Katrina's unclaimed dead entombed as Gustav looms

NEW ORLEANS -- At 9:38 a.m. on Friday, about 200 mourners rang handbells to mark the moment three years ago when New Orleans' levees were breached by high waters from Hurricane Katrina, flooding most of the city and leading to the deaths of about 1,600 people.

Eighty-five victims of the storm left unclaimed by survivors were finally laid to rest as Hurricane Gustav strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico and threatened the city.

A horse-drawn carriage carried the last seven caskets to the mausoleum Friday, while jazz trumpeter Ken Ferdinand played "Amazing Grace." The other 78 victims were interred Thursday in a scramble to beat an evacuation order expected today.

"We look ahead to a better day, as we also prepare ourselves for another threat," Mayor Ray Nagin said as he helped lift and guide the last casket into the tomb.

A planned eight-block jazz funeral procession for the service was canceled because of Gustav.

The hurricane was headed toward Cuba after plowing through the Cayman Islands on Friday night with fierce winds that tore down trees and power lines. The National Hurricane Center said Gustav had strengthened into a Category 2 storm with winds near 100 mph.

Earlier the storm caused at least 71 deaths in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Forecasters said it could hit the Louisiana coast early next week as a major hurricane, the first in the state since Katrina.

In coastal Mississippi, also devastated by Katrina, a morning memorial was held in Waveland. In neighboring Bay St. Louis, officials chose not to mark the anniversary.

"We decided not to look backward. We decided to look forward with all the progress we've made," said Harold "Buz" Olsen, director of administration for Bay St. Louis.

Gustav was projected to hit Cuba's Isle of Youth and cross the main island into the Gulf of Mexico tonight or Sunday.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna was projected to curl westward into the Bahamas by early next week. It had sustained winds near 50 mph.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Gustav could grow to a Category 3 storm, with winds of more than 111 mph by the time it hits the Gulf Coast. The storm could strike 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 Katrina approached in 2005, up to 30,000 people who either could not or would not evacuate jammed the Louisiana Superdome and the riverfront convention center. They spent days waiting for rescue in squalid conditions. Some died.

The city has taken steps to ensure no one has an excuse not to leave this time. The state has a $7 million contract to provide 700 buses to evacuate the elderly, the sick and anyone around the region without transportation.

Officials also plan to announce a curfew that will mean the arrest of anyone still on the streets after a mandatory evacuation order goes out. Police and National Guardsman will patrol after the storm's arrival, and Gov. Bobby Jindal has said he requested additional urban search and rescue teams.

Today, police planned to roam neighborhoods, directing residents in need to pickup points.

Northbound traffic was heavy Friday on Interstate 55 -- a major route out of the city -- and backseats of some cars were stacked with clothes, boxes and bags. Gas stations around the city hummed with activity. Hospitals and nursing homes began moving patients inland.

In an effort to keep track of where people go after they leave the city, officials planned to give evacuees who provided authorities their information ahead of time bar-coded bracelets containing their ID.

President Bush declared an emergency in Louisiana e to streamline disaster relief. Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi ordered the evacuation of 4,000 trailers inhabited by people whose homes were damaged by Katrina. In Texas, National Guard troops were activated.