Government Enforced, 'Storm Of The Century,' New Orleans Evacuation All For Naught

Hurricane Gustav weakened to a category one storm today after it crashed ashore in Louisiana west of New Orleans, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

The centre said the storm's winds had fallen to 145kmh and that it was expected to weaken further as it moved inland.

However, waves splashed over floodwalls containing the New Orleans Industrial Canal, triggering a tense watch over the barrier system that failed three years ago, flooding 80 percent of the city and stranding thousands of people.

Water rose in the Fifth District, west of the canal, and troops prepared to evacuate residents who stayed behind. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the levees had not yet been breached.

Oil and natural gas prices plunged as Gustav's strength was downgraded, easing fears of serious supply disruptions that had put energy markets on edge.

Oil companies had shut down nearly all production in the region, which normally pumps a quarter of U.S. oil output and 15 percent of its natural gas.

Nearly two million people fled the Gulf Coast as Gustav approached and only 10,000 were believed to have remained in New Orleans. More than 11 million residents in five U.S. states were threatened by Gustav.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin cautioned residents against too much early optimism, expressing concern about the stability of the concrete and earthen flood barriers protecting the city.

Nagin was also worried about two Navy ships and a barge that were pinned against a wharf but could endanger the canal floodwalls if they got loose.

"We are nowhere near out of danger yet," Nagin said. "Those canals are full right now. I don't know if we are going to get any more water pushed in that direction but that's a big concern for me right now."

But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which rebuilt the levees after Katrina, said water was just "sloshing" over the canal wall and expressed confidence in the flood barrier.

"The system is not inundated and it is not a breach," said Karen Durham-Aguilera of the Army Corps.

"Right now we feel that we are not going to have a true inundation or overtopping problem," she said.

Hurricane Gustav also took center stage in U.S. politics. The Republicans were to open their convention on Monday to nominate presidential candidate John McCain with a bare-bones program stripped of the usual pomp and circumstance.

Gustav, a dangerous Category 4 hurricane a few days ago, hit shore near Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 115 km southwest of New Orleans, as a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, one step below Katrina's strength when it made landfall.

LNK

Even a hurricane...

Government Enforced, 'Storm Of The Century,' New Orleans Evacuation All For Naught

Government Enforced, 'Storm Of The Century,' New Orleans Evacuation All For Naught

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

Via AnCaps: Law & Enforced Unnatural Order