SEE:  http://www.greatdreams.com/weather/floods-2008.htm

See:  http://www.greatdreams.com/weather/hurricanes-2008c.htm  for HANNAH, IKE, AND JOSEPHINE

New Orleans levees hold as Hurricane Gustav weakens

By Matthew Bigg and Tim Gaynor

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Hurricane Gustav slammed ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast just west of New Orleans on Monday but rebuilt levees appeared to hold floodwaters out of the city devastated by Katrina in 2005.

Gustav weakened before hitting land with 110 mph (177 kph) winds, easing fears it would be another Katrina, whose floodwaters burst protective levees, swamping 80 percent of New Orleans and stranding thousands of people.

Gustav's powerful storm surge pushed tons of water into the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans canals, putting pressure on barriers that were repaired or reconstructed after failing three years ago and prompting a tense watch for signs it would happen again.

Water flowed over flood walls and spurted through cracks in the vulnerable barrier system. Six inches of water pooled in some streets near the New Orleans Industrial Canal and officials cautioned that while the levees had not been breached, they were still in danger.

But some residents emerged from boarded up homes relieved to find only broken tree branches and toppled signs.

"We'll still get some nasty weather but we've dodged a big-time bullet with this one," said stockbroker Peter Labouisse, sitting on the porch of his home, which was shuttered and without power.

About 750,000 customers were without electricity and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said it could take more than two weeks to restore power to everyone.

The storm roared through the heart of the U.S. Gulf oil patch but oil and natural gas prices plunged as Gustav weakened to a Category 2 hurricane before landfall, easing fears of serious supply disruptions. 

Exxon said it was shutting down its Baton Rouge refinery, the second largest in the United States, although the storm weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph (120 kph) winds as it moved inland.

Mindful of the ravages of Katrina, which killed some 1,500 people, nearly 2 million people fled the Gulf Coast as Gustav approached and only 10,000 were believed to have remained in New Orleans.

More than 14,000 National Guard troops and pilots were deployed to the Gulf Coast and the Pentagon authorized up to 50,000 troops. Soldiers are routinely deployed in U.S. disasters for rescue and clean-up and to prevent looting.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warned residents it was too early to sound the all-clear.

"This is not over. It's still hitting parts of the state very hard," he said.

Underscoring continued concern about the fragile flood barriers, officials in rural Plaquemines Parish told the handful of residents remaining to flee as a levee protecting 200 homes had been weakened by water surging over the top.

Some officials recalled that catastrophic breaches in the city's levees occurred a day after Katrina departed.

President George W. Bush, who was heavily criticized for the slow Katrina relief efforts, canceled his appearance at the convention and went to Texas to oversee relief effort.

A dangerous Category 4 hurricane a few days ago, Gustav hit shore near Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, as a Category 2 storm, one step below Katrina's strength at landfall.

Energy markets reacted quickly to the weaker storm. Natural gas futures dropped over 6 percent and oil fell about 4 percent on Monday on hopes that it would largely spare production in the Gulf of Mexico. Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which followed it three weeks later, wrecked some 100 Gulf oil platforms.

EQECAT Inc., which helps insurers model catastrophe risk, said it estimated Gustav's insured losses at $6 billion to $10 billion. Katrina's insured losses were more than $40 billion and total damage was more than $80 billion, making it the costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

Katrina brought ashore a 28-foot (8.5 meter) storm surge that burst New Orleans levees on August 29, 2005. The city degenerated into chaos as stranded storm victims waited days for government rescue and law and order collapsed.

Before landfall in Louisiana, Gustav killed at least 97 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Florida. Cuba, swatted by Gustav on Saturday, said on Monday that more than 90,000 houses were damaged or destroyed in the storm.

As U.S. fears over Gustav eased, Tropical Storm Hanna grew to hurricane strength near the southeast Bahamas, threatening the U.S. east coast from Florida to the Carolinas, and Tropical Storm Ike formed in the Atlantic Ocean.

(Additional reporting by Tom Brown in Miami, Lilla Zuill in New York, David Alexander in Washington, and Bruce Nichols, Chris Baltimore and Erwin Seba in Houston; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Mary Milliken and Frances Kerry)

Gustav: Bus Evacuation

GETTING BANDED

DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING - SAY - GERMANY???

Hurricane Gustav slams La.; 1Million people without power

Hurricane Gustav hits US coast

9-1-08 -  5 a.m. PDT

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) — Hurricane Gustav lashed the US state of Louisiana with torrential rain and gale force winds Monday after forcing nearly two million people to flee.

Fearing a repeat of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, hundreds of troops were sent into New Orleans after what is being called the biggest evacuation in US history.

Three critically ill people were reported to have died as they were being moved from the danger zone. Oil production platforms were shut down, the Republican party suspended the start of its presidential election convention and President George W. Bush headed for Texas to monitor emergency preparations for Gustav which has killed more than 80 people in Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.

Reports of power outages in New Orleans started after wind and rain began hitting the city -- still struggling from Katrina, which struck almost exactly three years ago.

Louisiana officials said there were about 750 National Guard troops in New Orleans if a new rescue operation was needed. Mayor Ray Nagin on Sunday ordered a curfew and vowed to throw looters into prison.

The edge of the storm has crossed the Mississippi Delta, lashing New Orleans, said National Hurricane Center meteorologists.

At 0900 GMT, the eye of the hurricane was 185 kilometers (115 miles) southeast of New Orleans moving towards the coast at 26km (16 miles) an hour.

Storm force winds from Gustav extended as far as 370km (230 miles) from the eye, the center said.

A category three hurricane, Gustav packed sustained winds of 185km (115 miles) per hour.

"No significant change in strength is likely before landfall," the US National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.

"This is a serious storm," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said in a final appeal to the people who remained in New Orleans despite government warnings.

People in the state capital of Baton Rouge and other inland areas have been warned to watch for storm-spawned tornados.

Gustav forced US President George W. Bush to cancel plans to appear at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. The US leader said Sunday that he would instead travel to Texas to monitor the storm.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain drastically scaled back the program for the first day of the convention Monday, saying all activities would be suspended "except for those absolutely necessary."

"I hope and pray we will be able to resume some of our normal operations as quickly as possible," he told reporters from St. Louis, after returning from a tour of relief preparations in Mississippi.

Military and civilian disaster relief operations were prepared, with memories still fresh of the destruction wrought by Katrina, and the government's botched response.

Katrina made landfall near New Orleans on August 29, 2005, smashing poorly-built levees surrounding the city and causing massive floods that destroyed tens of thousands of homes and killed nearly 1,800.

New Orleans mayor Nagin told local television that the city had become a "ghost town" after a massive evacuation campaign, and that only about 10,000 residents remained.

Some of those who left said they felt reassured.

"The mayor assured us our property will be safe," Wilson Patterson, 48, said as he prepared to board a bus with wheelchair-bound 84-year-old Earline Martin.

"We don't want to get caught up in the Katrina craziness," he said, recalling the lawlessness that swept New Orleans in 2005.

Jindal said rescue teams were in place.

"We will begin search-and-rescue operations as soon as we safely can. That would be when winds are below 140 miles per hour," he said, which probably will occur "late Monday."

"We've got ... boots on the ground, eyes on the ground. So before that, even before we can get into the air, before we can get boats on the water, we do have people on the ground to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to save every single life."

