Hurricane Gustav grew into the “mother of all storms” last night as it screamed towards America’s Gulf Coast, forcing one million people to leave their homes and turning New Orleans into a virtual ghost city.

Fresh from killing at least 81 people in the Caribbean, the storm was expected to strike the Louisiana coastline today with winds of up to 155mph (250km/h), threatening to cause damage potentially worse than that wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“You need to be scared, you need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century,” Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans, said as he issued a mandatory evacuation order. “This storm is so powerful — and growing more powerful — that I’m not sure we’ve seen anything like it. This is the real deal, this is not a test, so anyone out there thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: that would be the biggest mistake of your life.”

Fears of a repeat of the political debacle of three years ago — when President Bush failed to end his holiday after Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, then praised the work of much-criticised federal officials and only visited the city later — led Republicans to consider cancelling or at least radically altering the party’s convention in Minnesota. “We’re monitoring the situation,” John McCain, the presidential nominee, said.

All roads to New Orleans were turned into one-way routes out of the city. Families packed pets and possessions into their cars and joined the queue heading for shelter inland or farther along the coast in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. “Take what you want Gustav,” said a sign scribbled on the back window of one car. “Katrina left us with nothing anyway.” Another read: “Down but not out; we’ll be back Gustav.”

The scale of the preparations and the relatively smooth execution of emergency plans contrasted with the chaos of the Katrina disaster, during which evacuation orders were issued too late and tens of thousands of people were left stranded in a flooded city. Those without the means to leave town yesterday were directed to 17 pick-up points to await transportation provided by city and state authorities. Up to 16,000 people were being airlifted to other cities on charter flights paid for by the federal government; others were put on trains or buses.

The Red Cross expects to shelter 500,000 evacuees from across the Gulf Coast region and is standing ready to provide 750,000 meals a day. Hotels within a six-hour drive of New Orleans were booked solid.

National Guardsmen using loudhailers went from street to street urging residents to leave. Gloria Guy, 68, who was rescued after spending nine hours on the roof of her flooded home in the Lower Ninth ward during Katrina, was leaving only reluctantly, along with her three children and eight grandchildren. She saw neighbours die in the 2005 disaster, after a wall of water swept through the protective levees holding back a canal, and did not believe that tragedy could strike the neighbourhood twice.

“I’m not worried about it, because I have asked God to let the storm go back out to sea because I think we have been through enough tragedy and hardship. I’m just surviving this time on faith,” she said.

Oscar Jones, 27, said: “What do I do if I leave? Where do I go? Guess if I have to I’ll just jump on that old bicycle of mine, pedal damn fast and pray.”

Heicke Boecken, a pastor with a Christian ministry helping residents in the Lower Ninth ward, said: “People are really scared when they see this thing on the Weather Channel. Once you have experienced being in the water you don’t want to experience it again, but on the other hand a lot of people are just tired of being away from home in shelters. Several people told me they feel the situation can’t get worse than Katrina did.” She planned on staying put. “If the church leaves, it’s like the captain abandoning his ship.”

In St Bernard, one of the outer parishes of New Orleans that is likely to suffer flooding from the storm surge, Linda and Robert Templet walked around their house taking video footage and photographs, fearful that there may be nothing left when they return after the storm. “It’s a very terrible feeling,” said Mrs Templet, whose last home was destroyed during Katrina.

“We’ll take with us what we saved last time, but that’s not much — mainly photos. This new house has been our prized baby. We don’t want to come back and see what we saw with Katrina.” Radio stations urged people to take insurance policies with them as they left the city. Residents hugged in the streets and bade farewell to one another, swapping lists of telephone numbers and e-mail addresses so that they could stay in touch during their exile.

On the city’s West Bank, which remained out of the danger zone during Katrina but which weathermen say could face floods and heavy wind damage this time, a Briton who runs a pub dismissed the warnings to leave. “The general consensus here is the mayor is covering his back after the colossal muck-up over Katrina,” he said.

Mr Nagin told those intending to stay that there would be no one to help them once the storm hits, and that the Superdome, the American football stadium that housed 26,000 refugees during Katrina, would not be opened this time. Emergency services were leaving behind a skeleton staff.

“If you are not taking this as seriously as we need you to take it and if you decide to stay, you are on your own,” Mr Nagin said. “Make sure you have an axe, because you will be carving your way or busting your way out of your attic to get on your roof, with waters that will be surrounding you.”

Path of destruction

— Hurricane Gustav struck Haiti on Tuesday. Sixty-six people died

— It was downgraded to a tropical storm, passed over the Dominican Republic and killed eight

— It regained hurricane strength and hit Jamaica, killing seven

— Oil companies have been pulling crews out since Wednesday, with three quarters of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil production and nearly two fifths of its natural gas output shut down

— A state of emergency has been in force in Louisiana for five days. A tidal storm surge up to nine metres (30ft) high will accompany Gustav when it makes land

Source: agencies

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