Hurricane Gustav heading toward Gulf Coast

Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell is sending rescuers to help storm victims.

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — Gustav became a hurricane again Friday as it plowed toward Cayman Islands resorts, the start of a buildup that could take it to the U.S. Gulf Coast as a fearsome Category-3 storm three years after Hurricane Katrina.

Gustav, which killed 71 people in the Caribbean, was expected to swirl through the Cayman Islands, a tiny offshore tax haven studded with resorts and cruise-ship souvenir shops, before crossing Cuba’s cigar country and heading into the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is sending ambulances, emergency responders and more to help the response to Hurricane Gustav.

Rendell announced the measures Friday and encouraged Pennsylvanians to support the American Red Cross’ disaster relief fund, which will help the storm’s victims.

An urban search-and-rescue unit was expected to leave today to report to a staging area in Georgia or Alabama.

Also, 60 Department of Health ambulances and six support vehicles will be going to Louisiana to evacuate people from nursing homes, hospitals and elsewhere.

In addition, the National Guard will send a CH-47 helicopter and crew to Louisiana.

Meanwhile, well-heeled tourists fled Cayman hotels by air, while Katrina victims in Mississippi still living in emergency cottages and trailers were told to evacuate beginning this weekend.

Hotels on the Cayman Islands asked guests to leave, then after the airport closed prepared to shelter those who remained. Chris Smith, of Frederick, Md., said his hotel handed out wrist bands marked with guests’ names and room numbers so that “if something happens they can quickly identify us.”

“That was a little bit sobering,” he said, standing outside the hotel with his luggage.

About 20 islanders waited for the storm in a high school gym.

“If people give you a shelter, you should take it,” said Pamela Hall, 52.

The storm killed four people in a daylong march across the length of Jamaica, where it ripped off roofs and downed power lines. Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the government sent army helicopters Friday to rescue 31 people trapped by floods. At least 59 people died in Haiti and eight in the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Gustav could grow to a Category 3 storm, with winds above 111 mph, by the time it hits the U.S. Gulf Coast next week. Gustav could strike anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Texas, but forecasters said there is a better-than-even chance that New Orleans will get slammed by at least tropical-storm-force winds.

As much as 80 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil and gas production could be shut down as a precaution if Gustav enters as a major storm, weather research firm Planalytics predicted. Oil companies have already evacuated hundreds of workers from offshore platforms.

Retail gas prices rose Friday for the first time in 43 days as analysts warned that a direct hit on Gulf energy infrastructure could send pump prices hurtling toward $5 a gallon. Crude oil prices ended slightly lower in a volatile session as some traders feared supply disruptions and others bet the government will release supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The hurricane was projected to hit Cuba’s Isle of Youth, then cross the main island into the Gulf of Mexico tonight or Sunday.

“Gustav could become a major hurricane near the time it crosses western Cuba,” the hurricane center said.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hanna was projected to curl westward into the Bahamas by early next week. It had sustained winds near 50 mph.

President Bush declared an emergency in Louisiana, a move that allows the federal government to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance in storm-affected areas.

Closer to the storm, workers at the Westin Causarina Hotel on Grand Cayman island shored up ground-floor rooms with sandbags.

“We’ve taken in all the balcony furniture, all the pool furniture, the marquees, tied up what needs to be tied up, cut down any coconuts,” said hotel manager Dan Szydlowski.

Thunderstorms associated with Gustav already were bringing heavy downpours Friday to parts of central Cuba and evacuations were ordered in flood-prone areas.

Authorities in the tobacco-rich western Cuba, where Gustav is expected to cross the island, hauled 465,000 sacks of tobacco to higher ground for safekeeping and began distributing extra rations of milk and bread.