New Orleans Mayor Orders Evacuation

New Orleans residents began fleeing the city this weekend in preparation for Hurricane Gustav to hit the Louisiana coast just three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin underscored the severity of the situation, telling locals they had to evacuate starting at 8 a.m. Sunday but would be wise to start earlier.

CNN:

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to consider escaping “the mother of all storms” before then.

“You need to be scared,” Nagin said of the Category 4 hurricane tearing along Cuba’s western coast. “You need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century.”

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AP photo / Rob Carr

Mass exodus: Residents prepare to leave New Orleans from a Greyhound Bus and Amtrak station on Saturday. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered.