“I am strongly, strongly encouraging everyone in the city to evacuate,” New Orleans mayor Nagin said. “Start the process now. Go north if you can because the storm may continue to turn a little bit west.”
"If it's like Katrina, they might not let us back," says N.O. resident Beth Basile, 52, a Wal-Mart cashier. "They might put a fence around the whole parish and say, `Go away.'"
"I'm trying to be optimistic," said Gary Sass, 46, a construction worker. "But Kentucky's looking better and better."
"We've got floors — beautiful brand-new floors," said Maria DiMaggio, who is 42, disabled and sleeps in a cot in her kitchen. "I mean, my house is not even finished and, then, what? It's going to float away again?"
"I was hoping to get all the way right at least before another hurricane came and ate up my world," said DiMaggio, who lost $22,000 to unscrupulous contractors. "If I would have been in my house for a day it would have been OK. Then I could have dealt with it. ... But I can't do this again."
“I don’t want to be stuck like I was in Katrina,” said N.O. resident Janice McElveen, recalling being stranded on the Interstate 10 bridge for five days in 2005.
Declared a Category 4 storm Saturday afternoon, Hurricane Gustav continues to strengthen and will soon reach Category 5 status—the highest—according to U.S. officials. - National Weather Service
“After going through Katrina, that ain’t no joke,” said Jody Anderson, who spent seven days in the Superdome. “It’s not worth it, trying to stay.”
“We can save everybody this time,” Jackie Clarkson, the president of the City Council, said.
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