Gustav could strike the US Gulf coast anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Texas, but forecasters said there is a great chance that New Orleans will get hit by winds of at least tropical-storm force.Īs much as 80% of the Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas production could be shut down as a precaution if Gustav enters as a major storm, weather research firm Planalytics said.
The Jamaican prime minister, Bruce Golding, said the government sent helicopters Friday to rescue 31 people trapped by floods.Īt least 59 people died in Haiti and eight in the Dominican Republic. About 4,000 people were displaced from their homes, with about half of them relocated to shelters. The storm killed four people in a day-long march across the length of Jamaica, where it ripped off roofs and downed power lines.
Hotels asked guests to leave and, after the airport closed, prepared to shelter those who remained.Ĭhris Smith, of Frederick, Maryland, said his hotel handed out wrist bands marked with guests' names and room numbers so that "if something happens they can quickly identify us". She said about 40 people were riding out the storm in her farm on Cayman Brac, which at 65-feet elevation is safe from flooding but still vulnerable to winds that ripped out hundreds of fruit trees on the farm.īy 5am EDT today, Gustav was centered about 255 miles east-southeast of the western tip of Cuba and moving north-west.Ĭaymans authorities did not impose a curfew but urged people to remain indoors to avoid interfering with emergency workers. "We're just trying to wait it out," said Juliana O'Connor-Connolly, who represents the islands in the Cayman legislature. More than 1,100 people were in government shelters as high waves and heavy winds battered the chain of islands. Storm surge and heavy rains flooded the streets. Gustav first struck Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, the smaller eastern-most 'Sister Islands' in the chain. It is expected to head into the Gulf of Mexico by tomorrow. Gustav, which killed 78 people in the Caribbean, rolled over the Cayman Islands on Friday with fierce winds that tore down trees and power lines. About 20,000 residents have registered with the city to be evacuated from 17 pick-up points across the city, he said.Įarlier today the US National Hurricane Center in Miami called the storm dangerous and said it had reached the status of a major hurricane, the second of this Atlantic season after Bertha in July. So far, city officials have evacuated 1,200 people by bus and 1,500 people by train, Nagin said. "We will make the call for the definitive mandatory evacuation." "If it continues on its current path we will start the mandatory evacuation process first thing in the morning at 8am (1300 GMT)," the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, told reporters at City Hall. Whilst Cuba raced to evacuate more than 240,000 people, the main roads leading out of New Orleans were filling up with traffic as residents tried to escape the path of the oncoming storm.
0 kommentar(er)
