altered plans for the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to run from Monday through Thursday in Minnesota.
Rick Davis, campaign manager Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said Monday's session would run only from 3 to 5:30 p.m. CT, and will include only activities necessary to launch the event. Video Watch report on Republicans' altered plans »
Convention plans for the rest of the week will be made as the storm is assessed, he said.
Earlier Sunday, President Bush said he would forgo an appearance at the convention to meet with emergency workers and evacuees in Texas.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said government agencies were "10 times better prepared" than before -- but "that doesn't mean everything is going to go right," he said.
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"Anybody who thinks everything is going to go perfect just doesn't know what they're talking about," he said.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna was churning in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday night and was expected to be near or over the southeastern Bahamas during the next day or two, the hurricane center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the center said.
