Русская версияThe mayor of New Orleans has issued a mandatory evacuation order for the entire city, as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the US Gulf Coast.
Ray Nagin said residents of the city's West Bank should begin moving out at 0800 local time on Sunday, with the East Bank leaving at midday.
He called it "the storm of the century" and added: "You need to be scared".
Gustav, which is forecast to strengthen to a Category 5 storm over the Gulf, is currently passing over Cuba.
The storm ploughed through Cuba's Isle of Youth overnight on Saturday before hitting the mainland in Pinar del Rio province with maximum winds of nearly 240km/h (150mph).
Almost a quarter of a million people have been evacuated in Cuba, where there has been extensive flooding.
But in a televised news conference Mr Nagin described the threat facing New Orleans in stark terms, calling Gustav "the mother of all storms" and urging people not to try and ride out the next few days.
The mayor, who was in office when New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said no-one had seen a storm like Gustav before.
The hurricane has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean.
It has swept through Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the past week, killing dozens of people and causing widespread damage.
It has strengthened rapidly from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane, and is expected to grow to a Category 5 storm - the maximum on the scale - as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico.
(BBC)
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