HURRICANE GUSTAVE!

Despite all the hype about Hurricane Gustave, it failed to deliver! It did not live up to all the hullabaloos upon touch down in the southern coastal states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Florida. What happened? Was it the nay-sayer meteorologists at the weather institutes who never get it right or simply mother-nature once again fooling mankind's attempt at grasping its ways and means? Whatever it may be, one thing is certain - that Hurricane Gustav did not deliver the expected knock-out punch.

It was a weaker-than-expected hurricane which merely stoked New Orleans with just sending water sloshing harmlessly over its rebuilt levees/flood-walls. The storm that crashed ashore as a Category 2 hurricane had by late Monday been downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.

Gustav quickly marched inland reducing the prospect of heavy rain in southern Louisiana. The storm is expected to further slow down as it heads into Texas and possibly into Arkansas, and could bring 20 inches of rain to those areas. As Gustav passed, authorities turned their attention to Hurricane Hanna, which could come ashore in Georgia and South Carolina late in the week.

Until next time, Icheoku hopes southern American coastal states have dodged the bullet - Mr. GUSTAVE!