Hurricane Gustav churned toward the Louisiana coast through the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico today with strength that could rival 2005's Hurricane Katrina, prompting low-lying New Orleans to begin evacuation.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin late on Saturday ordered the city's 239,000 residents to leave in the face of "the mother of all storms."
If Gustav lands west of New Orleans as expected, as a Category 4 hurricane with wind speeds up to 155 mph (249 kph), its 25-foot (7.6 metre) storm surge could break through the same levees that failed three year ago and swamp the city.
More than 11.5 million U.S. residents in five states could feel the impact of the massive storm.
Katrina was a Category 3 when its 28-foot (8.5 metre) storm surge burst the levees protecting New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, flooding 80 percent of the city. The city degenerated into chaos as stranded storm victims waited days for government rescue. The disaster cost $80 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
Energy companies shut down three-fourths of their Gulf crude oil production and shuttered refineries along the flood-prone Gulf Coast ahead of Gustav. [ID:nN30468468]
The storm threatened to overshadow this week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. President George W.Bush had been scheduled to speak on Monday evening, but the White House said he was unlikely to do so, after suffering fierce criticism for a slow and fumbling response to the 2005 hurricanes. [ID:nN31510079]
'COMING REALLY BAD'
Reflecting Gustav's still-unpredictable path, the U.S. National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for the Northern Gulf Coast from Cameron, La., all the way to the Alabama-Florida border.
Thousands of people, still carrying the emotional scars from Katrina, jammed highways out of New Orleans. The government lined up hundreds of buses and trains to evacuate 30,000 people who could not leave on their own.
Residents boarded up the windows of their shops and homes before leaving town. In the city's tree-lined Garden District, which was largely spared by Katrina, Trinity Cazzola boarded up the windows of his Latin American restaurant before heading to Atlanta by road.
"I was here for Katrina and I was going to stay, but this one's coming really bad, and I decided to get out," the Honduran said. "The wind looks to be stronger this time, I'm scared it will rip the roof off."
Federal officials say the levees protecting New Orleans are stronger now but still have gaps.
Gustav weakened to a still dangerous Category 3 storm after it passed over Cuba after killing at least 86 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
Forecasters said the hurricane was so wide that significant impacts were likely well away from the storm's eye. Bush has pledged full support to the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.
Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which followed it three weeks later, wrecked more than 100 Gulf oil platforms, but Gustav could deal a harsher blow.
"This storm will be more dangerous than Katrina," said Planalytics analyst Jim Roullier. "I think this storm will prove to be a worst-case scenario for the production region."
As Gustav swirled through the Gulf, forecasters also kept an eye on Tropical Storm Hanna, in the Atlantic Ocean about 180 miles (285 km) northeast of Grand Turk Island.
It was moving west-northwest with top sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) and could strengthen during the next couple of days, the hurricane center said. The storm might eventually threaten Florida but its path was constantly changing.