2:30pm update: 

The Latest Rain Radar of Gustav – updated hourly.

For a free animated version click here: http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=POE&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=yes (requires Java).

(Left – Satellite image from weather.com, updated hourly, shows Gustav over the southern United States this afternoon)

HURRICANE GUSTAV is still holding on as a Category 1 hurricane – roughly the same intensity of the low that passed Northland late in July.  It’s packing sustained winds around the eye of 120km/h so is maintaining its hurricane status for now – but a drop of just a few kilometres per hour will remove it’s “hurricane” title and make it a tropical storm only.  Torrential rain is continuing to fall across Louisiana (LA) with predictions of up to 500mm of rain in some areas – a major concern considering much of coastal LA is near or below sea level.

(Left – Hurricane Hanna centre of this picture is barely moving as she organises herself better over the Bahamas – image  updated hourly)

Meanwhile HURRICANE HANNA is now in full swing over the Bahamas and has become stronger than Gustav, packing sustained winds of 130km/h.  Hanna is expected to affect the Atlantic coastline of America including Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas according to our weather partner weather.com. 

And further east in the open waters Tropical Storm Ike has developed  – it’s a long way out but weather.com expects Ike to become a hurricane in the coming days.

This will be the final update of this thread – Images will continue to update hourly however any future news updates on these tropical storms will be posted in new stories/threads.  Thanks for all your comments – please see below for all the final stats and news. 

GUSTAV STATS

– 2 million Louisiana (LA) residents evacuate.

– 90% of coastal LA residents have left their homes tonight.

– Hurricane Gustav not expected to be a “repeat of Katrina”.

– Storm made landfall as Cat 2 but peaked as 4 earlier.

– Waves in the Gulf of Mexico estimated to have been 28 metres high.

– Some areas may see a staggering 600mm (over half a metre!) of rain over the next few days.  This is incredible considering LA is flat and much of it is close to or below sea level.

– Winds were at 225km/h but now 130km/h

EXCLUSIVE REPORT: 

WeatherWatch.co.nz speaks exclusively to Scott Durand – a resident who is directly in the path of Hurricane Gustav tonight.

“My biggest fear is having a tornado rip through my property” says Scott Durand who lives in Lafayette – a Louisiana city that is expected to take a direct hit tomorrow morning NZT by Hurricane Gustav.  He lives with his girlfriend and 5 pets and weatherwatch.co.nz spoke exclusively to him this evening while they waited for Gustav to make landfall.  Scott has lived through a number of hurricanes and says all he can do is “be patient” and hope for the best.

Ironically Scott says a number of victims from Hurricane Katrina moved to Lafayette – a city about the size of Hamilton NZ and is 150kms west of New Orleans.  Lafayette doesn’t suffer from flooding like New Orleans does.

He says last time Hurricane Rita – which came through after Hurricane Katrina – caused major wind damage to trees and buildings around him – including a twister that brought down trees on his property.  “The sound horrified me”.

During Hurricane Rita he said some areas were literally wiped off the map.  “My father was with the Sheriffs Department for years – they had to use a GPS to know where they were – in an area that previously had streets”. 

“Cities that were 30 minutes south were literally ‘gone’ “.

“I get too nervous to stay still” he says when we asked him what he’ll be doing while the storm is passing above.  “Protecting my girlfriend, my pets and my house is what I’ll be doing”.