HURRICANE GUSTAV UPDATE 15:30 Hrs CDT USA, 31 August 2008.
Hurricane Gustav has increased it’s forward speed to 17 MPH and is maintaining it’s strength at this hour. This means that the outer bands containing winds in excess of 39 MPH sustained will start being felt along the northern Gulf Coast as far as 200 miles from the storm center within 6 to 12 hours. Hurricane force winds within 60 to 100 miles of the center of rotation will be felt shortly thereafter.
Evacuations are progressing well in 4 states – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
ANY PERSONS WHO ARE IN A MANDATORY EVACUATION AREA WHO HAVE NOT DONE SO, IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE.
Law enforcement and local government officials in 4 states have said that anyone in a mandatory evacuation area who stays behind does so at their own peril. There will be NO rescue attempts to get you out. It is recommended for those persons who do stay behind to place a note in a waterproof bag in their inner pocket containing their name, address and next of kin so their remains can be identified and relatives notified.
We will post additional last minute details as conditions warrant. Until then, please use the first link below for Tropical System information and the second link below for active watches, warnings, coastal flooding potential and data.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
http://www.weather.gov/largemap.php
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“THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL ADVISORY. These updates and advisories are based upon information from our own computer models, NOAA, Local Weather Data Centers, deep water Buoy Data, and other publicly available sources. FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR PROPERTY AND PERSON, please refer to your Local, State, and Federal Authority updates for Official Advisories and Orders. For up to the minute advisories and official updates, it is essential that you monitor your local Emergency Government, NOAA and Local Media Broadcasts. Please do not make personal safety decisions based upon information presented here in this Unofficial Advisory.”
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