Gustav lands in New Orleans, but will the levees hold?

Torrential rains have lashed the coastline of Louisiana, battered by tropical winds, now largely deserted after almost two million people obeyed calls to flee to higher ground.

President Bush tried to reassure the country his administration had learned the lessons from Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

Gustav hit land near Cocodrie, around 70 miles southwest of New Orleans just before 10am local time. Latest updates rated it a category two storm with winds near 110 miles an hour.

Sarah Smith is in New Orleans.

The science of storms

The warnings have been clear, and the forecasts, meticulous. It is not just President Bush who wants to avoid a repeat of the Katrina disaster, engineers and weather experts say they are now far better prepared.

Three years ago more than three quarters of New Orleans was flooded as surging waters rapidly overwhelmed its flood defences.

Now, the Army Corps of Engineers say they're "cautiously optimistic we won't see catastrophic wall failure". However with the construction work far from completed, has enough been done?

Our science correspondent Julian Rush reports.

McCain's hurricane convention

Millions of dollars, years of meticulous planning and the Republican convention in Minneapolis is fast resembling a washout.

Proceedings were all but cancelled today, although jettisoning politics in the face of a potential natural disaster could give John McCain a chance to prove his leadership credentials, not to mention a useful contrast with President Bush. Jon Snow reports.

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?