| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
WheelsOfConfusion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 10741
Location: Unknown Kaddath
|
 Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 4:58 am Post subject: Mandatory evacuation ordered in New Orleans. |
 |
|
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7590332.stm
| Quote: | The mayor of New Orleans has issued a mandatory evacuation order for the entire city, as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the US Gulf Coast.
Ray Nagin said residents of the city's West Bank should begin moving out at 0800 (1300 GMT) on Sunday, with the East Bank leaving at midday (1700 GMT).
He called it "the storm of the century" and added: "You need to be scared".
Gustav, which is forecast to strengthen to a Category 5 storm over the Gulf, powered through western Cuba overnight.
Gustav ploughed through Cuba's Isla Juventud, or Isle of Youth, overnight on Saturday before hitting the mainland in Pinar del Rio province, home to Cuba's lucrative tobacco plantations.
The storm, which has now moved into the Gulf of Mexico, currently has maximum sustained winds of nearly 240km/h (150mph), with even stronger gusts.
At least 300,000 people have been evacuated in Cuba, says the BBC's correspondent there, Michael Voss. There has been extensive flooding and reports of severe damage where the storm has hit, but no reports of fatalities.
Officials on Isla Juventud said that nearly all the island's roads were washed out and many areas were underwater.
No help
Hours before Mr Nagin spoke, a hurricane watch was put in place along America's North Gulf coast, from Texas along to the Alabama-Florida border.
The BBC's Kevin Connolly, in New Orleans, says Mr Nagin spoke in "passionate and desperate" terms, telling a televised news conference the storm was "so powerful" and growing more powerful every day.
"I'm not sure we've seen anything like it," he told reporters at City Hall.
Mr Nagin said Gustav - expected to make landfall on Monday or Tuesday - was more powerful than Hurricane Katrina.
That storm, which hit New Orleans in 2005, killed some 1,800 people and caused hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage.
Addressing anyone considering riding out Gustav, Mr Nagin said: "I have news for you - that would be one of the biggest mistakes of your life".
The mayor said he was aiming for a 100% evacuation, which extends to members of the emergency services - fewer than 50 city workers will remain in the city.
Mr Nagin described the threat facing New Orleans in stark terms, calling Gustav "the mother of all storms" and urging people to follow the evacuation order.
Mr Nagin that there would be no emergency services to help anyone who chose to remain in the city.
"If you are stubborn enough, if you are not taking this as seriously as we need you to take it, and if you decide to stay; you are on your own."
The mayor, who was in office when New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said those who stayed would almost certainly be stranded in a flooded city.
"Anyone who decides to stay, I'll say it like I said it before Katrina: make sure you have an axe, because you will be carving your way, or busting your way out of your attic to get on your roof with waters that you will be surrounded with in this event," he said.
"So anyone who's thinking of staying, rethink it, get out of town."
Our correspondent says that thousands of people were already beginning to leave the city before the evacuation order was announced, joining a continuous stream of vehicles heading north.
Meanwhile, Republican party presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin announced they would travel to Mississippi on Sunday to observe storm preparations there.
The hurricane has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean.
It has swept through Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the past week, killing dozens of people and causing widespread damage.
It has strengthened rapidly from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane, and is expected to grow to a Category 5 storm - the maximum on the scale - as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico. |
iPlayer video |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 8366
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
batten down yer hatches Las, it looks to be headed your way.
Also, here's to hoping coppertop or any other fester in harms way is okay.
_________________
...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.
http://12ozlb.blogspot.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Lasairfiona
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 9386
Location: I have to be somewhere? ::runs around frantically::
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
I am not in Houston right now but my mom is. I don't know if she is planning to get out of town or not. Her job at the refineries has already been shut down until the storm passes. I heard Galveston is starting to empty too.
_________________
Before God created Las he pondered on all the aspects a woman might have, he considered which ones would look good super-inflated and which ones to leave alone.
After much deliberation he gave her a giant comfort zone. - Michael |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Keign
Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Posts: 2073
Location: The Blue Nowhere
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
| 'Hurricane Gustav' makes me snigger. I'm not really sure why... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mindslicer
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1540
Location: North of the People's Republic of Massachusetts
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:56 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Thoughts and prayers to anyone in the way down there. Stay safe. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Willem
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 6301
Location: wasteland style
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:00 am Post subject: |
|
|
That sure does blow.
_________________
attitude of a street punk, only cutting selected words out of context to get onself excuse to let one's dirty mouth loose |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 8366
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
FUCK SHIT COCK SUCK MOTHER FUCK ASSHOLE!
sorry, I just realized talkin gto my wife this morning: There go gas prices! 
_________________
...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.
http://12ozlb.blogspot.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
eureka00
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 1706
Location: Pretzel City
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Darqcyde wrote: | FUCK SHIT COCK SUCK MOTHER FUCK ASSHOLE!
sorry, I just realized talkin gto my wife this morning: There go gas prices! |
teehee, "talkin gto"
_________________
Eureka00: "Reminding you of your addictions" since 1982.
*Resident Anime Goddess*
Proud owner of Calisrue. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Lasairfiona
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 9386
Location: I have to be somewhere? ::runs around frantically::
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Gustav has been downgraded to a Cat 3 which is really weird since storms usually get stronger when they hit the gulf. It has become rather disorganized. My mom is staying in the Houston area because she doesn't think it is going to hit her. Apparently the weather men there are predicting that it is much more likely that it will hit Louisiana rather than Texas though there still is a possibility that it will go west. The hurricane might only landfall at a Cat 3 if it keeps moving fast but it may slow down and go back up to a Cat 4. We'll see.
_________________
Before God created Las he pondered on all the aspects a woman might have, he considered which ones would look good super-inflated and which ones to leave alone.
After much deliberation he gave her a giant comfort zone. - Michael |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zeezee
Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 4409
Location: saint louis
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Darqcyde wrote: | FUCK SHIT COCK SUCK MOTHER FUCK ASSHOLE!
sorry, I just realized talkin gto my wife this morning: There go gas prices! |
it's a holiday weekend. you expected otherwise?
_________________
dogs have owners
cats have staff
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sam
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 8567
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Gas is 3.50 here and I am not only going to fill up all my gas tanks, I'm going to fill up some cans extra. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 8366
Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Sam wrote: | | Gas is 3.50 here and I am not only going to fill up all my gas tanks, I'm going to fill up some cans extra. |
Word. Even if Gustav were to hit as a only a class 2 they would still claim there was an interruption in production or supply or some horseshit and spike the gas prices up.
_________________
...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.
http://12ozlb.blogspot.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mindslicer
Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1540
Location: North of the People's Republic of Massachusetts
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
