Hurricane Gustav () was the second most destructive tropical cyclone of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Gustav caused serious damage and casualties in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba and the United States. Gustav caused at least $8.31 billion (2008 USD) in damages.
It formed on the morning of August 25, 2008, about southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and rapidly strengthened into a tropical storm that afternoon and into a hurricane early on August 26. Later that day it made landfall near the Haitian town of Jacmel. It inundated Jamaica and ravaged Western Cuba and then steadily moved across the Gulf of Mexico.
Once into the Gulf, Gustav gradually weakened because of increased wind shear and dry air. It weakened to a Category 2 hurricane late on August 31, and remained at that intensity until landfall on the morning of September 1 near Cocodrie, Louisiana. Weakening continued, and Gustav weakened to a tropical storm that evening and to a tropical depression the next day as it meandered around the south-central US. The weak system became extratropical on September 4 and was absorbed by another low on September 5.
In total, an estimated 153 deaths had been attributed to Gustav in the U.S. and Caribbean. Damage in the U.S. totaled to $6 billion (2008 USD) with additional damage of $2.1 billion in Cuba and $210 million in damage in Jamaica.
Meteorological history
Gustav formed out of a tropical wave that had previously produced t-rain and squalls in the Lesser Antilles. It developed well-defined curved bands and briefly exhibited an upper-level eye feature. The NHC designated it Tropical Depression Seven and dispatched a hurricane hunter aircraft to investigate the system. At the time, the system had a well-defined outflow in all but the southeast and southwest quadrants, and data from the hurricane-hunter aircraft confirmed that the tropical depression had strengthened into a tropical storm, which was soon designated Tropical Storm Gustav. A brief period of disorganization proved to be temporary as a well-defined eye wall formed that same night. In the early hours of August 26, as the storm approached Haiti's southwestern peninsula, another hurricane hunter aircraft confirmed what forecasters already suspected—that Gustav had strengthened into a hurricane with winds topping . Before reaching Haiti, its satellite presentation continued to intensify, a central dense overcast became more prominent, and the minimum central pressure fell.
Hurricane Gustav regained a pronounced eye as it made landfall on Haiti, with winds, near the town of Jacmel. As the hurricane moved over Haiti's mountainous terrain its circulation was disrupted and it lost a little strength. Although downgraded to a tropical storm, it still had a pronounced eye in its mid- and upper-level structures. Its outflow improved throughout the night of August 26, and the system was not very disrupted when it moved back over water into the Gulf of Gonâve. However, the storm's movement slowed, and continued interaction with nearby Haiti, combined with the incursion of mid-level dry air from the northeast, resulted in further weakening during the day on August 27. The storm began a west-southwesterly movement that brought it closer to Jamaica. On the morning of August 28 it was found that, overnight, Gustav had either reformed farther to the south or had moved farther to the south than previously thought. The storm was also found to have restrengthened nearly to hurricane status. It then was upgraded to a hurricane again during the late afternoon of August 29. At 11:00 a.m EDT (1500 UTC) on August 30, as Gustav neared the west end of Cuba, it was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, with sustained winds near . Gustav continued its rapid deepening trend, and three hours later, it had already reached Category 4 strength. Gustav's maximum sustained winds had reached with a minimum pressure of 941 millibars.
On August 30, Gustav made landfall twice on Cuba: first, on Isla de la Juventud and then on the mainland near the community of Los Palacios in Pinar del Río Province. At 2235 UTC (6:35 PM Cuba Daylight Time), a weather station at Paso Real de San Diego recorded a wind gust of , which at the time was considered the strongest wind gust from a tropical cyclone on record. By the early hours of August 31, Gustav entered the Gulf of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of and minimum central pressure of 958 millibars. During August 31, the storm moved in a northwest direction slightly losing its strength (despite passing over a shortened Loop Current) with sustained winds at 115 mph. On the evening of August 31, Gustav weakened to a Category 2 hurricane and remained at such intensity until landfall in the U.S. Gustav made landfall along the Louisiana coast with winds near Cocodrie, at about 9:30 a.m CDT (1430 UTC). At U.S. landfall, hurricane-force winds extended outward from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended . That night, by 10 pm CDT, Gustav had been downgraded to a Tropical Storm with winds of about southwest of Alexandria, Louisiana and by 4 am CDT on September 2 Gustav had diminished to a Tropical Depression with a threat of severe flooding in the lower Mississippi Valley and eastern Texas. Gustav then meandered over portions of southwestern Arkansas, northeastern Texas, and southeastern Oklahoma on September 3 due to weak steering currents at the western end of the Atlantic ridge. By September 4, Gustav had merged with a rapidly approaching mid-level trough and its accompanying cold front, diminishing into an extratropical cyclone in the process. The remnants of Gustav were finally absorbed by another extratropical low the next day as it passed over the Great Lakes.
