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Gulf Coast Awaits Gustav

By The Associated Press

The streets of New Orleans are largely empty tonight. Police and National Guard troops stand guard after the largest evacuation in Louisiana history. Gulf Coast Awaits Gustav

Published: Sun, August 31, 2008 - 7:34 pm Last Updated: Sun, August 31, 2008 - 7:39 pm

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The streets of New Orleans are largely empty
tonight. Police and National Guard troops stand guard after the
largest evacuation in Louisiana history.
The state's police commander thinks 90 percent of the population
has fled the Louisiana coast, heeding warnings to get out ahead of
Hurricane Gustav.
Governor Bobby Jindal has issued one last plea to the roughly
100,000 people still left along the coast. The storm is expected to
strike around midday Monday and the governor says it's not too late
to leave. Some people who had planned to shelter in place, changed
their minds, not willing to risk the worst.
Louisiana and Mississippi temporarily changed traffic flow so
all highway lanes led away from the coast and were packed
bumper-to-bumper with cars. Stores and restaurants shut down,
hotels closed and windows were boarded up.
Thousands more people have left coastal areas in Alabama and
flood-prone southeast Texas.
Gustav was a Category Three storm with 115-mile-an-hour winds as
it plowed its way across the Gulf Sunday but could gain strength
before slamming ashore.