Jindal told reporters there were unconfirmed reports that three critically ill patients died while being transported to safer ground.

"They had to weigh the risk between sheltering in place and evacuating and made the decision they thought was best for their patients," he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

400 Buses Used in West Houston Gustav Evacuation Staging

Texas Prison System Evacuated Convicts in Beaumont Units

Last Edited: Monday, 01 Sep 2008, 5:53 AM CDT

Projected path of Hurricane Gustav at 5:15 a.m. CDT on Sept. 1   Global warming's toasty water connection to Gustav FEMA offers locator service for Gustav victims Approximately 400 buses gather at Tully Stadium in west Houston to help in the evacuation efforts from Hurricane Gustav. Half of the buses were charter buses sent from Beaumont while the remainder were Dallas County school buses. The charter buses were brought to Tully Stadium for staging to be sent to other cities where they will needed after storms from Gustav make landfall. Beaumont did not take part in a mandatory hurricane evacuation. One woman from Tennessee who drove one of the charter buses was taken to an area hospital after she fainted during the staging process. Members of the National Guard are supervising the evacuation staging at Tully Stadium. Texas Prison System Evacuated Convicts in Beaumont Units Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials initiated the evacuation of two Beaumont prison units in preparation of next week’s landfall of Hurricane Gustav. Offenders from TDCJ’s LeBlanc Unit and TDCJ’s Gist State Jail were evacuated on Saturday morning and transported to several units in the Huntsville, Livingston and Palestine areas.  A total of 1,100 inmates were moved from the LeBlanc Unit and 2,082 inmates were moved from the Gist State Jail. As of 1 a.m. Monday, the National Hurricane Center says Gustav had maintained its 115-mph winds, and was traveling northwest at 16 mph. The storm was traveling as fast as 18 miles per hour Sunday afternoon. The center of the hurricane was located about 168 miles east southeast of New Orleans. A hurricane watch remained in effect from Jefferson County to the Alabama-Florida border. Prison officials currently are planning for offenders housed at the Stiles Unit, also in Beaumont, to remain sheltered at the facility because of its ability to withstand wind and inclement weather.   FOX 26's Video Reports on Gustav Hurricane Gustav Public Advisory Houston's Emergency Responders on Standby Coast Guard on Standby in Houston Baton Rouge Preps for Gustav What Are Cities Doing to Prepare for Gustav? Baton Rouge Turns into Recovery City   Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Transportation engaged in preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Gustav along the Gulf Coast with potential impact for Texas. The Houston District completed work to open a third lane of capacity on I-10 westbound at the San Jacinto River to better accommodate the flow of traffic through the construction zone. Contacted Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern and BNSF Railroads to request they minimize blockage of highway rail crossings in the southeast Texas region (including Houston, Beaumont and north to Nacogdoches) with the potential increase in evacuation traffic. The highway department also is preparing highway rest areas to accommodate expected heavy influx of travelers/evacuees along I-45 corridor and east and providing support to state evacuation operations for evacuating special-needs individuals in southeast Texas. Ellington Field in Houston is serving as a staging area for several U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue helicopters. Units from Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans have arrived.  Once Hurricane Gustav makes landfall the Coast Guard will be deployed to conduct a search and rescue mission. "We've been ready for this," said pilot John Moran. "This is what we do, we're always ready for this."  In the back of everyone's mind are the painful images from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Paul Lewin was there operating the rescue baskets that plucked survivors off of rooftop after rooftop.  "I don't think I'll ever forget that," said Lewin.  "It is scarey.  I'm scared for the people that live there more than I'm scared for myself."      Now they continue to watch and wait to see where Gustav makes landfall.  Then it's time to go to work. Meanwhile, New York is sending eight National Guard helicopters, a cargo plane and around 60 airmen and soldiers to assist in the response to Hurricane Gustav. Officials in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas have declared states of emergency as the storm -- which forecasters say could become a Category 4 hurricane -- bears down on the Gulf Coast. New York officials say the Louisiana National Guard requested help through an agreement that allows states to share resources and personnel during disasters. Gov. David Paterson says two helicopters and 14 crew are already on the way. The rest of the helicopters and a C-130 cargo plane are being deployed to the region on Monday, when Gustav is expected to make landfall. Paterson says the state likely will provide further aid. But thousands of New Orleans residents are landing in a city where they shouldn't be--Baton Rouge. The mayor of the city says it's not designated as a residential shelter location. However, thousands of evacuees fleeing Gustav have gone there. Mayor Kip Holden says Baton Rouge is the command center and shelter location for first responders from the areas that could be hit by the storm system. But back in his city, they're already feeling the effects.  There are some gas stations that are running out of fuel, stores low on food and hotels are at the maximum occupancy.  And those who are evacuating, are stuck on the packed lanes of Interstate 10 heading toward Houston. Officials say there's still a chance Gustav could head into Texas and have been asking evacuees to flee north. Meanwhile, Cubans returned from shelters to find flooded homes and washed-out roads Sunday, but no deaths were reported after a monstrous Hurricane Gustav roared across the island and into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.    Gustav hit the Isla de la Juventud south of the Cuban mainland just short of a top-scale Category 5 hurricane with screaming 140 mph (220 kph) winds that toppled telephone poles and fruit trees, shattered windows and leveled some homes.    Authorities evacuated 250,000 residents nationwide. In Pinar del Rio, the western tobacco-producing region, highways were blocked by fallen trees and downed power lines, and all public transportation ground to a halt.    Officials measured gusts of 212 mph (340 kph) in the western town of Paso Real del San Diego -- a new national record for maximum wind speed in a country often hit by major hurricanes, said Miguel Angel Hernandez of the Cuban Institute of Meteorology.    A Cuban television reporter on the Isla de la Juventud said the storm had felt like "the blast wave from a bomb."    "Buildings without windows, without doors," he said. "Few trees remain standing."    Cuban Civil defense chief Ana Isa Delgado said there were "many people injured" on the Isla de la Juventud, an island of 87,000 people whose name means Isle of Youth. Nearly all of its roads were washed out, and some regions were heavily flooded.    "It's been very difficult here," she said on state television.    Gustav earlier killed 84 people by triggering floods and landslides in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Jamaica's Emergency Management office on Sunday raised Gustav's death toll there to 10 from seven.    But in Cuba, none of the reported injuries were life-threatening.    The hurricane weakened slightly after crossing Cuba to a Category 3 status Sunday. But it still packed top winds near 115 mph (185 kph), and forecasters predicted it would increase to a Category 4 before making landfall Monday along the U.S. Gulf coast.    More than 1 million Americans made wary by Hurricane Katrina took buses, trains, planes and cars out of New Orleans and other coastal cities, where Katrina killed about 1,600 people in 2005.    At 2 p.m. EDT Sunday, the U.S. hurricane center said Gustav was centered about 270 miles (435 kilometers) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving northwest near 17 mph (28 kph).    In the Cuban fishing town of Batabano, 31 miles (50 kilometers) south of Havana, evacuees with children and dogs in tow returned to their pastel-colored, wooden homes to find many surrounded by knee-deep water.    "My house is full of water," said Aldo Tomas, 43, pulling palm branches from his living room. "But we expected more. We expected worse."    Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna weakened slightly as it swirled toward the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas on Sunday.    As it traveled over open waters, Hanna sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). The city of New Orleans imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew that was to begin Sunday at sunset ahead of Hurricane Gustav's devastating winds and rains that were on a path to strike the Gulf Coast.    The last bus carrying residents to safety was to leave at 3 p.m. Sunday.    Gustav was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm overnight, but forecasters warned it could gain strength from the gulf's warm waters before making landfall as early as Monday.    