But the floodwall itself is holding. “Army Corps of Engineers officials said the spillage does not pose a major threat.”
So far, no catastrophic damage and the authorities have, by all accounts, done an excellent job with the evacuation and contingency plans. Nagin absolutely did the right thing by ordering an evacuation. Cuba routinely does this during hurricanes, and their highly regarded hurricane contingency plans unquestionably have saved many lives.
Check The Oil Drum for constantly updated reports on damage to oil infrastructure. One major concern, the LOOP took a direct hit.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, and Port Fourchon, which has historically been a land base for offshore oil support services in the Gulf, was directly in the path of Gustav and is expected to be damaged. As you will see below, a good bit of oil and natural gas is also expected to be taken offline: some for weeks, some for much longer.
LOOP is the only facility in the Gulf to unload VLCC tankers which carry over 2 million barrels of crude.