Hurricane Gustav - Morgan City, LA - September 1, 2008

Hurricane Gustav ravaged portions of the Caribbean in late August 2008, resulting in deadly flooding over Haiti and then crossing western Cuba on the 30th as a strong Category Four, with 150 mph winds.

A day after emerging into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, Gustav leveled off as a Category Three. The hurricane remained at that intensity as it approached the coast of Southern Louisiana, prompting the largest evacuation in the state's history on fears of another Katrina-type disaster.

Throughout the evening of August 31st, drier air began to work its way into the system and Gustav responded by weakening slightly to Category Two intensity.

Just prior to, and during, landfall Gustav began a trend of increasing organization with intense convection developing within the northwest and western eyewall. The hurricane made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana on September 1st at 14:30UTC with sustained winds of 110mph and a central pressure of 955mb.

Storm chasers Michael Laca, Jim Leonard and Max Hagen, as well as filmmaker Chris Terrill, intercepted Hurricane Gustav in Morgan City, Louisiana. Our chase team recorded a minimum pressure of 957.3mb at 17:26UTC and estimated peak winds at our location between 80-100mph. An unofficial observation of 103mph was reported by another chase team in Morgan City. Official wind readings include 86mph at Grand Isle; 82mph at Amerda Pass; 75mph at New Iberia; and 91mph at Baton Rouge.

After intercepting Gustav's eyewall and eye in Morgan City, our chase team repositioned ourselves to the northwest and intercepted the northwestern eyewall a second time between Franklin and New Iberia. During this second eyewall intercept, we encountered exceptionally heavy rainfall that made driving conditions extremely hazardous.

After Gustav's eyewall moved on, we once again repositioned ourselves to the northwest in Lafayette, Louisiana and intercepted Gustav's core a third time. Though weakening, the storm still produced intense winds, driving rains and significant damage well inland.

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[jjeffcoat1013]

great video btw!

[vmax135]

@jjeffcoat1013 Thanks so much!!! Glad you enjoyed it.

[jjeffcoat1013]

yall were in bayou vista for the first three minutes of the video right?

[vmax135]

@jjeffcoat1013 Yep... about three blocks north of 90, on Southeast Blvd. in Bayou Vista.

[hurricanetrack]

Dude! You were in New Iberia there at 6:15 in to the clip. That is the Lowe's parking lot and is exactly where I was in the Chevy Tahoe. Greg Postel can be seen in his chase vehicle- he is from Kansas. Did you see the Tahoe? We had our wind tower set up over the at interchange where you got off of Hwy 90 to come in to the outskirts of New Iberia!

Excellent video indeed. I'll have to send you a copy of my 2008 DVD. Keep up the good work- hope to see you out there in 2009!

[vmax135]

No way!!! We were all wondering who that was in the parking lot at Lowe's! We definitely saw you guys. What was the peak wind you guys recorded there...and overall during the storm? The DVD would be awesome, thanks so much! I'll send you a copy of my 2008 DVD too.

[WARRENCOOK1995]

Ground cloud Hurricane force winds rain was 93 degress warm hot

[RCT3ClubPenguin]

0:48 Sorry, extra suspension! Good news for students!

[Nicolehompland]

Bye bye porta potty

[jjeffcoat1013]

@vmax135 i was pretty sure that was bv just wasnt positive... lol

[FUCKyouANDyourDOG]

Gustav was awesome when it was going down. We played football during the storm..... Now sleeping in your car for a week bc it's the only place with a/c, not so much fun : (

[hendrxfn]

great video!

[ipods36]

vmax135 You have the best videos of storms, your camera does not shake a whole lot, good quality, good sound, and you got guts. Well done on your videos!

[ipods36]

@GabKoost Soviet union and Russia are 2 different names. Soviet union ended i n1991 and became a democracy and had the enw name of Russia.