Nearly 2 Million Evacuate La. As Gustav Closes In

[Breeze54]

Nearly 2 Million Evacuate La. As Gustav Closes In

http://wbztv.com/national/gustav.katrina.new.2.806005.html

Sept. 1, 2008 7:45 am US/Eastern

Landfall Possible Anywhere From Galveston, Texas To Mobile, Ala.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ―

Hurricane Gustav charged toward the largely deserted coast of Louisiana early Monday morning
and seemed destined to make landfall west of a city still recovering three years after
Katrina's devastating blow.

Those who heeded the days of warnings to get out watched from shelters and hotel rooms hundreds
of miles away, praying the powerful Category 3 storm and its 115-mph winds would pass without
the same deadly toll.

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In all, nearly 2 million people left south Louisiana, as did tens of thousands from coastal
Mississippi, Alabama and southeastern Texas.

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In New Orleans, officials were anxiously watching to see what kind of storm surge the city could face:
If forecasts hold, the city could experience a storm surge of only 4 to 6 feet, compared to a surge
of 10 to 14 feet at the site of landfall, said Corey Walton, a hurricane support meteorologist with
the National Hurricane Center.

Katrina, by comparison, brought a storm surge of 25 feet, causing levees to break. While the Army
Corps of Engineers has shored up some of the city's levee system since then, fears this time center
on the city's West Bank, where levee repairs have not been completed.

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