GUTSY gutsave for thats what I call this hurricane thats reached the coast of USA is wreaking havoc at Lousiana. with huge waves breaking at the shores. The best hope for us is to beieve that it would not be as bad as the Katrina but still, somekind of a natural disaster is always feared and lets pray to the mighty God Almighty that his hand be there forever to safeguard us from these disasters
A huge storm surge has struck the Louisiana coast with 14-ft waves breaking against protective levees as Hurricane Gustav made landfall southwest of New Orleans.
Tornadoes whirled around the outskirts of the deserted city after the hurricane ploughed into the low-lying Louisiana coast, driving high waves across the levees and threatening dangerous floods.
New Orleans is still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in autumn 2005 - sending tens of thousands of people to live in nearby parts of Louisiana and Texas.
At least three critically ill people are now reported to have died while they were being evacuated from the danger zone by National Guard troops, who were moving into the city with rescue workers.
Spray and high waves whipped over the top of the Industrial Canal levee, one of those that burst three years ago, destroying the city's Ninth Ward.
As the storm moved into land, it weakened to a category 2 storm, but with winds of about 110mph and a large surge of water flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico, it was poised to do more damage.
"We are concerned about any of this overtopping," said Major Tim Kurgan of the Army Corps of Engineers.
"These walls are all safe to the top," he stressed, with the levees still undergoing a 15-billion-dollar rebuilding program after Katrina's enormous damage.
However, officials said they expected a new wave of water to hit the coast later today, sending flood water across the protective barriers.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who has ordered a curfew and vowed to throw looters into prison, told local television the city had become a "ghost town" after a mandatory evacuation forced nearly two million people to flee.
Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's governor, early issued a plea to the roughly 100,000 people still left on the coast, telling them: "If you've not evacuated, please do so. There are still a few hours left."
In New Orleans, a dawn to dusk curfew was enforced by police and National Guardsmen roaring through the deserted streets in Humvee vehicles.
Gustav, which has already killed at least 94 people in the Caribbean, appeared to have claimed the lives of another three following unconfirmed reports that three patients in critical care had died during the evacuation of Louisiana hospitals.
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