Victims of flooding from Tropical Storm Gustav receive food relief in Cite Soleil. Gustav churned toward Cuba and the United States after lashing Haiti and the Dominican Republic with hurricane force winds and rain that killed 22 people. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- New Orleans, still recovering from the devastating Hurricane Katrina that hit three years ago, is drawing up evacuation plans for a possible attack from tropical storm Gustav, which has killed 22 people in the Caribbean.

    On the eve of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the city is being forced to deal with a new storm, according to a statement from the National Hurricane Center Thursday.

A dog and its owner walk through a flooded street in Havana August 26, 2008. Torrential rains hit the city as weather forecasters predicted on Tuesday that Hurricane Gustav would skirt the western coast of Cuba and enter the Gulf of Mexico as a powerful Category 3 hurricane with winds in excess of 100 mph by Sunday. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The eye of the storm was expected to pass Jamaica Thursday as it swept toward the United States, and expected to grow stronger as it approaches Louisiana over the weekend.

    Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, left the ongoing Democratic National Convention in Denver to help the city prepare for the likely onslaught.

    Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency in the city to lay the groundwork for federal assistance, while 3,000 National Guard troops are on standby.

    Officials have begun preliminary planning to evacuate and lock down the city to ensure no tragedies similar to those in 2005 recur.