Preparations
Hispaniola Immediately upon the storm's designation as a tropical depression it was expected to strengthen into a tropical storm and strike the island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic on the east and Haiti on the west. Tropical storm warnings were issued from the coast of the Dominican Republic south of Santo Domingo to the Haitian coast south of Port-au-Prince. A tropical storm watch was issued for the Haitian coast, north of Port-au-Prince to the northern border with the Dominican Republic. Hours later, when Gustav was upgraded to a tropical storm, the tropical storm warning was upgraded to a hurricane warning and the tropical storm watch was upgraded to a hurricane warning.
The Haitian government ordered emergency shelters to prepare. The country is particularly vulnerable to floods and landslides as rainfall runs off its largely deforested mountains. The government issued a red alert and advised the population to take precautions, but few Haitians took heed. Fair weather led many to doubt whether a hurricane was even approaching. American Airlines canceled all of its flights into and out of Port-au-Prince on August 26, stranding travelers hoping to escape the storm.
Jamaica and Cayman Islands
On August 25, Carnival Cruise Line diverted one of its ships from Montego Bay, Jamaica, to Mexico in order to avoid the storm. Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) readied response systems in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav affecting the island. Emergency shelters were open across the island with several schools converted into shelters.
In the Cayman Islands, a hurricane watch was issued at 6 pm August 25 and upgraded that to a warning on 6 pm August 27. Banks and non-essential government services were closed Friday to allow residents to prepare. Extra flights were organized to get tourists off the island and, per usual practice, further visits were banned until the All Clear was given. Stores and gas stations were busy and each district office offered free plywood to protect windows and residents hurried about to secure their business interests and property.
Cuba
60,000 were evacuated overnight on August 29 from Cuba's western coasts. Gustav was projected to strike Cuba on the afternoon of August 30. Summary Additional evacuations were ordered on the afternoon of August 30 as Gustav strengthened to a strong Category 4 hurricane, particularly in the low-lying Pinar del Río Province where 190,000 were evacuated. On Monday, September 1, Cuban officials reported that Gustav's winds damaged or destroyed 90,000 homes in Pinar del Río, and knocked down 80 high-tension towers.Reuters 9-2-08 The combined damage estimate from Gustav and the subsequent hurricanes Ike and Paloma is about $9.4 billion (USD), with about 2.1 billion of that from Gustav.
United States On August 31, the NHC predicted with 45% probability that Gustav would remain at Category 3 or above on September 1. This influenced preparations, although in fact Gustav had dropped just below the Category 3 threshold to Category 2 by landfall, and Category 1 shortly afterwards. Direct Relief, an emergency response organization, committed $250,000 in special hurricane response funds to assist nonprofit clinics, community health centers, and evacuation and shelter areas.
Louisiana
On the morning of August 26, with Gustav still over Haiti, Louisiana emergency preparedness officials met several times to discuss predictions that Gustav would reach the state as a major hurricane in three to five days. Several areas of Louisiana planned for evacuations. Several parishes in the New Orleans area announced plans for voluntary evacuations beginning Saturday, August 30. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said that it was possible thousands of people who need city help could start leaving on Saturday, as the first wave of a full-scale evacuation. Later, he ordered the mandatory evacuation of the whole of New Orleans commencing on the morning of August 31, calling Gustav "the storm of the century ... the mother of all storms." On August 31, Nagin also declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew and the cessation of city assistance in evacuations by the afternoon. By that afternoon, 1.9 million people had evacuated southern Louisiana, with 200,000 being residents of New Orleans alone, making it the largest evacuation in the history of Louisiana.
Officials had finalized evacuation plans, which proposed assisted evacuations as early as August 29: Contraflow lane reversal on all major highways, and 700 buses to help move evacuees. For those evacuees in need of shelter, the state government secured tens of thousands of shelter beds. Wary of repeating the mistakes of Hurricane Katrina, authorities chose not to use the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center as emergency shelters. The following day, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency, activating between 3,000 and 8,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard.