NEW ORLEANS — NEW ORLEANS - With a monster hurricane aimed straight at Louisiana's Gulf Coast and memories of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster seared into their minds, hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists began fleeing the New Orleans region yesterday, leaving a boarded-up and eerily empty city behind.
Out in the Gulf of Mexico less than two days away was Hurricane Gustav, fluctuating between a major Category 4 and 5 storm even before it passed over the gulf's warm fueling waters. It continued its inexorable march toward a landfall predicted for tomorrow somewhere west of New Orleans, where Mayor Ray Nagin gave a mandatory evacuation order late yesterday.
"This is the real deal, not a test," Nagin said as he issued the order, warning residents that staying would be "one of the biggest mistakes of your life." He emphasized that the city will not offer emergency services to anyone who chooses to stay behind.
The storm killed more than 80 people as it churned through the Caribbean, and hurricane watches were posted from Galveston, Texas, to the Florida Panhandle, reflecting forecasters' uncertainty over whether the storm might veer east or west at the last minute.
President Bush, who was widely criticized for the federal government's delayed response to Hurricane Katrina, called state leaders in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas to promise them "the full support" of his administration.
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, mindful of the catastrophic damage that could result wherever Gustav makes landfall, said he was considering whether to curtail or suspend the Republican National Convention starting tomorrow in St. Paul, Minn., where he is scheduled to be formally nominated as the party's presidential candidate.
His Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, expressed concern about the looming storm as well, adding that, "Hopefully, we've learned from [Hurricane Katrina's] tragedy."
All the signs in New Orleans yesterday suggested that city, state and federal officials were determined not to repeat the mistakes of Katrina, when tens of thousands of infirm and impoverished city residents were left behind to fend for themselves when the city's protective ring of levees ruptured.
More than 1,800 people died and at least 100,000 homes were destroyed when floodwaters inundated 80 percent of the city, triggering a weeklong frenzy of looting and chaos.