Mayor Ray Nagin also warned that looting -- one of the chronic problems after Hurricane Katrina -- would not be tolerated.    "Looters will go directly to jail. You will not get a pass this time," he said. "You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You will go directly to the Big House." Hurricane Gustav charged across the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday as residents fled New Orleans and the National Guard prepared to patrol evacuated neighborhoods in a city still recovering three years after Katrina.    Long before Mayor Ray Nagin's mandatory evacuation order took effect Sunday morning for the city's vulnerable West Bank, residents were already streaming out of New Orleans and other communities along the Gulf Coast. Bumper-to-bumper traffic was reported in nearly every direction out of New Orleans, and on Bourbon Street, where the party seemingly never ends, only stragglers toting luggage were sporadically seen on the sidewalks.    Still, there were a few holdouts.    "You'd be a moron" not to be worried about the storm, Inez Douglas said at Johnny White's Sports Bar & Grill.    But while she was keeping an eye on the storm, she wasn't going anywhere.    Gustav crossed western Cuba on Saturday and has already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean. It picked up speed upon reaching the gulf and was moving northwest at 17 mph with winds of 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center's 11 a.m. EDT update. Hurricane-force winds extended 50 miles from the storm's center.    Its center was about 325 miles southeast of the Mississippi River's mouth. The storm could bring a storm surge of up to 20 feet to the coast and rainfall totals of up to 15 inches.    A hurricane warning for over 500 miles of Gulf coast from Cameron, La., near the Texas border to the Alabama-Florida state line, meaning hurricane conditions are expected there within 24 hours. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley issued a mandatory evacuation order Sunday for some coastal areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties.    In New Orleans, Nagin used stark language to urge residents to get out of the city, calling Gustav the "the mother of all storms."    "This is the real deal, not a test," Nagin said as he issued the evacuation order Saturday night. "For everyone thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: that will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life."    Forecasters were slightly less dire in their predictions, saying the storm should make landfall somewhere between western Mississippi and East Texas, where evacuations were also under way. It's too early to know whether New Orleans will take another direct hit, they said, but city officials weren't taking any chances.    The mandatory evacuation of the West Bank, where levee improvements remain incomplete, began at 8 a.m. local time, with the east bank to follow later Sunday. It's the first test of a revamped evacuation plan designed to eliminate the chaos, looting and death that followed Katrina.    Residents of suburban Jefferson Parish, swollen by residents who did not return to New Orleans after Katrina, were also ordered to leave in the first-ever mandatory evacuation of the entire parish.    The city will not offer emergency services to those who choose stay behind, Nagin said, and there will be no "last resort" shelter as there was during Katrina, when thousands suffered inside a squalid Superdome. The city said in a news release that those not on their property after the mandatory evacuation started would be subject to arrest.    Many residents didn't need to be ordered, with an estimated 1 million people fleeing the Gulf Coast on Saturday by bus, train, plane and car. They clogged roadways, emptied gas stations of fuel and jammed phone circuits.    At the city's main transit terminal, a line snaked through the parking lot for more than a mile as residents with no other means of getting out waited to board buses bound for shelters in north Louisiana and beyond.    "I'm not staying for 'em any more," said Lester Harris, a 53-year-old electrician waiting at a bus pickup point in the Lower 9th Ward. He was rescued from his house by boat after Katrina. "I got caught in the water and spent two days on my roof. No food, no water. It was pretty bad."    On Sunday, the lines were a much shorter.    "I'll be glad when it's over and I hope it doesn't mess up the city too bad," said Johnny Clanton, 59, waiting with a bag, hoping to catch up with a friend who also planned to leave the city.    The White House said President Bush's plans to attend the Republican National Convention on Monday were on hold because of worries about Gustav. Bush had been scheduled to speak late Monday night in St. Paul, Minn.    Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff planned to travel to Louisiana on Sunday to observe preparations. And likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were traveling to Mississippi.    Many residents said the early stage of the evacuation was more orderly than Katrina, although a plan to electronically log and track evacuees with a bar code system failed and was aborted to keep the buses moving. Officials said information on evacuees would be taken when they reached their destinations.    Some began arriving Saturday in Arkansas, where the National Guard prepared to shelter thousands for weeks. At least 15,000 people sought refuge in the inland state in 2005, following Katrina and Rita.    Meanwhile, as many as 500 critical-care patients were being airlifted from hospitals along the Gulf Coast to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a spokesman said. The patients were being taken to about 20 hospitals around North Texas.    Traffic late Saturday night was stop and go on Interstate 10, heading west into Houston from the Louisiana border, as Texas prepared to house up to 45,000 evacuees, even though that state's eastern stretches were within the range of where Gustav could make landfall.    In Beaumont, not far from where Hurricane Rita roared ashore as a Category 3 in 2005, residents were boarding up homes and leaving. In neighboring Orange County, officials were inundated "by thousands" of people calling to register for evacuation assistance, a county spokeswoman said. The mandatory evacuation of New Orleans ahead of Hurricane Gustav began Sunday morning, with residents on the city's vulnerable West Bank told to start leaving first.    By noon, residents in the rest of the city were supposed to be out of their homes and heading to safety.    City officials were nervously watching Hurricane Gustav's track. The storm had picked up speed and was moving northwest at 16 mph with winds of 120 mph.    It was projected to make landfall as early Monday, and could bring a storm surge of up to 20 feet to the coast and rainfall totals of up to 15 inches.    Mayor Ray Nagin called Gustav "the mother of all storms," and says anyone ignoring calls to leave would be on their own. Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans late Saturday. He ordered a mandatory evacuation for the West Bank at 8 a.m. and noon for the East Bank. A strong National Guard presence already is in the city.  Between 1,500 and 2,000 troops are providing security around the city compared with less than half of that during Katrina. Nagin says he wants a 100 percent evacuation ahead of the storm.    New Orleans Evacuation Information Evacuation time from New Orleans to Houston is approximately 18 hours, according to the WWL Radio Web site. The Web site also lists the following evacuation schedule for parishes in the New Orleans area:   Lafourche took place at 3 p.m., Saturday Plaquemines took place at 12 p.m. Saturday St. Bernard took place at 4 p.m. Saturday St. Charles took place at 12 p.m. Saturday St. Mary took place at 4 p.m. Saturday Terrebonne took place at 4 p.m. Saturday But there's still some defiance in New Orleans this weekend as some residents and visitors refuse to leave. The example set by Katrina is not enough for one Canal Street store owner Chandru Motwani. He says he's staying put until the last minute. He owns cute rate package liquor in the downtown area.  Motwani says he wants to be in place for any emergency workers who may need water or cigarettes while in the Big Easy.  Tim Oaks is not moving from his kitchen at oceana restaurant just off Bourbon Street. He says there will be a lot of people who will be staying behind and they'll need food. But not everyone is that comfortable with the storm. An estimated 30,000 people are taking advantage of the New Orleans' free evacuation program. Children and senior citizens all lined up with suitcases at New Orleans' Union Passenger Terminal to board charter buses.  About 10 percent of Shell gas stations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charges ran out of fuel at about 10 a.m. Shell officials say they are working to continue delivering gasoline to as many stations along the Gulf Coast until weather conditions are no longer safe.  ------    Associated Press writers Peter Prengaman, Janet McConnaughey, Alan Sayre, Allen G. Breed, Mary Foster and Stacey Plaisance contributed to this report from New Orleans. Doug Simpson in Baton Rouge, La., Michael Kunzelman in Gulfport, Miss., and Peggy Harris in Little Rock also contributed.

