NEW ORLEANS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - As Hurricane Gustav blew through nearly deserted streets in New Orleans on Monday, messages left by fleeing residents on the shuttered homes bore silent testimony to the city's sense of humor.

Three years after Hurricane Katrina's waters flooded 80 percent of the city, a weaker Gustav appeared to have listened to the evacuees' tongue-in-cheek appeals for mercy.

"Be Good Gustav, Not Like That Bitch Katrina!," read a sign in the city's historic Garden District, while another on a shop front nearby said "New Orleans: Proud to Swim Home!"

"It's New Orleans' way of dealing with it. Just leave a message saying no matter what it does, we're still coming back," said Carol Silverton, a life-long resident.

National Guard troops and police had a strong presence on the streets to deter the kind of looting that followed Katrina, but owners also left fair warning.

"Don't try. I'm sleeping inside with a .357, a pit bull, and six big snakes!" read one message brushed on the plywood shutters of a rug shop close to the city center.

A shuttered home in the historic Garden District declared: "Two dawgs and one ex-husband. Beware!" (Reporting by Tim Gaynor, editing by Mary Milliken)

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