There were three flights out of New Orleans to Philadelphia Saturday night. Passengers told similar stories of a low-lying coastal city that is quickly empting out.
"Traffic was heavy leaving the town. National Guard presence in downtown New Orleans, lots of Homeland Security at the airport, lots of machine guns. It was good to see the military there, though," Will Cronin of Spring Lake, New Jersey said.
"There's a sense of calm. A lot of nervousness and apprehension of course, but it was fairly calm," Chris Claus of New Orleans said.
Calm but with a sense purpose. get people out. Among them, college students at Tulane University .
"None of us are happy about it. We all are just hoping to get back to school on time," Justin Cerone said.
"Tulane did a really good job with shuttles; we didn't have to wait at all," Amanda Trotenberg said.
The hope of these travelers is Gustav does the unexpected and misses New Orleans.
It's expected flights out of New Orleans will continue Sunday. However, eight of the 15 US Air flights connecting to Philadelphia are already sold out. If Gustav continues on course New Orleans officials plans to shut its airports down Sunday night at about 7:00.
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