Powerful Gustav hits Cuba; New Orleans evacuates

WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer

HAVANA (AP) - Hurricane Gustav roared into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after destroying homes and roads in Cuba, and the mayor of New Orleans ordered residents to flee the ''storm of the century'' by morning.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Gustav weakened slightly but was expected to regain strength as it moves over warm waters toward the U.S. coast, possibly becoming a top-scale Category 5 hurricane later Sunday.

Forecasters upgraded a hurricane watch to a warning for over 500 miles (800 kilometers) of U.S. Gulf coast from Cameron, Louisiana, near the Texas border to the Alabama-Florida state line, meaning hurricane conditions are expected there within 24 hours.

Even after slowing to Category 3 status before sunrise Sunday, Gustav packed top winds near 120 mph (195 kph).

Gustav was just short of Category 5 strength when it made landfall Saturday on mainland Cuba near the community of Los Palacios in Pinar del Rio - a region that produces much of the tobacco used to make the nation's famed cigars.

At least 300,000 Cubans were evacuated from Gustav's path as screaming 140 mph (220 kph) winds toppled telephone poles and fruit trees, shattered windows and tore off the tin roofs of homes.

Cuban Civil defense chief Ana Isla said there were ''many people injured'' on Isla de la Juventud, an island of 87,000 people south of the mainland, but no reports of deaths. She said nearly all the island's roads were washed out and some regions were heavily flooded.

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New Orleans begins evacuation as Gustav gains strength

Tropical Storm Gustav has regained hurricane strength as it churned toward Cuba, leaving 78 people dead in its wake, as New Orleans began voluntary evacuations ahead of the storm's projected arrival next week.

Jamaica awoke to a trail of devastation and reports that the storm killed as many as 11 people on the mountainous island, as people on the US Gulf Coast hurried storm preparations, exactly three years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region.

The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said in a special bulletin that Gustav had regained hurricane force.

"Data from an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft indicate that Gustav has again become a hurricane, with maximum winds near 120 kilometres per hour," the Centre said.

The system ripped through the Dominican Republic and Haiti earlier this week, then thrashed Jamaica, beginning its rampage as a Category One hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale before weakening to a tropical storm.

Streets in the normally bustling capital city of Kingston were soaked and quiet, except for howling winds as Gustav's powerful gusts sent metal roofs flying, and threatened to wreak havoc on Jamaica's banana industry, officials said.

A few people in raincoats and boots tried to help motorists get stranded cars freed, as hundreds crowded into shelters.

"On this track the centre of Gustav will pass near or over the Cayman Islands later Friday, over the western portions of Cuba on Saturday and into the southern Gulf of Mexico on Sunday," the Hurricane Centre said.

With more than 11 million people, Cuba is extremely vulnerable to hurricanes, with most of its housing stock aged and in fragile condition.

Over 2 million people live in the capital, Havana, where many colonial era buildings, crowded with families, are prone to cave-in after heavy rains.

Authorities in Cuba, the Americas' only communist country, are famed for well organised evacuation operations but acknowledge the dangers precarious homes pose.

Anxiety also was mounting on the hurricane-ravaged US Gulf Coast on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Authorities in New Orleans began bussing out residents on a voluntary basis, and considered ordering mandatory evacuations to prevent a repeat of the devastation and deaths of 2005.

Louisiana and Mississippi have already declared states of emergency before Gustav's expected landfall late Monday, when it could strike as a major storm of Category Three of higher.

Katrina killed some 1,800 on the US Gulf Coast, most of them in New Orleans.

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Bush Declares State Of Emergecy In Louisiana Ahead Of Gustav

By Darrell A. Hughes, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, days ahead of Tropical Storm Gustav's projected arrival in the Gulf Coast as a likely hurricane.

The president mandated that federal agencies assist and supplement state and local response efforts. Coordination efforts will be controlled via the Federal Emergency Management Agency and are set to begin from this point on until necessary, according to the White House.

"FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impact of the emergency," a White House statement read.

FEMA Administrator David Paulison named Michael J. Hall as the Federal Coordinating Officer for FEMA operations in the affected regions.

Interesting Times Revisited

On this date in 2005, Category 3 storm Hurricane Katrina attacks the Gulf coast with 145-mph winds. Cities in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are declared disaster areas. Parts of New Orleans are submerged, some residents are left to scramble to their rooftops awaiting rescue. News organizations report widespread panic and looting, crowds abandoned on elevated freeways, and rumors of rape in the Superdome.

US coast gets set amid storm fear

Fears of a major storm have prompted New Orleans to prepare evacuation plans, three years after the US city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Tropical storm Gustav, downgraded from a hurricane, has resulted in more than 20 deaths in Haiti, and is now heading towards Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Residents there have boarded up homes as forecasters warn the storm could return to hurricane strength by Friday.