Gustav officially became a hurricane early this morning, and its eye made landfall on the southwest peninsula of Haiti shortly after 1 p.m. At 2 p.m., Gustav was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds near 90 mph.
The National Guard was scheduled to begin convoying into New Orleans on Friday, while some nursing homes and hospitals planned to start moving patients further inland and the state began moving 9,000 inmates from coastal lockups.
Projections showed Gustav arriving early next week as a Category 3 storm, with winds of 111 mph or greater, anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to eastern Texas. But forecasts are extremely tentative several days out, and the storm could change course and strength.
Gustav is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 12 inches across Jamaica, with isolated maximum amounts of up to 25 inches possible. These rains will likely produce life-threatening flash floods and
mud slides.
Gustav is a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph (120 km/hr) with higher gusts. Strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days and Gustav could become a major hurricane near the time it crosses Western Cuba.
Moving out was never this hard.
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