Copyright 2008 Fox Houston (KRIV). All rights reserved. Th

By Brian K. Sullivan and Alex Morales

``Let's prepare for the worst, pray for the best,'' state Governor Bobby Jindal said in a televised news conference yesterday as the storm, rated Category 3 on the five-step Saffir- Simpson scale, moved closer to shore. Only 10,000 people remained in New Orleans, he said.

Gustav's eye was 85 miles (135 kilometers) south of New Orleans at 6 a.m. local time today, the National Hurricane Center said on its Web site. Maximum sustained winds were 115 mph and the system was moving northwest at 16 mph. ``No significant change in strength is likely before landfall,'' the center said.

Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a sundown curfew to prevent looting in the city of 300,000 people and said a storm surge brought by Gustav may cause flooding in its West Bank area. The approach of Gustav, which killed dozens of people in the Caribbean, has also prompted the idling of 82 percent of natural gas production and 96 percent of oil output in the Gulf of Mexico.

Wesley Shrum, a sociology professor at Louisiana State University, decided to ride Gustav out in a French Quarter condominium. ``We picked a 200-year-old building, so we thought we'd be all right,'' he said, ignoring Nagin's admonition yesterday ``to get your butts moving out of New Orleans.''

Shrum said he drove yesterday through some of the areas hardest hit by Katrina. ``It's a totally empty city'' other than police in patrol vehicles, he said.

Storm Surge

Hurricane-force winds are already being felt along the Louisiana coast, and a storm surge of up to 15 feet is likely, AccuWeather Inc. meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said today in an interview from State College, Pennsylvania, at about 4:30 a.m. New Orleans time. He said the strongest winds will miss New Orleans.

``The worst of the storm is going to go to the west,'' Pydynowski. ``There is going to be some damage in New Orleans; there'll be flooding problems and a lot of rain. They're still getting hit by a hurricane.''

President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and canceled plans to travel to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Presumptive party presidential nominee John McCain scrapped most of today's opening events so the nation could focus on the storm, while Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama called on the public to ``take the evacuation seriously.''

First Test

Gustav marks Louisiana's first test of evacuation plans that were put in place after Katrina struck in 2005 and overwhelmed flood defenses, inundating 80 percent of the city. Katrina killed 1,800 people in Louisiana and Mississippi and caused more than $80 billion in damage.

Thousands of people were forced to take shelter from Katrina at the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center. This time, those buildings are closed and authorities pressed buses and Amtrak trains into service to help evacuate people who lacked their own transportation.

``We did well this time on the evacuation front,'' Nagin said.

Highways were clogged with traffic as people fled the approaching storm. Mario and Laura Hernandez of Metairie, just west of New Orleans, bundled their two children into a trailer and headed to the state capital, Baton Rouge, for the second time in three years.

``I knew the time would come,'' said Mario, 25. ``I didn't know it would come so soon.''

Baton Rouge

In Baton Rouge, about 80 miles from New Orleans, residents lined up outside a fire station for sandbags to protect their homes from possible flooding.

``I am considering getting out of the state altogether,'' said Joe Martin, 36, who moved to the city after his home was destroyed by Katrina. ``I am tired of starting over.''

Help was pouring in to Louisiana from as far away as Los Angeles, which is sending water-rescue teams, said Jindal. Authorities mobilized 7,000 National Guard personnel and are preparing 1,800 more.

As the outer bands of Gustav began to fill the sky with rain late yesterday, 60 ambulances from across Pennsylvania arrived in Baton Rouge to help the state cope.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt declared a public health emergency so that people in Gulf coast states don't encounter obstacles to receiving care if they leave their home communities.

New Orleans Levees

The Army Corps of Engineers has stockpiled sandbags to repair any breaches in the New Orleans levees, said spokesman Bill Irwin. The Corps has worked since Katrina to strengthen the levees, which form a ring of barriers surrounding the below-sea- level city. Work isn't scheduled to be complete until 2011.

Jindal said most refineries would conduct ``warm shutdowns'' so they can reopen quickly after Gustav passes. Oil companies evacuated workers from more than 600 rigs and production platforms in the Gulf, where fields account for about a quarter of U.S. oil production.

U.S. energy producers have idled 82 percent of natural gas production and 96 percent of oil output in the Gulf, the U.S. government said. Oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc evacuated workers from 86 rigs and 518 production platforms along the coast.

Cuba

Fields in the Gulf produce 1.3 million barrels a day of oil, about a quarter of U.S. production, and 7.4 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas, 14 percent of the total, according to government data. Katrina closed 95 percent of regional offshore output and, along with Hurricane Rita, idled about 19 percent of U.S. refining capacity.

The hurricane center forecast isolated tornadoes to hit parts of the central Gulf coast today. A tornado was spotted in Gulfport, Mississippi at 5:08 a.m. local time today, the National Weather Service said on its Web site. Thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes were also detected near Myrtle Grove, Louisiana and Weeks Bay, Alabama.

Gustav swept over Cuba's Isle of Youth at the weekend as a Category 4 hurricane, with 145 mph winds, before crossing the western mainland. No deaths have been reported, and 18 were injured, the official Communist daily Granma said today on its Web site. More than 86,000 homes were damaged, and hundreds of telephone and electrical poles were downed, Granma reported.

Deaths in Jamaica

The storm killed at least 12 people in Jamaica, the country's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said late yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The storm caused agricultural losses estimated at 1.7 billion Jamaican dollars ($24 million) it said.

In Haiti, where the storm killed at least 51 people, the United Nations World Food Program said it began distributing rice, beans and oil to 2,000 families. In the neighboring Dominican Republic, eight people were killed, the country's Center of Emergency Operations said on its Web site.

In the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Hanna was almost stationary north of the Caicos Islands, the hurricane center said in an advisory at 5 a.m. Miami time. The system was on a westward track and the eye will move near or over the southeastern Bahamas during the next day or two. Hanna had sustained winds of almost 50 mph, the center said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in New Orleans at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net; Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

THE ASTROLOGICAL GUIDE TO THIS STORM

Gustav Swells to Dangerous Cat 4 Storm off Cuba

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press Writer
HAVANA August 30, 2008 (AP)

The Associated Press
Gustav howled into Cuba's Isla de Juventud as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Saturday while both Cubans and Americans scrambled to flee the path of the fast-growing storm.

As Gustav strengthens in the Gulf, New Orleans prepares for impact.

More Photos

Forecasters said it could gain yet more power, becoming a top-scale hurricane with 160 mph winds in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, before weakening a little ahead of a likely collision on Monday with the U.S. coast.

More than 240,000 Cubans were being evacuated — some hurriedly — as the storm bore down on the nation's tobacco-rich western tip. Across the Gulf of Mexico, Americans made wary by Hurricane Katrina streamed out of New Orleans and other coastal cities.

Gustav already has killed 81 people by triggering floods and landslides in other Caribbean nations.

