By September 2nd/September 3rd you can expect much of the south to lie in ruin.
Gustav is a category 4 now...150 MPH sustained winds...which is just shy of the 155 MPH threshold needed for Cat 5 status.
Category five hurricane winds can blow a piece of paper through a tree trunk, the winds can make sand pieces spark from hitting other sand, flip cars and trucks mid air, etc.
Storm surge of 30 feet would easily come with a cat 5 too, and such a massive surge doesn't diminish as quickly as the winds (Katrina hit as a cat 3 but still had ~27 foot storm surge in Mississippi).
The barometric pressure in Gustav right now is 942 Millibars. 99% of all conditions on earth at any given time will be between 980 and 1030 millibars. Category five hurricanes and Super Typhoons in the Pacific, Cyclones in the Indian ocean etc are the only storms on the face of the earth that ever drop below 920 millibars routinely. Hurricane Wilma in 2005 was the strongest Atlantic Hurricane ever by pressure, it dipped to 882 millibars.
In summary:
1020+ Millibars - nice day to weak storm
980-1020 millibars - weak storm to weak hurricane
940-980 millibars - your in deep shit, hurricane (~70 mph - 150 mph hurricane)
900-940 millibars - your entire state/country is in deep shit ( big 140 mph hurricane - small 165 mph hurricane)
860-900 millibars - only three to five of these in a generation (165 mph to 190 mph hurricane). 35 foot storm surge, your just not going to survive one of these suckers.
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
