New Orleans ordered evacuated ahead of Gustav

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin orderedthe city's more than 239,000 residents to evacuate on Sunday inthe face of powerful Hurricane Gustav, which he called "themother of all storms."

The evacuation order issued on Saturday was the first inNew Orleans since Hurricane Katrina devastated the historicSouthern city in August 2005.

"This is the mother of all storms," Nagin said of Gustav, amonstrous Category 4 storm that could approach the centralLouisiana coast just west of New Orleans on Monday.

"You need to be concerned and you need to get your buttsmoving and out of New Orleans right now," Nagin said at CityHall. "This is the storm of the century."

The evacuation order, which will not be physically enforcedby officials, will start with the city's low-lying West Bankstarting at 8 a.m. CDT (2 p.m. British time) on Sunday,followed by the East Bank at noon CDT (6 p.m. British time),Nagin told reporters.

Residents have the choice to remain behind and weather thestorm, but "that would be one of the biggest mistakes that youcould make in your life," Nagin said.

He said people might have to chop through the roofs oftheir houses to escape rising waters if they stay.

"Make sure you have an ax," he said.

But one day after the third anniversary of Katrina, manyhad already decided to abandon the city, much of which liesbelow sea level.

Thousands of people fled New Orleans earlier on Saturday.Hoping to avoid the 2005 spectacle of desperate city residentscrammed into the New Orleans Superdome, the government lined uphundreds of buses and trains to evacuate 30,000 people whocannot leave on their own.

About 10,000 people left the city by bus or train onSaturday, Nagin said. The rest of the 20,000 people that hadrequested evacuation assistance would leave on Sunday, headded.

Many evacuees were issued wrist bands with bar codes thatwill allow city officials to track them.

Gustav crashed across the Cuban mainland on Saturday andcould hit the U.S. Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm, thesecond-highest on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale, the U.S.National Hurricane Center said.

SIGNIFICANT FLOODING EXPECTED

In the Lower Ninth Ward, plunged under water by Katrina'sfloodwaters, hundreds of residents packed belongings into carsand trucks and left. Some had returned home only a few monthsago after fleeing Katrina.

"After Katrina, you've got to leave," said Ruby Hall, alongtime resident, pointing to the place on the timber frame ofthe porch where Katrina's waters rose. "I'm not going to chanceit, not with my grandchild."

The city's West Bank was largely spared by Katrina butcould see "significant flooding" because its 10-foot (3-metre)levees are no match for Gustav's storm surge, which could top20 feet, Nagin said.

Katrina's massive storm surge broke through protectivelevees on August 29, 2005, and flooded 80 percent of the city.New Orleans degenerated into chaos as stranded storm victimswaited days for rescue.

The hurricane killed about 1,500 people along the U.S. GulfCoast and caused $80 billion in damages, making it thecostliest U.S. natural disaster.

There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on highways leading outof the city on Saturday, and six low-lying parishes -- theLouisiana equivalent of U.S. counties -- issued evacuationorders.

All major Louisiana interstates will allow only one-waytraffic away from the coast starting at 4 a.m. CDT (10 a.m.British time) on Sunday. The last flight out of the New Orleansairport is scheduled to depart at 6 p.m. CDT (12 a.m. Britishtime) on Sunday.

In all, 11.5 million people are in the path of Gustav,according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Walter Parker, a security guard who was trapped for eightdays in his apartment during the Katrina flooding, lined upoutside the Union Passenger Terminal as families with bagspacked and children in tow waited for transportation.

"I don't want to see another Katrina, with dead bodiesfloating in the water," Parker said.

(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami)

(Editing by Chris Baltimore and Peter Cooney)