Hundreds of thousands of people have been fleeing the southern US coast as Hurricane Gustav approaches land. Authorities have ordered the evacuation of New Orleans and an estimated 1.9 million people along the Gulf coast have been heading inland. The Category Three storm is expected to make landfall at midday local time. The storm has prompted the Republicans to scale back their national convention where John McCain is due to accept the party's nomination for president.
President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney have scrapped plans to address the event in St Paul, Minnesota on Monday. Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center say that at the current speed, the centre of the storm would hit the coast by midday local time. The US National Hurricane Center warned Gustav was packing winds of 115 mph (185km/h) and could bring "extremely dangerous" storm surges 14ft (4.2m) above normal. Isolated tornadoes are also possible in the area. A dusk-to-dawn curfew is in force in New Orleans, which is described as being like a ghost town. The 7,000-strong Louisiana national guard has been mobilised and support requested from other states. The New Orleans mayor has warned looters will be sent to jail. Crime was a major problem in the New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city three years ago, causing disastrous floods. The exodus of an estimated 1.9 million people from the Louisiana coast is said to be the largest evacuation in state history. Roads out of New Orleans - much of which lies below sea level - were crammed with traffic throughout Sunday.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has appealed to residents to leave while they can while New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told local TV only about 10,000 residents remained in the city, where rain began falling at sunset on Sunday. He said the first storm winds could hit New Orleans at daybreak on Monday and Gustav could reach Category Four strength. In 2005, three-quarters of New Orleans was flooded by a storm surge that claimed more than 1,800 lives in coastal areas. All eyes will now be on the city's levees, which Category Three storm Katrina swept away under a wall of mud and water. The storm has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean, causing widespread damage in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the past week. At least 300,000 people were evacuated in Cuba as the storm brought extensive flooding and some severe damage, but no reports of deaths. [End of report]
It is a very stressful and dangerous situation in the affected states right now and I dont like to hear news as this because you just know what could happen and it just brings back bad memories like Katrina. I dont think anyone can forget what happened then and to know that the possibility of such disaster happening all over again is very scary. The fact that the storm has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean over the past weak is not a good thing to hear. I mean, try to imagine the level of damage that the storm would cause in more populated areas such as Louisiana or New Orleans. The good thing about it is that the American government is much more better prepared to deal with the hurricane and I think the lessons they have learnt during the Katrina experience has better equipped them in managing the situation more effectively. You can't stop the hurricane completely but you can reduce the level of damage that it might cause and I think the local states have done well in evacuating its people. You might want to know that there are still some though that are refusing to move out from their house. They cant be force to do it if they dont want to, so I just hope they will still be safe once the hurricane is gone.
I would also like to talk a little about the Republican National Convention which is scheduled to run from today through Thursday in Minnesota. Due to the hurricane however, it has been suspended and that is why President Bush and Vice President Cheney have scrapped their plans to address the event which is sad in some part for me. I was really looking for President Bush's speech but unfortunately, the current situation doesnt allow him or anyone else for that matter in the Republican camp to celebrate. John McCain has said that it is just not right for them to be having a festive occasion when there is a hurricane going on in some parts of the country and I have to agree with him. You might say that this somewhat might be a setback for John McCain but at the same time, it could still be a blessing in disguise. As you all know during the Katrina disaster, the Bush administration and the Republican party in particular was blamed for slow, botched response that exacerbated disaster. Therefore, John McCain could used the current disaster situation to show to the people that he is much better in handling this kind of crisis and it might just win him some more votes.
Anyway, whatever the reason is, I just hope that Hurricane Gustav will not be as bad as Katrina, at least in the numbers of the people who was killed. You can rebuild a town back after it is destroyed, but if someone gets kill, you cant bring that person back to life. It is good to hear that everyone in the country is doing their best to prevent a repeat of Katrina, but whether their effort is good enough to see them through this difficult period, that remains to be seen. Let's hope to hear better news over the coming days.
*The report was taken from BBC.
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