Orkaan Gustav (cat.3) op ramkoers met Louisiana

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GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — Gustav swelled to a Category 2 hurricane early Saturday with winds near 100 mph after plowing through the Cayman Islands toward Cuba, gathering strength on a journey that could take it to the U.S. Gulf Coast as a fearsome Category 3 storm three years after Hurricane Katrina.

Gustav, which killed 71 people in the Caribbean, hit the Caymans 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.

More than 1,100 people were 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. No injuries were reported.

"We're just trying to wait it out," said Juliana O'Connor-Connolly, who represents the islands in the Cayman legislature, by cell phone from the kitchen of her farm on Cayman Brac.

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Op zaterdag 30 augustus 2008 21:11 schreef HansAEX het volgende:
Katrina was CAT 3 bij 'landfall' als ik me niet vergis

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Hurricane Gustav strengthened to a dangerous Category 4 storm Saturday, prompting officials to plan a special advisory and some Gulf Coast residents to leave town ahead of mandatory evacuations.

Data from an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft indicated that Gustav's maximum winds have increased to close to 145 mph, making the already-deadly storm an extremely hazardous Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.

The advisory was issued about 2 p.m. EDT to modify an earlier warning.

Gustav could strengthen even further to a Category 5 hurricane just before or shortly after it passes over Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center.

New Orleans residents, with the memory of devastating Hurricane Katrina still fresh in their minds, didn't waste time getting out of the city on Saturday.
Lines of people waiting for buses to take them out of the Big Easy grew longer and traffic grew heavier on main highways as Hurricane Gustav strengthened into a dangerous storm on track for the Gulf Coast.

"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.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said a mandatory evacuation hadn't yet been issued, but could come later in the day to begin Sunday morning.

He said he was confident the levees wouldn't fail the way they did during Katrina if Gustav hits New Orleans.

"We have invested a significant amount of money in levee protection, so I’m not anticipating the same type of levee flooding we had with Katrina," Nagin told reporters Saturday. He said he was expecting street flooding, and city officials would be working through the night in preparation for the monster storm.

As for whether or not New Orleans could survive another devastating hurricane, Nagin said it would be difficult.

"Emotionally can we handle it? I think there's a lot of fragileness in the city," he said. "It’s going to be a tough one, but New Orleanians are very resilient."

A line well over a mile long stretched in six loops through the parking lot at Union Station Terminal in New Orleans. Under a blazing sun, many led children or pushed strollers with one hand and pulled luggage with the other. Volunteers handed out bottled water, and medics were nearby in case people became heatsick.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was already working feverishly to avoid the kind of problems that surfaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA said it expects a "huge number" of Gulf Coast residents will be told to leave the region this weekend.

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Op zaterdag 30 augustus 2008 21:15 schreef Drugshond het volgende:

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Ja ja.... nu zou ik pas begonnen zijn met een separaat topic.
Al je voorspellingen komen overigens wel uit. Vraag ff in [NWS] of ze een sticky-topic aanmaken.