Bush warns of dangerous storm

Aug. 31 - President George W. Bush said he will travel to Texas on Monday to visit an operations center that is coordinating Hurricane Gustav's emergency response and warned that the storm was "dangerous."

Bush said there was a "serious risk of significant flooding" from Hurricane Gustav and advised residents to listen to local and officials instructions. He said he hoped to visit Louisiana "as soon as conditions permit."

Bush spoke with reporters after a briefing on the storm at Federal Emergency Management headquarters.

Thousands of people in New Orleans and across the U.S. Gulf Coast fled their homes on Sunday as Hurricane Gustav barreled through the Gulf of Mexico packing a punch potentially as powerful as Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered mandatory evacuation of the city of 239,000 and told residents "This is still a big, ugly storm, still strong and I encourage everyone to leave." The storm evoked memories of Katrina which struck almost exactly three years ago, flooding 80 percent of the city, killing 1,500 people in five states and costing $80 billion.