[proudofthesouth]

How does Gustav compare with Camille so far? About the same or could it be even worse?

[TornadoAlley3]

The storm formed on August 14 and rapidly deepened. It scraped the western edge of Cuba at Category 3 intensity. Camille strengthened further over the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall with a pressure of 905 mbar (hPa), estimated sustained winds of 190 mph (305 km/h), and a peak storm surge of 24 feet (7.3 m); by maximum sustained wind speeds, Camille was the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone recorded worldwide, and one of only four tropical cyclones worldwide ever to achieve wind speeds of 190 mph (305 km/h). The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland while crossing the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. In total, Camille killed 259 people and caused $1.42 billion (1969 USD, $9.14 billion 2005 USD)[2] in damages.

[raygun]

While anything's possible, and hurricane intensification forecasting is more black art than science, I'd have to say that I doubt a repeat of Camille (or even Katrina) is likely. Mainly, because Camille spent about 48 hours in the GoM after crossing across Cuba. Gustov will spend less than 36 hours before hitting W of NO. Those extra 12 hours in 88^o F. GoM waters would make a universe of difference to Gustov.

My target has been Lake Charles area, but farther E, e.g., Vermillion Bay is quite reasonable.