One million flee as Hurricane Gustav revs up

NEW ORLEANS — Spooked by predictions that Hurricane Gustav could grow into a Category 5 monster, an estimated 1 million people fled the Gulf Coast 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 roads 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 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."

"For everyone thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: That will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life."

Nagin said those choosing to remain in their homes should have an ax to chop through their roof when the floodwaters rise.

In St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans, officials had already ordered a mandatory evacuation Saturday. Similar orders were given in the parishes of Plaquemines, St. Charles and lower Jefferson, southwest of New Orleans.

Gustav had killed at least 81 people in the Caribbean by Saturday, and if current forecasts hold up, it would make U.S. landfall Monday.

The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch extending from High Island, Texas, to the Alabama-Florida border. That means hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 36 hours.

"This is coming from the National Hurricane Center," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said. "This storm could be as bad as it gets. Storm surge could be 15 to 20 feet, worse than Katrina."

President Bush, widely criticized for the federal government's delayed response to Katrina, called leaders in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas to promise them "the full support" of his administration.

White House officials were considering whether to reschedule his trip to the Republican National Convention which is set to start Monday, and convention officials were weighing whether to make changes to the program, in deference to Gustav.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, planned to go to Jackson, Miss., today to check on people getting prepared for the storm.

Forecasters said it was too soon to say whether New Orleans would take another direct hit, but residents weren't taking chances, judging by the bumper-to-bumper traffic pouring from the city. Gas stations were running out of fuel and phone circuits were jammed.

Hurricane-center forecasters 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 more than 155 mph — by today.

"That puts a different light on our evacuations," said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) chief David Paulison.

Gustav roared into Cuba late Saturday with sustained winds of 150 mph after moving over its Isla de Juventud province, where it toppled telephone poles, mango and almond trees and peeled back the tin roofs of homes.

Isla de Juventud civil-defense chief Ana Isla said there were "many people injured" on the island south of mainland Cuba, but no reports of deaths. She said nearly all its roads were washed out and some regions were heavily flooded. Authorities evacuated at least 240,000 people from western Cuba.

As part of the evacuation plan New Orleans developed after Katrina, residents who had no other way to get out of the city waited in a line that snaked for more than a mile through the parking lot of the city's main transit terminal. From there, they were boarding buses bound for shelters in north Louisiana.

"I don't like it," said Joseph Jones Jr., 61. "Going some place you don't know, people you don't know. And then when you come back, is your house going to be OK?"

Jones had been in line for 2 ½ hours, but he wasn't complaining about the wait. During Katrina, he'd been stranded on a highway overpass.

Unlike Katrina, when thousands took refuge inside the Superdome, there will be no "last-resort" shelter, and those who stay behind accept "all responsibility for themselves and their loved ones," said the city's emergency-preparedness director, Jerry Sneed.

Yet the presence of 2,000 National Guard troops that were expected to join 1,400 New Orleans police officers patrolling the streets after the evacuation — along with the governor's request to neighboring states for rescue teams — suggested officials were expecting stragglers.

Two East Texas counties also issued mandatory evacuation orders. National Guard soldiers on Mississippi's coast were going door to door to alert thousands of families in FEMA trailers and cottages that they should be prepared to evacuate today.

In Alabama 3,000 National Guard personnel assembled to help evacuees from Mississippi and Louisiana.

As of midday Saturday, more than three-fourths of the Gulf's oil production and nearly 40 percent of its natural-gas output had been shut down.

Information from Cox News Service and The New York Times is included.