The mayor of New Orleans has issued a mandatory evacuation order for the entire city, as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the US Gulf Coast.

BBC reports:
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said residents of the city's West Bank should begin moving out at 0800 local time on Sunday, with the East Bank leaving at midday. He called it "the storm of the century" and added: "You need to be scared".

In a televised news conference Mayor Nagin described the threat facing New Orleans in stark terms, calling Hurricane Gustav "the mother of all storms" and urging people not to try and ride out the next few days. The mayor, who was in office when New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said no-one had seen a storm like Gustav before. The hurricane has already claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean. Video.