Lights flickered in Cuba's capital as shrieking winds blasted sheets of rain sideways though the streets and whipped angry waves against the famed seaside Malecon boulevard. State television stations went dark several times.

 

Related

Gustav Becomes Major Storm; Some Leave Gulf Coast

Katrina Part II? Gustav Heads for Gulf Coast as Hurricane

PHOTOS: Remembering Hurricane Katrina

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Gustav had sustained winds of 145 mph — with higher gusts — as the heart of the storm began hitting Cuba's outlying island province of Isla de Juventud, where officials cut power to many areas.

"The rain is not so intense, but there is a lot, a lot of wind," said Isabel Alarcon from Nueva Gerona, the largest city on the island of 87,000 people. "The officials, they have told us the wind will be bad first but then the rain could cause flooding into the night."The government's AIN news agency said officials were evacuating some 190,000 people from low-lying parts of westernmost Cuba, Pinar del Rio province, where the tobacco for Cuba's famed cigars is grown. AIN reported that 50,000 already had been evacuated farther east.

Cuba halted all buses and trains to and from Havana where some shuttered stores had hand-scrawled "closed for evacuation" signs plastered to their doors. At those still open, residents formed lines to stock up on bread. Authorities boarded up banks, restaurants and hotels and cars waiting to fill their tanks stretched from gas stations.

"It's very big and we've got to get ready for what's coming," said Jesus Hernandez, a 60-year-old retiree who was using an electric drill to reinforce the roof of his rickety front porch.

High winds from nearby Hurricane Gustav kick up waves before dawn, in George Town, Grand Cayman... High winds from nearby Hurricane Gustav kick up waves before dawn, in George Town, Grand Cayman Island, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008. Gustav swelled to a fearsome Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph (195 kph) as it shrieked toward Cuba Saturday on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, three years after Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

By Saturday afternoon, Gustav was about 110 miles south of Havana and it was moving northwest near 14 mph.

Hurricane force winds extended out 70 miles in some places.

The U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, was hundreds of miles to the east, out of the storm's path.

Gustav rolled over the Cayman Islands Friday with fierce winds that tore down trees and power lines while destroying docks and tossing boats ashore, but there was little major damage and no deaths were reported.

Haiti's Interior Ministry on Saturday raised the hurricane death toll there to 66 from 59 and Jamaica raised its count to seven from four. Gustav also killed eight people in the Dominican Republic early in the week.

Gustav was projected to hit the U.S. Gulf coast roughly around Louisiana on Monday, though forecasters cautioned that the track could vary. People poured out of New Orleans along highways Saturday and the government announced plans for broader evacuations.

Meanwhile, the hurricane center said Tropical Storm Hanna was projected to near the Turks and Caicos Islands late Sunday or on Monday, then curl through the Bahamas by early next week before possibly threatening Cuba.

It had sustained winds near 50 mph Saturday and the hurricane center warned that it could kick up dangerous rip currents along parts of the southeastern U.S. coast.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Hurricane Gustav kills 22 in Haiti, heads toward Cuba, Gulf

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Updated Wednesday, August 27th 2008, 2:57 PM

A woman wades through a flooded street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after
Hurricane Gustav barreled through on Tuesday

HURRICANE GUSTAV

Tropical Storm Julio hits Mexican coast

Tropical Storm Julio is pounding southern Baja California with heavy rains as its centre pushes its way onto the tip of the resort-studded Mexican peninsula.

The US Hurricane Centre in Miami says the storm has moved inland with rains and winds of 75km/h. It was located about 85km west-northwest of the state capital of La Paz.

Authorities have evacuated more than 2,500 families living along riverbeds on the coast. The centre of the storm was moving past the resorts of Cabo San Lucas and was hugging the Pacific coast.

© 2008 AP

A float bridge is damaged by the gale at Dayawan sea area in Shenzhen,
south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 22, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

    From 8 a.m. Friday to 2 p.m. Saturday, rainstorms accompanied by winds of up to 68 km per hour, hit the southeastern areas of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with the biggest precipitation of 350 mm in Beiliu County, according to the regional meteorological station.

    Heavy rain was forecast to continue in the region on Sunday and Monday.

    Typhoon Nuri was downgraded to a strong tropical storm on Friday afternoon after it landed in the coastal areas along Sai Kung of Hong Kong. The storm made another landfall in southern Guangdong late on Friday, packing winds of up to 90 km per hour.

Typhoon Nuri forces 160,000 to evacuate

    BEIJING, Aug. 23 -- Nearly 160,000 people in 13 coastal cities in Guangdong were evacuated Friday after Typhoon Nuri, the strongest this year, hit the southern province.

    The provincial observatory issued a Class-I warning - the highest level - before the tropical cyclone landed in Hong Kong at 5 pm Friday, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall. But it inflicted little damage. Full story

    The provincial observatory issued a Class-I warning - the highest level - before the tropical cyclone landed in Hong Kong at 5 pm Friday, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall. But it inflicted little damage.

    Sources with the Guangdong provincial flood control center said more than 45,000 vessels working at sea had been recalled before Nuri hit.

    Nuri, which packed gale force 12 at its center, weakened into a tropical storm after its landfall and was moving northwest around 14 km an hour, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

    The Guangdong provincial weather bureau said Nuri will bring torrential rains in the coming days to Hong Kong, Guangdong, Hainan and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

    In Shenzhen, which neighbors Hong Kong, more than 40,000 trees were toppled by strong gales. As of 6 pm Friday, more than 20 injuries had been reported in the city, but there were no reports of any casualties, Shenzhen Emergency Center said.

    Train services in Shenzhen were not affected but passenger bus services were all suspended. The Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport suspended almost all flights.

    In Guangzhou, construction of the 499-m Guangzhou TV Tower, the tallest building in the city, was suspended. Subway services on the Huangge-Jinzhou section of Line 4 were also closed.

    In Hong Kong, the observatory issued its second-highest tropical cyclone warning. Eight people suffered light injuries, the government said. There were also reports of toppled trees, collapsed walls and scaffolding.

    Flights, bus and ferry services were canceled, and offices, schools and financial markets were closed. As of 2 pm Friday, at least 308 passenger flights had been canceled or delayed while nine flights were diverted, according to the Hong Kong Airport Authority.

    The Home Affairs Department has opened 26 temporary shelters in various districts.

(Source: China Daily)

Tropical storm Nuri makes landfall in China's Guangdong

    Typhoon Nuri was downgraded to a strong tropical storm, the 12th this year, at 4:55 p.m. on Friday after it landed in the coastal areas along Sai Kung of Hong Kong, according to the provincial meteorological station.

    Nuri was likely to continue ebbing and moving northwestward. From Friday night till Sunday, torrential rains were expected in western Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta.

8-23-08

8-20-08

8-11-08

Typhoon death toll rises to 20 in southwest China

8-4-08

Vietnam: Typhoon Kammuri DREF operation

CHF 200,000 (USD 182,335 or EUR 124,057) has been allocated from the Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the national society in delivering immediate assistance to some 6,000 families. Un-earmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.

This DREF allocation will meet emergency needs on non-food items of 6,000 affected families in eight provinces affected by flash flooding. The Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC) with technical assistance from the International Federation's Vietnam country office will immediately procure non-food items in August 2008 and distribute these to the selected affected families in September 2008. The DREF report will be drafted and submitted in October 2008.

