Naked ambition sees streaker run up a profit

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Ash of Brisbane, in answer to your question.The kiwis - yes.
Posted by: Frank of Sydney 3:03pm today

I can't believe the amount of coverage this is getting, there has just been a major flood in India and a huge storm swept through New Zealand recently with both disasters receving only a fraction of the coverage. Are the people in India and NZ any less important?
Posted by: Ash of Brisbane 2:39pm today

Alexander de Groot of Brisbane "you have to love the timing of the LORD".I'm sure the peoples lives who are in danger are thinking just that.Or maybe their thinking what kind of God would send us this.
Posted by: Brett 2:21pm today

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HURRICANE Gustav slammed ashore on the US Gulf Coast just west of New Orleans early today (AEST) but rebuilt levees appeared to hold floodwaters out of the city devastated by Katrina in 2005.

Gustav weakened before hitting land with 177km/h winds, easing fears it would be another Katrina, whose floodwaters burst protective levees, swamping 80 per cent of New Orleans and stranding thousands of people.

Gustav`s powerful storm surge pushed tonnes of water into the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans canals, putting pressure on barriers that were repaired or reconstructed after failing three years ago and prompting a tense watch for signs it would happen again.

Water flowed over flood walls and spurted through cracks in the vulnerable barrier system.

Fifteen centimetres of water pooled in some streets near the New Orleans Industrial Canal and officials cautioned that while the levees had not been breached, they were still in danger.

Water rose in the Fifth District, west of the canal, and troops stayed ready to evacuate residents who stayed behind.

"We`ll still get some nasty weather but we`ve dodged a big-time bullet with this one," said stockbroker Peter Labouisse, sitting on the porch of his home, which was shuttered and without power.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warned residents it was too early to sound the all-clear.

Underscoring continued concern about the fragile flood barriers, officials in rural Plaquemines Parish told the handful of residents remaining to flee as a levee protecting 200 homes had been weakened by water surging over the top.

Some officials recalled that catastrophic breaches in the city`s levees occurred a day after Katrina departed.

Nearly two million people fled the Gulf Coast as Gustav approached and only 10,000 were believed to have remained in New Orleans. More than 11 million residents in five US states were threatened by Gustav.

By 1.30pm AEST, Gustav had weakened to a tropical storm as it crossed central Louisiana.

The National Hurricane Centre said the storm`s maximum sustained winds had dropped to about 96km/h.

"Looks like we are not totally out of the woods, but we`re getting close," New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said, warning that a "last potential storm surge" could hit the area west of the Mississippi River.

He cautioned residents against too much early optimism, expressing concern about the stability of the concrete and earthen flood barriers protecting the city.

Mr Nagin was also worried about two Navy ships and a barge that were pinned against a wharf but could endanger the canal floodwalls if they got loose.

National guard soldiers and police are guarding the city`s streets to prevent the looting and chaos seen following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"Those persons who remain within the City of New Orleans do so at their own risk and are subject to arrest if they are outside the boundaries of their own property," the city`s emergency operation centre said.

The US Army Corps of Engineers, which rebuilt the levees after Katrina, said water was just "sloshing" over the canal wall and expressed confidence in the flood barrier.

"Right now we feel that we are not going to have a true inundation or overtopping problem," she said.

Gustav, a dangerous Category 4 hurricane a few days ago, hit shore near Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 115km southwest of New Orleans, as a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, one step below Katrina`s strength when it made landfall.

About 287,000 customers had lost power in Louisiana, including 100,000 in New Orleans, utility Entergy said.

Wind ripped through the city, knocking down trees, ripping off shop awnings and bowling rubbish bins through all but deserted streets.

"Gustav doesn`t have no punch," pool builder Randall Dreher said, head bowed into the gale. "I went through Katrina and this is totally different. It`s weak."

The US National Hurricane Centre said Gustav was still likely to toss a dangerous storm surge of up to 4.3m of water ashore.

Hurricane Katrina brought a 8.5m storm surge that burst New Orleans levees on August 29, 2005. The city degenerated into chaos as stranded storm victims waited days for government rescue and law and order collapsed.

Police and thousands of national guard troops patrolled the empty city and a curfew was in effect to deter looting.

This time round, evacuees left signs behind defying Gustav and looters. A shop in the Garden District said "New Orleans: Proud to Swim Home" while a nearby home warned "Two dawgs and one ex-husband: Beware".

Gustav had stirred uneasy comparisons to Katrina, the costliest hurricane in US history, which killed about 1800 people and caused more than $US80 billion ($94bn) in damage.

In its run through the Caribbean, Gustav earlier killed at least 97 people in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.

In the US, oil and natural gas prices plunged as Gustav weakened to a Category 2 hurricane shortly before making landfall, easing fears of serious supply disruptions that had put energy markets on edge.

Oil companies had shut down nearly all production in the region, which normally pumps a quarter of US oil output and 15 per cent of its natural gas.

- with Reuters and AFP

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