A police car travels down Canal St in the French Quarter in New Orleans as Hurricane Gustav makes landfall September 1, 2008. Torrential rain and intense winds blasted Louisiana as Hurricane Gustav neared New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Monday after forcing nearly two million people to flee. New Orleans was locked down and streets completely empty as emergency workers who remained behind hunkered in safe buildings on high ground. Power went out for many areas of coastal Louisiana, according to media reports, with rains that witnesses described as “horizontal”. With landfall imminent, police and national guard deployed to New Orleans to prevent looting also pulled back off the streets for safety. At 8:00 am (1300 GMT) the eye of the Category Two storm was just southwest of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and 80 miles (150 kilometers) south-southwest of New Orleans, pummelling the marshy Mississippi river delta coastline with winds of 110 miles (175 kilometers) per hour. AFP PHOTO/Matthew HINTON (Photo credit should read Matthew HINTON/AFP via Getty Images)…