Louisiana Hurricanes

Gustav reached hurricane strength on August 26, 2008, and passed over southwestern Haiti, Jamaica, and by the time it reached western Cuba, it was a category 4 storm. On the morning of September 1, Gustav made landfall as a category 2 in southeast Louisiana near Cocodrie, LA. By 10 pm, Gustav was downgraded to a tropical storm while located 20 miles southwest of Alexandria, LA. The remnants of Gustav finally dissipated on September 7, after Gustav's slow northern path through Louisiana and Arkansas. Gustav caused a total of forty-eight deaths across the state and left around 1.5 million people without power. 

Shortly after the landfall of Gustav, eyes turned once again towards the Atlantic Ocean as Hurricane Ike, as it would later be called, strengthened to a tropical storm. By September 3, Ike had reached hurricane strength and the following day, Ike was classified as a category 4 hurricane. Ike passed first over Inagua in the Bahamas on September 7, and nearly the entirety of Cuba on September 8-9, before entering the Gulf of Mexico. Ike made landfall in the United States on the northeast portion of Galveston Island, Texas as a category 2 hurricane on September 13. The storm continued northward across the United States and up towards Quebec, Canada. While the eye of Ike did not pass directly through Louisiana, there was still heavy damage from the storm surge and re-flooding of areas that were already damaged from Gustav. In total, there were six deaths, but many more that required rescuing and additional power outages on top of those from Gustav.

Listed below are some recommended subject headings for searching for hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Full steps on how to use these subject terms can be found on this LibGuide's homepage.

Hurricane Gustav, 2008.
Hurricane Gustav, 2008 -- Personal narratives.
Hurricane Gustav, 2008 -- Pictorial works.
Hurricane Ike, 2008.
Hurricane Ike, 2008 -- Pictorial works.
Hurricanes.
Hurricanes -- Gulf States.
Hurricanes -- Louisiana.
Louisiana -- Hurricanes.

A few of the collections held by LSU Libraries Special Collections are listed below. Additional collections may be found utilizing the subject headings listed in the sections above. 

Books and other published materials

Oral Histories

Images in the banner from left to right are numbered below 1 to 8.

1. Hurricane Audrey  2. Hurricane Betsy  3. Hurricane Camille  4. Hurricane Andrew  
5. Hurricane Katrina  6. Hurricane Rita  7. Hurricane Gustav  8. Hurricane Ike

Images 1-4 are in the public domain because they contain materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken or made as part of an employee's official duties. 
Images 5-8 are in the public domain in the United States because they were solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See NASA copyright policy page.)