NEW ORLEANS — Spooked by predictions that Hurricane Gustav could grow into a Category 5 monster, an estimated 1 million people fled the Gulf Coast on Saturday — even before the official order came for New Orleans residents to get out of the way of a storm taking dead aim at Louisiana.
Mayor Ray Nagin gave the mandatory order late Saturday, but all day residents took to buses, trains, planes and cars — clogging roadways leading away from New Orleans, still reeling three years after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city and killed about 1,600 across the region.
The evacuation of New Orleans becomes mandatory at 8 a.m. today along the vulnerable west bank of the Mississippi River, and at noon on the east bank. Nagin called Gustav the “mother of all storms” and told residents to “get out of town. This is not the one to play with.”
“This is the real deal, this is not a test,” Nagin said as he issued the order, warning residents that staying would be “one of the biggest mistakes you could make in your life.” He emphasized that the city will not offer emergency services to anyone who chooses to stay behind.
Nagin did not immediately order a curfew, which would allow officials to arrest residents if they are not on their property.
Gustav had already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean, and if current forecasts hold up, it would make landfall Monday afternoon somewhere between East Texas and western Mississippi.
The storm’s center moved into the Gulf of Mexico from Cuba late Saturday and at 11 p.m. EDT was about 530 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Top winds were near 140 mph and likely to strengthen.
Forecasters warned it was too soon to say whether New Orleans would take another direct hit, but residents weren’t taking any chances judging by the bumper-to-bumper traffic pouring from the city. Gas stations along interstate highways were running out of fuel, and phone circuits were jammed.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said they were surprised at how quickly Gustav gained strength as it slammed into Cuba’s tobacco-growing western tip. It went from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane in about 24 hours, and was likely to become a Category 5 — with sustained winds of 156 mph or more — by today.
“That puts a different light on our evacuations and hopefully that will send a very clear message to the people in the Gulf Coast to really pay attention,” said Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison.
Levee building on the city’s west bank was incomplete, Nagin said. A storm surge of 15 to 20 feet would pour through canals and flood the neighborhood and neighboring Jefferson Parish, he said.
Nagin estimated that about half the population had left and admitted officials were worried that some people would try to stay.
Even before the evacuation order, hotels closed, and the airport prepared to follow suit.
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