The situation

Typhoon Kammuri hit the north-western mountainous region of Vietnam in the night of 6 August, causing heavy rainfall in several areas. Local residents in areas surrounding major rivers were warned of rising water levels. However, on the night of 8 August, elevated water levels in rivers and streams, compounded by torrential rain, caused flash floods on a large scale, submerging thousands of homes.

Now, while water levels have receded in many areas, it has left a trail of destruction in its wake. As many as 828 houses and 11,150 hectares of rice fields have been completely destroyed, while some 17,800 houses have sustained damage and personal belongings swept away by the floods. Power supply was not restored in some areas until a week later.

Despite the disaster taking place ten days ago, its consequences remain – with the loss of an estimated VND 1,200 billion (USD 70 million or CHF 76.8 million) according to preliminary reports from Red Cross chapters. This is great economic impact on a region where 40 per cent of households live under the poverty line, and 60 per cent of their income is spent on food.

At present, those affected in the areas worst hit are in the midst of raking mud out of their homes. Mud covers the roads, rice fields, and farming areas, hindering access to affected communes and the restoration of livelihoods. Should the mud dry before it can be cleared away, health concerns will arise from air pollution from dust.

The government plans to release VND 220 billion (USD 13 million or CHF 14.26 million) from its contingency reserves to assist the most affected provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang and Hang Giang. These funds will focus on providing relief items, repairing and reconstructing schools, health stations, railways and roads.

At the same time, the government also plans to distribute 800 tonnes of rice from its national stocks with more emphasis on the three worst-hit provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Phu Tho. A timeframe for distribution is currently being prepared.

Those impacted by the floods will receive relief items including instant noodles and soups, and Chlorine-B for water purification purposes from military stores, health sector and other organizations. Many local people are living temporarily with their relatives. However, for many, the immediate concern is securing food for the days to come.

Floods kill at least 62 in Vietnam
 

    According to Mexico's National Meteorological Service (SMN), the center of the hurricane is now located in Mexico's coastal state of Tamaulipas.

    Governor of Tamaulipas Eugenio Hernandez declared a maximum danger red alert in the state, where some 13,000 people have been evacuated by the Mexican Army and Civil Defense.

    The Civil Defense services asked people to avoid leaving their homes or the shelters where they have been located. No casualties have so far been reported.

    Forecaster Jaime Albarran said Dolly, with winds of up to 140 km per hour Wednesday morning, has become a "fairly predictable" hurricane and rejected speculation it might strengthen.

    Dolly, which became a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale as it struck land Wednesday, has downgraded to category One.

    According to experts, Dolly was expected to weaken to a tropical storm later Wednesday evening and flooding was expected in south Texas and northeastern Mexico.

    Mexico's state oil company Pemex evacuated Wednesday 66 workers amid fears that Dolly would cause possible damage to its facilities.

    More than 20 Pemex workers were killed in October 2007 in a devastating accident at an off-shore platform largely due to bad weather.

    Pemex, which produces some 90,000 crude oil barrels per day, said it operated a plan of Answer to Emergency for Hurricanes, in a move to secure its perforation and production facilities and guarantee the supply of oil.

July 28, 2008
Floods from hurricane Dolly

Ex-Hurricane Dolly floods parts of NM, Texas

By ALICIA CALDWELL –

RUIDOSO, N.M. (AP) — Flooding caused by torrential rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Dolly kept hundreds of evacuees away from their homes and campgrounds Monday, authorities said. Two people were listed as missing.

The National Weather Service posted flash flood watches Monday across much of eastern New Mexico. The sun broke through Monday morning, but isolated thunderstorms were forecast throughout the week.

The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said up to 9 inches of rain had fallen since Friday in the mountainous area around Ruidoso, in south-central New Mexico.

The Rio Ruidoso was still running high and muddy Monday, with water flowing over roads in low-lying areas. A main thoroughfare in the center of Ruidoso, Paradise Canyon Road, was partially washed away, and two mud-covered mobile homes sat askew, washed off their foundations.

Public officials said 300 to 500 people were evacuated from homes, a campground and a recreational vehicle park after the Rio Ruidoso went over its banks early Sunday, and they were still unable to return early Monday.

"If Noah'd been around, it would have been good to build an ark," said state Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson.

Some 200 other residents of the area were not flooded but were isolated by high water and closed bridges, said Tom Schafer, Ruidoso's emergency management coordinator.

State officials estimated more than 60 homes had been damaged. Nine bridges were reported under water and several roads were closed, but U.S. 70, the area's main highway, was reopened Monday, authorities said.

Schafer said there were 25 water rescues Sunday, mostly from vehicles but a few from homes. "A lot of people were trying to get through in deep water areas and they got stuck," he said.

National Guard helicopter crews rescued about two dozen campers stranded by high water, Schafer said.

However, some campers remained stranded. "They had to hunker down last night" to await rescue Monday, he said.

The race track at Ruidoso Downs was flooded, canceling Sunday's entire race card.

"The race track is a river. I've never seen it like this here," said horse trainer Joel Marr.

Ruidoso police said they received reports of two people being swept away in separate incidents after apparently losing their footing near the river, said Schafer. He didn't have details.

In Texas, the weather service said some areas of El Paso got as much as 3 inches of rain during the weekend and city officials said they received 17 reports of flooding in homes.

    It moved westward and was forecast to land Taiwan on Sunday night or Monday morning.

    Influenced by Typhoon Fung Wong, Fujian was hit by winds up to force 8 to 11 in the morning. Its observatory forecast that rainstorm would continue on Monday in the province, which sits on the west of the Taiwan Straits.

    From Monday night to Tuesday, winds are expected to reach force7 to 9 in the coastal cities of Fujian. Rainstorms or torrential rainstorms are forecast in the cities of Ningde, Fuzhou, Putian and Quanzhou.

    "The continuous heavy rain is likely to trigger flood or other secondary disasters," Yang said.

    At 10:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT), the typhoon packed maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 160 kilometers per hour, at 280 kilometers east northeast of Basco, Batanes, said the PAGASA.

    The typhoon was moving west northwest at 11 kilometers per hour and was forecast to be at 290 kilometers north of Basco Monday morning, and 580 kilometers north northwest of Basco Tuesday morning, the PAGASA said.

    Public storm signal number 3, which signals incoming typhoon of 100 to 185 kilometer per hour winds, was raised in the Batanes and Babuyan islands while signal number 2, which signals 60 to 100 kilometer per hour winds, was raised in the provinces of Cagayan, Apayao, and Ilocos Norte in the northern Philippines, the PAGASA said.

    "Fung Wong" will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring rains over Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao particularly over the Western sections," said the PAGASA.

    Residents in coastal areas were warned against big waves while those in low-lying areas and mountain slopes were warned against flash floods and landslides.

    "Fung Wong" visited the Philippines one month after typhoon "Feng Shen", locally called "Frank", rampaged through the country killing hundreds of people and causing the capsizing of a passenger ship with more than 800 on board, in which only 57 people are known to have survived.

    Kalmaegi made a landfall near Ilan in northern Taiwan late on Thursday when it was a typhoon bringing with it heavy rains.

    The southern part of the island province had rain up to 600 millimeters within seven hours after the tropical storm landed, which collapsed drainage, causing most of the casualties.

