Hurricane Gustav was the 2nd major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season. It took shape as a tropical depression on the morning of August 25th just southeast of Haiti, and rapidly strengthened to hurricane status by the morning of August 26th. After inflicting serious damage on portions of Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba, Gustav entered into the southeastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico and took aim at the Gulf Coast of the United States. Although Gustav attained Category 4 status earlier in its life, Gustav eventually made landfall as a strong Category 2 system at Cocodrie, Louisiana, on September 1st, containing maximum sustained winds around 110 mph. Gustav slowed down and weakened as it continued on its northwest track across southern Louisiana where major damage was inflicted. The pace of the system continued to slow dramatically over the next few days as it turned gradually to the right around a large ridge of high pressure over the Southeast. The remnants of Gustav finally began moving rapidly away from the Lower Mississippi Valley on the 4th as an incoming disturbance deflected it to the northeast. Gustav was responsible for multiple hazardous weather elements across the service area such as tropical storm force winds, tornadoes, flash flooding, and areal flooding from extensive rains.
As the center of Gustav crossed much of southern Louisiana, tropical storm force winds extended into southern Mississippi and portions of east central Louisiana. Sustained winds were between 35 and 45 mph with higher gusts between 70 and 100 mph occurred. Tree and power line damage was extensive across these areas which resulted in widespread power outages, some of which lasted for 3 to 5 days.
As Gustav slowed across central Louisiana, the outer rainbands continued to rotate across much of southern and central Mississippi. This kept those portions of Mississippi in the region which was favorable for tornadoes. Over 3 days, 26 tornadoes were confirmed, all of which were in the EF0 to EF1 range.
As Gustav slowed on September 2nd, flash flooding became a major issue which lasted into the 3rd as the storm slowly lifted to the north and northeast. The first round of heavy rain and flash flooding was across portions of southeast Mississippi as the outer rainbands started to move across the same areas. Total rainfall across this area was between 4 and 7 inches. The heaviest rains fell across areas near and west of the Mississippi River. Some of the Mississippi counties boarding the river received 8 to 11 inches of rain. Areas west of the river across Louisiana and southeast Arkansas saw extreme rainfall. Many locations received between 11 and 20 inches of rain. The highest measured rainfall was at Larto Lake where 21 inches fell. The flooding rains had a tremendous impact on area crops. Crop damage was extensive across Louisiana and western Mississippi. The flooding rains came at a crucial time as most crops will be harvested in September. Crop damage from Gustav will range between 300-400 million dollars.