World News : Hurricane Gustav could stall over Louisiana and northeast Texas for several days??

Hurricane Gustav is the seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane and second major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed on the morning of August 25, 2008 about 260 miles (420 km) southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and rapidly strengthened into a tropical storm that afternoon and into a hurricane early on August 26. Later that day it made landfall near the Haitian town of Jacmel. As of August 31, 88 deaths have been attributed to Gustav in the Caribbean.

On September 1 at 9:30 a.m CDT (1430 UTC) the center of Gustav made landfall in the United States along the Louisiana coast near Cocodrie as a category 2 hurricane.

World News : Hurricane Gustav could stall over Louisiana and northeast Texas for several days??

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As Hurricane Gustav neared Louisiana's coast Monday morning, forecasters warned the storm could stall over Louisiana and northeast Texas for several days, which would "exacerbate the threat of heavy rains and inland flooding."

Southern Louisiana's barrier islands and coast reported hurricane force winds and heavy rains from Gustav, which was centered about 80 miles south of New Orleans and about 20 miles south-southeast of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, at 8 a.m. (9 a.m. ET).

Power went out around 6 a.m. in the western part of downtown New Orleans and in the French Quarter 10 minutes later, CNN correspondents Chris Lawrence and Anderson Cooper reported.

The eye of Hurricane Gustav made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 9:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. ET), the National Hurricane Center said.

Gustav's top winds weakened to 110 mph (177 kph), downgrading it to a Category 2 storm, the NHC said.

Earlier predictions of a Category 4 storm, which would mean winds of at least 131 mph, and fresh memories of Katrina, which came ashore in 2005 with 127 mph winds, fueled the evacuation of 2 million residents from New Orleans and other parishes.

But Gustav never regained the strength lost over Cuba and by Monday morning NHC forecasters said its cloud pattern looked "a bit more ragged."

The latest discussion published by NHC forecasters said computer models show "Gustav or its remnants slowing to a crawl" over northeast Texas over the next three to five days.

"Such slow motion would exacerbate the threat of heavy rains and inland flooding," the forecasters said.

With hurricane force winds extending 70 miles from the center, the islands and shoreline are already in reach of Gustav's fury.

Sustained winds of 91 mph (147 kph) and gusts of 117 mph (189 kph) were measured in Southwest Pass, Louisiana during the 4 a.m. hour, the NHC said.

CNN's Ali Velshi was hunkered down in a house on Grand Isle, Louisiana, where only a handful of people remained.

When high winds first kicked up about 3:15 a.m. (4:15 a.m. ET) Monday the barrier island's electric power went out, Velshi said.

A storm surge of at least 14 feet is expected there, he said


World News : Hurricane Gustav could stall over Louisiana and northeast Texas for several days??