    Kalmaegi weakened into a severe tropical storm at 2 a.m. Friday and hit eastern Fujian Province on Friday evening. The eye of the storm was in east China's Zhejiang Province on Saturday morning, and continued to move inland.

~~~~~~~~~

Related readings:
 Fung Wong causes evacuations of 750,000 in SE China
 Fung Wong continues to wreak havoc
 Shanghai closes ferry stations ahead of Fung Wong
 Disaster relief work urged as Fung Wong moves NW

A preliminary investigation by the bureau showed the disaster had affected the lives of 2.59 million people in 38 counties, with 91,330 of them displaced as of 11 a.m. on Monday.

The typhoon also toppled 8,667 houses, damaged 38,300 houses and destroyed 43,000 hectares of farmland.

The bureau had dispatched 530 tents and assigned 5.1 million yuan as a disaster relief fund.

Fung Wong was the eighth tropical storm to hit the country this year. It was downgraded from a typhoon early on Tuesday after making landfall in Fujian, the area worst hit by the storm. The coastal province suffered economic losses of 1 billion yuan.

By Marian Z. Codilla, Justin Anjuli K. Vestil, Chris Ligan
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 15:25:00 08/18/2008

CEBU CITY, Philippines - After almost two months of waiting, Narcisa Antimaro finally found closure.

On Sunday, Manang Narcisa, 74, was reunited with her son Jonathan, 39, who would have remained one of the unidentified victims of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars were it not for the DNA matching that gave him back his identity.

It was a bittersweet moment for Manang Narcisa as she cried tears of joy and sorrow, along with the kin of nine other passengers of the capsized vessel whose remains were identified by matching their DNA with that of their relatives.

The bodies of the 10 passengers were released on Sunday to their families at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes on Junquera Street in downtown Cebu.

“Nagpasalamat gyud mi ug dako nga nailhan na ang akong anak intawon (We are deeply thankful that my son was finally identified),” said Manang Narcisa.

Jonathan, a beautician based in Manila, was coming home to Cebu to celebrate his 39th birthday on June 24.

When the Princess of the Stars sank on June 21, Manang Narcisa prayed that he survived and was just stranded somewhere.

But she has since accepted the fate of her son and now could only thank the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), the International Police Organization (Interpol) and the Cebu City government for helping identify her son.

Manang Narcisa would bring the remains of Jonathan to Toledo City, their hometown, where he would be buried.

But for Roweno Adolfo, 27, there could be no relief yet even if the remains of his wife, Mercedita Escuardo Adolfo, 29, had been identified by DNA matching and turned over to him on Sunday.

Roweno said he wanted to bring his wife's body to her hometown in Dumanjug where she would be buried but he did not have the money to do it.

He said he had yet to receive the promised financial assistance from Sulpicio Lines Inc., the owner of MV Princess of the Stars.

Roweno said he could not give his wife a decent burial. He would have to ask help from his wife’s employer, the Cebu-based East-West Meddah Spa, which operated a branch on board the ill-fated ship.

Roweno said he also lost his job in a glass company in Mandaue City because he spent more time following up on the whereabouts of his wife and processing the documents needed to identify her than at work.

“Di na gyud madala sa akong trabaho kay ka tulo na lang ko ka report matag semana. Naundang nalang gyud ko. (I could only report for work three days a week. I had no choice but to stop working),” Roweno said.

Dr. Renato Bautista, officer-in-charge of the Disaster Victim Identification of the National Bureau of Investigation (DVI-NBI), told reporters on Sunday that 25 bodies had been matched but they could only release 10 bodies that had gone through and passed the required documentation for proper identification.

Bautista said the other 15 bodies would still go through the identification board, which is composed of himself as chairman, and forensic experts such as a DNA analyst, a dentist and a fingerprint examiner.

Bautista said the process could take a while. They would release the results to the public as soon as these were completed.

Aside from Antimaro and Adolfo, the DVI-Information Management Center identified the eight other bodies as: Ephraim Tayongtong Jr., 26, of Western Poblacion, Poro, Camotes Island, Cebu; Benedict Tibon, 30, Placencia Compound, Barangay (village) Tipolo, Mandaue City; Pedro Yurag, 59, Kawit, Medellin, Cebu; Henry Tiro, 31, Datag Cansubing, Cordova, Cebu; Eric dela Cruz Jr., 34, Martirez, Cebu City; Julito Laurente Abaño, 36, Purok 6, Barangay Linao, Ormoc City; Dario G. Ano-os, 31, Magay, Daanbantayan, Cebu; and Prescilla O. Tulda, 29, Magsaubay Maya, Daanbantayan, Cebu.

Kathryne Bomberger, ICMP director general, arrived in Cebu on Sunday to assure the families of the victims that they would give them the most accurate result of DNA matching.

She said the DNA matching results would take three weeks if the blood samples of the immediate families and the bone marrow samples from the victims were available at the ICMP headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Bomberger said they have received 1,663 blood samples from the family members of 777 missing persons out of the 866 originally reported as missing from the Princess of the Stars tragedy.

The bodies recovered that are now in the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor might not all have come from the capsized ship. Authorities suspected that some of the bodies might also be fatalities of other sea mishaps that occurred on June 21 at the height of typhoon Frank.

At least 1,376 persons died or went missing at sea due to typhoon Frank.

Redj Antido of the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Cebu City, which supervised the refrigerated morgue where the cadavers were kept, said nine of the bodies were claimed by their relatives as of 3 p.m. Sunday.

Antido said the remains of Tulda had no claimants until 5 p.m. Sunday.

Antido said the NBI forensic team called up the relatives and informed them that their missing relative had been identified.

To ensure order, relatives of the victims were earlier advised not to flock to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor, the NBI office here or at the Camp Sergio Osmeña. They were told to wait for calls from the NBI for further instruction.

Around 200 cadavers have been brought to Cebu for identification.

The bodies were recovered off and around Sibuyan Island in Romblon, where MV Princess of the Stars capsized on June 21 amid foul weather spawned by typhoon Frank, and from within the sunken vessel.

Before the identification of the 10 bodies on Sunday, NBI forensic teams released at least 19 bodies to their relatives.

Bautista called on families of missing persons to submit their blood samples so that all of the bodies recovered could be properly identified.

Bomberger said there are 170 staff members at the ICMP headquarters who are working seven days a week solely to match the blood samples of the Typhoon Frank victims in the Philippines.

“We are doing the DNA matching more rapidly and accurately with the help of the modern technology,” Bomberger told Cebu Daily News.

The blood samples from the families and the bone samples from the victims are shipped to Sarajevo, while ICMP will send to Cebu the results of the DNA matching electronically through e-mail.

Ronald Noble, director general of Interpol, also assured that the results of the victims’ identification were 100 percent accurate.

Noble said each victim has an individual folder containing all ante-mortem, post-mortem data and results from all the examinations done on the remains.

It might be a lengthy process but “we want better results than 100 percent accuracy in identifying the victims,” Noble said.

Despite the identification of some bodies, there are still hundreds of passengers and crew believed to be trapped inside the capsized vessel.

Although the length of time the bodies have been soaked in seawater might cause the DNA quality to deteriorate, the time is not long enough for the bodies to become unidentifiable, said Bomberger.

But she said it would be best if the vessel is immediately re-floated as it would speed up the bodies’ recovery and fast-track their identification.

But Bomberger and Noble assured that the ICMP and the Interpol would remain in the country until the last recovered body is identified.

Bomberger said her heart goes out to families of the victims who have waited patiently for the results to arrive.

She said she hoped that they would be able to produce 10 to 20 identifications on a weekly basis.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, meanwhile, called on the media to treat the deceased with respect.

He said the media should be considerate to the families of the victims since most of those who died in the tragedy were breadwinners.

“Don't treat them as another set of statistics,” the mayor said. /With a report from Jhunnex Napallacan

~~~~~~~

Philippines: NDCC update - Typhoon Frank situation report No. 33

By Marian Z. Codilla, Justin Anjuli K. Vestil, Chris Ligan
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 15:25:00 08/18/2008
 

CEBU CITY, Philippines - After almost two months of waiting, Narcisa Antimaro finally found closure.

