New Orleans and Hurricane Gustav; Get Out Or Suffer The Consequences

Police are warning the residents of New Orleans to leave or face Hurricane Gustav alone. There will be no shelters this time around for those who want to ignore the warnings. The Superdome will be locked up.

Those among New Orleans' estimated 310,000 to 340,000 residents who ignore orders to leave accept "all responsibility for themselves and their loved ones," the city's emergency preparedness director, Jerry Sneed, has warned.

Early this week New Orleans will be hit by Hurricane Gustav. How hard the hit will be is anybody's guess. The state's government isn't taking chances as they prepare to do a city wide evacuation. The call to leave could come as early as Sunday. The residents of New Orleans who choose to ignore the warnings will not be helped during the storm. Will the survivors of Hurricane Katrina heed the warnings this time around or wait out a storm that could put New Orleans six feet under? Buses are being readied so that the poorest of the poor can be taken to safety. The government doesn't want to have a repeat of Katrina where the poor were left to face the howl of the storm alone. There are 700 buses on route to the Delta city to transport the ill or impoverished away from the path of the storm. After the expected evacuation order goes out a curfew will go into effect. Those breaking the curfew will be carted out of the city but they will be wearing handcuffs. Evacuees will be taken by bus to higher ground and by train to places as far away as Memphis, Tenn. By the time Gustav comes ashore along the Gulf of Mexico it could be a Category Three or Four storm. Dallas News reports that not all of the residents are as concerned as the government is.

Paris Benn, a 50-year-old bellhop at the Lowes Hotel near the French Quarter, said New Orleans is seized by hurricane hype. He said some of the same local, state and federal politicians who underreacted three years ago are overreacting today.

"People are fleeing New Orleans, and that's crazy," he said. "That storm is way out by Jamaica. They'd have to be a psychic to know where that thing is going to hit."

If Gustav hits as hard as Katrina did homeowners may find out they have less coverage from their insurance this time around. Insurance companies took a $50 billion hit when Katrina wiped out New Orleans. Homeowner have had to use state run insurance programs after many insurance companies pulled away from storm prone areas. Those insurance companies that still cover the areas that are frequented by storms have added high deductibles that can add up to the cost of a new roof according to Market Watch.