The storm, which killed at least 70 people in the Caribbean, plowed toward superheated waters south of Cuba where it could absorb enough energy to strengthen into a major hurricane before ripping through the heavy concentration of U.S. oil and natural gas platforms off Louisiana.
New Orleans still was squarely in the storm's sights. The most likely long-range track had it going ashore west of the city on Tuesday morning as a Category 3 storm on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.
Crude oil futures climbed in the face of Gustav's threat to the 4,000 Gulf platforms that produce a quarter of U.S. oil and 15 percent of its natural gas. Energy companies evacuated offshore workers and prepared for the most serious storm since the devastating 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.
'The cyclone will have more than 24 hours over the very warm waters of the northwestern Caribbean ... so strengthening seems imminent and could even be rapid,' the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The Miami-based hurricane center forecast that Gustav would strengthen into a minimal Category 1 hurricane as it passed the wealthy Cayman Islands on Friday and then grow into at least a Category 3 storm just after passing the western tip of Cuba.
By 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), Gustav was off the western end of Jamaica, about 165 miles (265 km) east-southeast of Grand Cayman Island, and was moving west-northwest at 8 mph (13 km per hour), the hurricane center said.
Its top sustained winds had dipped to 65 mph (100 kph), below the 74 mph (119 kph) threshold at which tropical cyclones become hurricanes, but they were projected to rise to 120 mph (193 kph) within 72 hours.
Katrina was a monstrous Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico before coming ashore near New Orleans as a Category 3 on Aug. 29, 2005, breaching the protective levees and swamping the city famous as the birthplace of jazz but now known for the floods of Katrina.
The resulting devastation exposed deep poverty, racial tensions and federal incompetence as thousands of people were left stranded without aid. About 1,500 people were killed on the U.S. Gulf Coast and $80 billion in damages made Katrina the costliest U.S. natural disaster.
Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which followed in its wake, also wrecked more than 100 oil rigs.
LOUISIANA GETS READY
This time, Louisiana authorities have warned residents to prepare to evacuate as Gustav nears and arranged transportation for those who do not have cars. The U.S. government also mustered its forces for an emergency.
Gustav was expected to come ashore as President George W. Bush's Republican Party holds its convention to select Sen. John McCain as its nominee for the November presidential election.
Gustav barged into Haiti as a hurricane on Tuesday and killed at least 59 people there, eight in the neighboring Dominican Republic and three in Jamaica.
The storm weakened before buffeting the lush, mountainous island of Jamaica with high winds and torrential rains, soaking some sugar cane fields.
Rooftops flew off houses and a 50-year-old man fell to his death after a strong gust of wind blew him out of the tree where he was picking breadfruit. A man and a woman drowned in Gordon Town, north of Kingston, when their home was flooded.
In the British territory of the Cayman Islands, which still has not completely recovered from a near direct hit by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, residents bought storm supplies while some tourists fled.
'I think we're going to get more than what most people expect,' said Caymanian Turney Burke as he made a last-minute stop at a grocery store for batteries, duct tape and juice mix.
The Cayman Islands government released all civil servants from work and the offshore banking sector said it was ready.
Energy traders also watched Tropical Storm Hanna, 215 miles (345 km) north of the Leeward Islands. The storm was moving west-northwest and could become a hurricane by next week.
(Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Jane Sutton and Bill Trott) Keywords: STORM GUSTAV/ tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com tc COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
© 2008 AFX News
