New Orleans residents are fleeing town as Hurricane Gustav heads to US shores tonight just three years after Hurricane Katrina brought devastation to the gulf states and caused a massive fight with insurers.

The death toll has already reached 81 in Haiti after Gustav hit the impoverished nation last Wednesday.

Insurance professionals are on call as the tropical storm was upgraded to a category three hurricane and steered towards the Gulf of Mexico late last week, threatening Louisiana and the other gulf states.

Radio broadcasts have urged evacuees to take their insurance policies with them as they evacuate the city of 1 million.

The 2005 hurricane caused $US3 billion ($3.47 billion) damage.

Risk Management Solutions has predicted that if the hurricane upgrades to a category four storm, a combination of wind and water damage could cause insured losses of between $US2-7 billion ($2.3-8.2 billion).

Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says the Department of Insurance has a contingency plan that was fine-tuned in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“The property destruction caused by those storms forced us to get creative and think of innovative plans for working with consumers and the insurance industry,” he said.

US insurance companies echoed the sentiment in local media reports. Spokesmen claimed the necessary financial and human resources are in place should the big storm hit the US.

Over the past three years many leading insurers have lowered their storm exposures in the gulf states. If the damage bill is as massive as that left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, experts say the impact on US insurance rates may be significant.