#Ike spurs mass evacuations in Florida

NVDL: It seems like the only good news about these storms is that if these systems enter an area recently occupied by another system (as was the case with Gustav and Fay, and may be the case with Ike and Gustav) there is a diminished opportunity for warming.

There is some speculation (see below) that Gustav may have stirred up slightly cooler waters. I don't know. It's been a while since Gustav was in the Gulf, and Ike still has a few days to go to get there.

Reuters: Hurricane Gustav may have stirred up colder water from the depths before crashing into Louisiana on Monday.

In southeast Florida, up to 1.3 million people could be forced to evacuate if the storm turns north. State and local officials urged Miami residents not to be complacent.

In the low-lying Florida Keys, visitors were ordered out on Saturday and residents were told to evacuate on Sunday along the lone road linking the island chain to the mainland.

clipped from uk.reuters.com The densely populated Miami-Fort Lauderdale area in south Florida was not out of the line of fire, and visitors were ordered to flee the vulnerable Florida Keys island chain starting on Saturday. The storm might then curve into the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of this week's Hurricane Gustav, plowing toward an area that produces a quarter of domestic U.S. oil, and slamming ashore near New Orleans, which was swamped and traumatized by Hurricane Katrina three years ago. Katrina was a Category 3 when it struck near New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, swamping the city and killing 1,500 people on the U.S. Gulf Coast. "By day four, Ike is forecast to emerge back over open waters in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico," the agency said. "Global models suggest the environment will be favorable for strengthening and the ocean should be plenty warm."