GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — Gustav became a hurricane again on Friday as it plowed toward Cayman Islands resorts, the start of a buildup that could take it to the U.S. Gulf Coast as a fearsome Category-3 storm three years after Hurricane Katrina.
Gustav, which killed 71 people in the Caribbean, was expected to swirl through the Cayman Islands, a tiny offshore tax haven studded with resorts and cruise-ship souvenir shops, before crossing Cuba’s cigar country and heading into the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday.
Well-heeled tourists fled Cayman hotels by air, while Katrina victims in Mississippi still living in emergency cottages and trailers were told to evacuate beginning this weekend.
Hotels on the Cayman Islands asked guests to leave, then after the airport closed, they prepared to shelter those who remained. Chris Smith, of Frederick, Md., said his hotel handed out wrist bands marked with guests’ names and room numbers so that “if something happens they can quickly identify us.”
“That was a little bit sobering,” he said.
About 20 islanders waited for the storm in a high school gym.
“If people give you a shelter, you should take it,” said Pamela Hall, 52.
The storm killed four people in a daylong march across the length of Jamaica, where it ripped off roofs and downed power lines. About 4,000 people were displaced from their homes, with about half relocated to shelters.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the government sent army helicopters Friday to rescue 31 people trapped by floods. At least 59 people died in Haiti and eight in the Dominican Republic.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Gustav could grow to a Category 3 storm, with winds above 111 mph, by the time it hits the U.S. Gulf coast next week. Gustav could strike anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Texas, but forecasters said there is a better-than-even chance that New Orleans will get slammed by at least tropical-storm-force winds.
As much as 80 percent 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 predicted. Oil companies have already evacuated hundreds of workers from offshore platforms.
Retail gas prices rose Friday for the first time in 43 days as analysts warned that a direct hit on Gulf energy infrastructure could send pump prices hurtling toward $5 a gallon.
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