On Sunday, Manang Narcisa, 74, was reunited with her son Jonathan, 39, who would have remained one of the unidentified victims of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars were it not for the DNA matching that gave him back his identity.

It was a bittersweet moment for Manang Narcisa as she cried tears of joy and sorrow, along with the kin of nine other passengers of the capsized vessel whose remains were identified by matching their DNA with that of their relatives.

The bodies of the 10 passengers were released on Sunday to their families at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes on Junquera Street in downtown Cebu.

“Nagpasalamat gyud mi ug dako nga nailhan na ang akong anak intawon (We are deeply thankful that my son was finally identified),” said Manang Narcisa.

Jonathan, a beautician based in Manila, was coming home to Cebu to celebrate his 39th birthday on June 24.

When the Princess of the Stars sank on June 21, Manang Narcisa prayed that he survived and was just stranded somewhere.

But she has since accepted the fate of her son and now could only thank the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), the International Police Organization (Interpol) and the Cebu City government for helping identify her son.

Manang Narcisa would bring the remains of Jonathan to Toledo City, their hometown, where he would be buried.

But for Roweno Adolfo, 27, there could be no relief yet even if the remains of his wife, Mercedita Escuardo Adolfo, 29, had been identified by DNA matching and turned over to him on Sunday.

Roweno said he wanted to bring his wife's body to her hometown in Dumanjug where she would be buried but he did not have the money to do it.

He said he had yet to receive the promised financial assistance from Sulpicio Lines Inc., the owner of MV Princess of the Stars.

Roweno said he could not give his wife a decent burial. He would have to ask help from his wife’s employer, the Cebu-based East-West Meddah Spa, which operated a branch on board the ill-fated ship.

Roweno said he also lost his job in a glass company in Mandaue City because he spent more time following up on the whereabouts of his wife and processing the documents needed to identify her than at work.

“Di na gyud madala sa akong trabaho kay ka tulo na lang ko ka report matag semana. Naundang nalang gyud ko. (I could only report for work three days a week. I had no choice but to stop working),” Roweno said.

Dr. Renato Bautista, officer-in-charge of the Disaster Victim Identification of the National Bureau of Investigation (DVI-NBI), told reporters on Sunday that 25 bodies had been matched but they could only release 10 bodies that had gone through and passed the required documentation for proper identification.

Bautista said the other 15 bodies would still go through the identification board, which is composed of himself as chairman, and forensic experts such as a DNA analyst, a dentist and a fingerprint examiner.

Bautista said the process could take a while. They would release the results to the public as soon as these were completed.

Aside from Antimaro and Adolfo, the DVI-Information Management Center identified the eight other bodies as: Ephraim Tayongtong Jr., 26, of Western Poblacion, Poro, Camotes Island, Cebu; Benedict Tibon, 30, Placencia Compound, Barangay (village) Tipolo, Mandaue City; Pedro Yurag, 59, Kawit, Medellin, Cebu; Henry Tiro, 31, Datag Cansubing, Cordova, Cebu; Eric dela Cruz Jr., 34, Martirez, Cebu City; Julito Laurente Abaño, 36, Purok 6, Barangay Linao, Ormoc City; Dario G. Ano-os, 31, Magay, Daanbantayan, Cebu; and Prescilla O. Tulda, 29, Magsaubay Maya, Daanbantayan, Cebu.

Kathryne Bomberger, ICMP director general, arrived in Cebu on Sunday to assure the families of the victims that they would give them the most accurate result of DNA matching.

She said the DNA matching results would take three weeks if the blood samples of the immediate families and the bone marrow samples from the victims were available at the ICMP headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Bomberger said they have received 1,663 blood samples from the family members of 777 missing persons out of the 866 originally reported as missing from the Princess of the Stars tragedy.

The bodies recovered that are now in the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor might not all have come from the capsized ship. Authorities suspected that some of the bodies might also be fatalities of other sea mishaps that occurred on June 21 at the height of typhoon Frank.

At least 1,376 persons died or went missing at sea due to typhoon Frank.

Redj Antido of the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Cebu City, which supervised the refrigerated morgue where the cadavers were kept, said nine of the bodies were claimed by their relatives as of 3 p.m. Sunday.

Antido said the remains of Tulda had no claimants until 5 p.m. Sunday.

Antido said the NBI forensic team called up the relatives and informed them that their missing relative had been identified.

To ensure order, relatives of the victims were earlier advised not to flock to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor, the NBI office here or at the Camp Sergio Osmeña. They were told to wait for calls from the NBI for further instruction.

Around 200 cadavers have been brought to Cebu for identification.

The bodies were recovered off and around Sibuyan Island in Romblon, where MV Princess of the Stars capsized on June 21 amid foul weather spawned by typhoon Frank, and from within the sunken vessel.

Before the identification of the 10 bodies on Sunday, NBI forensic teams released at least 19 bodies to their relatives.

Bautista called on families of missing persons to submit their blood samples so that all of the bodies recovered could be properly identified.

Bomberger said there are 170 staff members at the ICMP headquarters who are working seven days a week solely to match the blood samples of the Typhoon Frank victims in the Philippines.

“We are doing the DNA matching more rapidly and accurately with the help of the modern technology,” Bomberger told Cebu Daily News.

The blood samples from the families and the bone samples from the victims are shipped to Sarajevo, while ICMP will send to Cebu the results of the DNA matching electronically through e-mail.

Ronald Noble, director general of Interpol, also assured that the results of the victims’ identification were 100 percent accurate.

Noble said each victim has an individual folder containing all ante-mortem, post-mortem data and results from all the examinations done on the remains.

It might be a lengthy process but “we want better results than 100 percent accuracy in identifying the victims,” Noble said.

Despite the identification of some bodies, there are still hundreds of passengers and crew believed to be trapped inside the capsized vessel.

Although the length of time the bodies have been soaked in seawater might cause the DNA quality to deteriorate, the time is not long enough for the bodies to become unidentifiable, said Bomberger.

But she said it would be best if the vessel is immediately re-floated as it would speed up the bodies’ recovery and fast-track their identification.

But Bomberger and Noble assured that the ICMP and the Interpol would remain in the country until the last recovered body is identified.

Bomberger said her heart goes out to families of the victims who have waited patiently for the results to arrive.

She said she hoped that they would be able to produce 10 to 20 identifications on a weekly basis.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, meanwhile, called on the media to treat the deceased with respect.

He said the media should be considerate to the families of the victims since most of those who died in the tragedy were breadwinners.

“Don't treat them as another set of statistics,” the mayor said. /With a report from Jhunnex Napallacan To subscribe to the Cebu Daily News newspaper, call +63 2 (032) 233-6046 for Metro Manila and Metro Cebu or email your subscription request here.

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