Water levels rise; mayor says afternoon will be key

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) - Hurricane Gustav drove sheets of water over the protective levees around New Orleans' Industrial Canal early Monday afternoon, but the Army Corps of Engineers said the walls were holding up under the onslaught.

Wind-whipped whitecaps could be seen curling over the top of the flood walls near a railroad bridge at Claiborne Avenue and pouring over the levee in the Gentilly neighborhood, north of downtown. But Suzanne Fournier, a spokeswoman for the Corps, said there was "no indication of any cracking at this time."

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said the weakest part of the city's protective levee system is on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, "and we won't know the full effect of the storm surge on the West Bank until about 2 or 3 p.m. this afternoon."