Government shelters have been filling up around New Orleans, as the city braces itself for Hurricane Gustav.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the Big Easy as Gustav approaches.

Despite extensive preparations, queues have started to build up at centres with some evacuees being turned away:

‘‘Well, all they did say is that we couldn’t get in because they were all overbooked so they tried to tell us somewhere else to go, but we don’t know nothing about Shreveport. So we can’t find anywhere else to go right now.’‘

As authorities continued to cope with the exodus, local gun shop owners reported a surge in the demand for weaponry.

‘‘They feel like they better buy a gun because they know what happened last time. People are planning on defending themselves this time. People who never owned a gun are coming in.’‘

A national guard curfew is in force in the region. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 looting became a major problem in the New Orleans area.

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