Gustav's eye almost overland

It's good news that Gustav is making landfall earlier than later. That said, the storm's band reach as far away as Florida. The asymmetrical shape may mean the storm will be able to swing around better than Katrina could. Meanwhile with no one in the area, it is almost like a media blackout, so the only news we'll get from New Orleans for the first few hours will be citizen journo stuff.

clipped from www.latimes.com NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Gustav neared the Gulf Coast early today with the first bands of its destructive rage, winds slightly weakened but still potent enough to spark a massive all-day exodus that all but emptied New Orleans and clogged Southern highways with nearly 2 million evacuees. Officials at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Gustav would reach landfall in the daylight hours today as a Category 3 storm, with gusts of up to 127 miles per hour and an "extremely dangerous" storm surge that could exceed 14 feet over normal tide levels. By midafternoon, rain was already pelting Gulfport, Miss., a coastal city scoured by Katrina in 2005 but now a prime destination for evacuees. After trying in vain for a room in hotels as far north as Hattiesburg, Louisiana refugees Mary Pierre and her son, Demarius, staggered into a Best Western, desperate for a "yes."