by Jack Lee
There is currently strong indications that Hurricane Gustav will grow into a Cat-5 monster and this threat has forced over 1 million storm wearing residents living along the Gulf coast to seek higher ground.
The devastating aftermath of Katrina in 2005 is still fresh in the minds of many evacuees, especially those in the hardest hit areas of New Orleans where the damage can still be seen, where survivors still live in temporary trailer housing and the last thing they want to hear is another hurricane is headed their way! Before it was over Katrina claimed over 1800 lives and more than $130 billion dollars in property damage, making it the single most devastating weather event in US history…now another super storm is closing in that could be even worse.
This time New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin isn’t taking any chances. He has issued a mandatory evacuation order and sent City workers door to door to make sure residents of the Big Easy got the message. They did – even before the official order came they were making for the highways hoping to get out before the expected traffic jam. Bus stations and train stations are filled to capacity unlike 2005 where many commercial carriers left half full.
Sustained winds of well over 140 mph shrieked across the western tip of Cuba’s tobacco growing province, Isla de la Juventud. Telephone poles snapped, electrical wires flailed and sheets of corrugated tin sailed high into the air as 250,000 Cubans scrambled for shelter wherever they could. Rescue was all but impossible due to torrential rains, land slides and flash floods over washed out roads. Local civil defense said there were reports of many Injuries, but no death toll yet.
Gustav’s winds reached the western edge of the island – huge mango trees were blow over and whole orchards were uprooted. Winds were reported to be accelerating over 150 mph as the eye wall touched the ocean. Now Gustav is taking aim on the US with a course that takes it right up the middle of oil rich Gulf of Mexico and across the unusually warm waters.
Gustav will quickly draw energy from the warm sea water and it is expected to grow exponentially in both size and intensity until it reaches a monstrous Category 5 storm (over 156 mph winds). By moving across the warm water the low pressure of the eye causes the hurricane to draw energy from the heat in condensation.
It’s still too early to tell exactly where the precocious Gustav will make landfall, but New Orleans is within the danger area predicted by forecasters. One thing is certain, another direct hit from a Cat 5 hurricane could be a disaster of Biblical proportions for the City New Orleans for now and perhaps decades to come.