The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has advised Brits that they shouldn't travel to the gulf coast of Louisiana unless it is absolutely essential, as the area nervously awaits the arrival of Hurricane Gustav.
Weather experts have given the hurricane a category three label and New Orleans is now virtually deserted following a mandatory evacuation order.
Latest reports suggest that only one in 20 of the city's 180,000 residents still remain in the city, which is still recovering from the devastating impact of 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
Gustav has already killed more than 80 people and caused mass chaos across the Caribbean.
The FCO has warned that no hotels in New Orleans are open for business and that the city authorities are not making any provision for safe shelters in the city.
Officials are keen to avoid the anarchy that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina by threatening to jail looters, loading thousands of people on to buses and warning that anyone who remained behind would not be rescued.
The hurricane's arrival coincides with a time when many international tourists, taking advantage of the
cheap travel insurance deals on offer, had started to visit the region again.
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