Gustav Hits Caymans; Gulf of Mexico Strengthening Awaits; UPDATE: NOLA Evacuations Begin; UPDATE: Cat 4 Storm

While the Gulf Coast waits and watches the skies and radar screens, Gustav continues churning along at its own pace and has brought death and devastation. It's a category 3 storm now, with winds of up to 115 mph, and hurricane force winds extend out from the eye up to 60 miles away. Central pressure is at 965mb, which is an indicator of storm intensity. 71 people have been killed so far by the storm throughout the Caribbean. Preparations along the Gulf Coast include a Presidential disaster declaration and even Whiplash Nagin has noted that an evacuation order is likely, though not before today.

President Bush declared an emergency in Louisiana, a move that allows the federal government to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance in storm-affected areas.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said an evacuation order was likely, though not before Saturday, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it expects a "huge number" of Gulf Coast residents will be told to leave the region this weekend.

It's expected to strengthen into a category 4 storm a day before landfall, which means that the storm surge and winds could be quite devastating.

The official NHC track has Gustav making landfall along the west-central Louisiana coast.

The models are still mostly converging along the that same general region, and the GFDL track has it coming through along the same line as the NHC track.

Watch for energy prices to rise as Gustav churns into the Gulf of Mexico because oil rigs will have to be shut down to protect them and their crews who will have to evacuate to the mainland.

UPDATE:
Some New Orleans residents, at least those that returned, aren't waiting for official calls to evacuate the city. They're already starting. Still, some people may try to stick around, even if the storm appears headed on a collision course with the Louisiana coastline.

UPDATE:
Jefferson Parish has called for a mandatory evacuation:

The order includes Grand Isle, Jean Lafitte, Crown Point, Barataria and other areas outside of the levee protection system.

. New Orleans has activated its evacuation plans for those who can't self-evacuate.

The Louisiana government website has much more.

UPDATE:
People who can't self-evacuate have queued up to get a bus ride to higher ground.

UPDATE:
Gustav has gone from a strong category 2 storm to a category 4 storm today. Not good at all. Cuba is now bracing for a direct hit along it's Western half, and that will definitely result in damage and slow down the winds some as the mountains break up the storm's inflow. However, the slower wind speeds from crossing Cuba will not last long, as the storm will pick up speed again as it heads into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The Cuban government has evacuated nearly 200,000 people ahead of the storm.

MSNBC also has a good interactive feature showing the storm's development.