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Gustav Stirs Up Ghosts Of Katrina

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The New York Times

Published: August 28, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - An unsettling sense of the past repeating itself pervaded this city Wednesday as Gustav crept this way through the Caribbean, two days before Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary.

Residents bought emergency supplies, evacuation plans were dusted off, a municipal help hot line was flooded with calls, and the mayor rushed home from the Democratic National Convention, even as officials warned that it was too early to predict where the storm would hit.

Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, declared a pre-emptive state of emergency, mobilizing 3,000 National Guard members.

Any damage to New Orleans on the eve of next week's Republican Convention in Minnesota also could serve as a politically tinged reminder of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

The storm, still south of Cuba on Wednesday evening, could veer from Florida to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, but its current path is aimed at southern Louisiana and Mississippi, which bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina.

Because any evacuation would have to be declared well in advance, officials warned residents to stay alert.

"It's still too early to tell exactly what it will do," Jerry Sneed, the city's director of emergency preparedness, said at a news briefing in city hall. "Way too early to give a good timeline."

The Superdome and the Convention Center, which became symbols of human misery after Katrina, will not be used as hurricane shelters.

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