Fresh storm threatens New Orleans

Now why couldn't that be done in New Orleans? WHY ? Because it was not Jebbie boys state.


Emergency teams have once again begun evacuating residents of the flood-hit city of New Orleans as a new hurricane heads towards the southern US coast.
Some 500 buses are moving out people who had returned to the city battered by Hurricane Katrina three weeks ago.

Several thousand Louisiana evacuees who had found shelter in Texas are being moved to Arkansas and Tennessee.

The move came as Category Three Hurricane Rita moved into the Gulf of Mexico, after hitting Florida and Cuba.

Forecasters from the US National Hurricane Center expect the hurricane to strengthen to a Category Four hurricane later on Wednesday, before reaching the coast of either Texas or Louisiana later this week.

Most forecasts say the storm will hit Texas, but it could still veer north towards Louisiana. The damage levies in New Orleans are in a weakened state and could be breached by heavy rain.

Rita lashed northern Cuba and the low-lying US island chain known as the Florida Keys on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of people in the vicinity had earlier fled their homes.

In the Gulf of Mexico, several oil producers have taken staff off rigs as a precaution in case Rita passes through the area.

The US Navy was expected to start moving its ships assisting with Katrina relief efforts out of the way of the new hurricane.

Rita is this season's 17th named storm. Last week Hurricane Ophelia pounded the North Carolina coast, flooding many coastal areas.

Havana 'paralysed'

It appears that most of the Florida Keys and Cuba have been spared a direct hit, as Rita passed over the Florida Straits, correspondents say.

However, it sent street signs flying in Key West, flooded roads in Miami and left more than 11,000 homes without power.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency, which allows the state to oversee evacuations and call in the National Guard.

In Cuba, some 58,000 people were evacuated from the northern coast and more than 6,000 in Havana alone, Cuban officials said.

The hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November.

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