200809022046 | Huricane Gustav downgraded to category 1

Huricane Gustav downgraded to category 1

Hurricane Gustav is advancing inland from the US Gulf coast, bringing with it torrential rain and severe winds. But it has been downgraded to category 1 which came as relief to many anxious New Orleans residents that were forced to flee.

The worst of the storm made landfall west of New Orleans, apparently sparing it from the kind of devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

An estimated two million people have fled inland from the Louisiana coast.

The storm is expected to move into Texas overnight, dumping as much as 20in (50cm) of rain there by Thursday.

Meanwhile US President George W Bush is in Austin, Texas, to oversee the government response.

He said Gustav was a "serious event" and insisted that the emergency response was "a lot better than during Katrina".

Mr Bush praised those who had heeded the warnings to evacuate, saying he understood how hard it was for citizens to "pull up stakes".

In New Orleans, a sea surge of up to 14ft (4.2m) was feared and water was clearing levees as the outer rim of the storm brought heavy rains and winds.

Waves were causing some flooding but the city's pumps were keeping up with the flow, said a spokesman for the army unit responsible for the city's flood defences.

FLASHBACK TO KATRINA
Katrina struck US Gulf Coast in August 2005 as a Category Three storm, killing more than 1,800 people
New Orleans was 80% flooded after storm surge breached protective levees
US Government was blamed for slow, botched response that exacerbated disaster
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) briefing heard that although the high water pressing the walls raised the potential for problems, officials were "confident in the resilience" of the levees.

The Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, had urged caution, and asked residents "to get their butts out of town."