FEMA Chief: Gustav Growing Into A Category 5 Storm

The government’s disaster relief chief says Hurricane Gustav is growing into a monster Category 5 storm.
   
The storm that hit Cuba Saturday could reach landfall along the Gulf Coast by early Tuesday.

Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison told reporters several times at a briefing Saturday that the storm was
strengthening into a Category 5 hurricane. FEMA officials said Bill Read, the director of the National Hurricane Center, interrupted an afternoon teleconference involving the agency, Gulf Coast states and the National Weather Service to say he is going to issue a special advisory statement raising Gustav to Category 5.

That means winds greater than 155 mph and a storm surge greater than 18 feet above normal.

Word about the Category 5 development reached FEMA shortly before Paulison briefed reporters.

The National Hurricane Center on Saturday called Gustav an “extremely dangerous” storm and earlier today was a Category 4 storm with winds of 145-miles per hour. The increase in the storm’s intensity comes as people line up for buses to take them out of New Orleans. Traffic is also heavier on main highways out of the city as residents head north.

New Orleans has yet to call for a mandatory evacuation, but began ushering out the sick, elderly and those without their own transportation.

Track Gustav with resources in Amy Wood’s blog including updates from a pastor who grew up in the Upstate