BREAKING NEWS (New Orleans, LA)
UPDATE 1: State of emergency declared in Louisiana as Gustav nears. The hurricane has not made its way through the Cuba area but a State of emergency has been declared. I would change plans now for Labor Day weekend.
UPDATE 2: NHC Has Gustav making landfall around 8pm (not 8am as stated earlier) on Monday but the outer bands of the storm should be there around 12 hours earlier.
Could Hurricane Gustav Cancel Southern Decadence? Looks like Chi Chi LaRue may be moving her wigs to another city as the winds blow the direction of New Orleans disrupting the big gay Labor Day festivities.
It was exactly this time three years ago that Southern Decadence was going through the same worries with a hurricane headed its way. They had no idea that it would do the damage it did to New Orleans even though the TV meteorologists kept repeating that the flooding was possible. The gays that were supposed to party at the gay version of mardi gras in NOLA either did not go there that year at all and canceled their vacations for Labor Day weekend or they went and got the hell out of town when they were told its time to leave and abandon the city entirely.
This year the 5-day cone issued from the National Hurricane Center on the NOAA website projects that New Orleans is in the track of Hurricane Gustav which could be a Category 4 hurricane. We could see a repeat of Labor Day weekend from 2005 which is three years ago tomorrow. The official National Hurricane Center track has this storm hitting New Orleans as a category 3 or 4 Monday morning at 8 am.
Remember If you have to cancel your trip to New Orleans you can always come to Austin for the weekend. There is Splash weekend going on and that is where all the cute boys are headed anyway. The storms should not reach Austin until after the Labor day festivities. Come on down to Austin and party it up with the big boys of University of Texas nearby. Better be safe than sorry!
You may not even get the chance to be trapped in New Orleans because I have read that they will not allow anyone into the city Friday if this happens.
If a Category 3 or stronger hurricane comes within 72 hours of the city, New Orleans plans to institute a mandatory evacuation order. Unlike Katrina, there will be no massive shelter at the Superdome, a plan designed to encourage residents to leave. Instead, the state has arranged for buses and trains to take people to safety.
Update #2 - JustCircuit.com just sent an email about Southern Decadence to its readers stating “Please take note: all New Orleans Decadence events will take place. Threatening weather from Hurricane Gustavo is not expected to arrive until early Monday morning.” which is accurate but you must consider that a mandatory evacuation order will not be worth the risk of going to New Orleans and being stuck at an Airport or on a bus and risking others lives who live in New Orleans. I would advise to skip this year and return next year.