Gustav downgraded but batters US coast
Updated
![Hurricane Gustav batters the U.S. Gulf Coast and New Orleans with high winds. [AFP]](http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/img/news/base/us_hurricane_afp_010908.jpg?gallery<BR> "Hurricane Gustav batters the U.S. Gulf Coast and New Orleans with high winds. [AFP]")
Hurricane Gustav batters the U.S. Gulf Coast and New Orleans with high winds. [AFP]
The United States city of New Orleans appears to have averted another Hurricane.
Hurricane Gustav has battered the Louisiana coastline with extremely strong winds and heavy rain, but it has not hit New Orleans with the same intensity as Hurricane Katrina did three years ago.
North America correspondent, Kim Landers, reports from Louisiana, the Category 2 storm veered west of New Orleans causing only minor damage.
In New Orleans, water is still sloshing over the top of the industrial canal's floodwalls, which have only been partially rebuilt since Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
But city officials and the army core of engineers still expects the levees to hold.
Further north, the city of Baton Rouge is now being buffeted by hurricane strength winds.
Street lights and power poles have been knocked down and trees toppled and debris is flying down the road.
Hurricane Gustav has been downgraded to a Category 1, after crossing the Louisiana coast, south west of New Orleans early this morning.
