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New Orleans ordered residents to evacuate as Hurricane Gustav swelled into a Category 4 storm that may strike the U.S. Gulf Coast harder than Katrina did three years ago.``Tonight you need to be scared; you need to get your butts out of New Orleans now,'' Mayor Ray Nagin said at a press conference late yesterday. ``This is the mother of all storms. I am not sure we have seen anything like it.''

I traveled to New Orleans in the spring of 2006 to see the remains of the city and it people in the wake of hurricane Katrina. This series is what I witnessed and documented.Photography by US photographer Feli di Giorgio.

Gustav's passage over Cuba took a toll on its wind speed, but it was heading over warmer Gulf waters, which are expected to reinvigorate the storm, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. The storm's passage over Cuba shaved just 15 mph off the top wind speeds reported by the hurricane center before it made landfall on the island. Forecasters believe Gustav will quickly regain that power and more, likely growing to Category 4 status on Sunday.

Lost or displaced Gulf Coast residents will be able to search for their families in Hurricane Gustav's aftermath through a new FEMA locator system that was created as a lesson learned from the chaotic 2005 storms, FEMA Director David Paulison said Sunday. An estimated 18,000 people were reported lost immediately after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma slammed into the Gulf Coast and Florida three years ago, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Retail gasoline prices edged higher as Hurricane Ike gained strength, according to AAA. Wholesale gas prices spike as fear mounts that Ike will shutter refineries.