145 MPH KATRINA SLAMMED INTO BURAS, LA

[Jeb]

Hurricane Katrina is currently making landfall in South Florida. Heavy rain is expected.

[Jeb]

Intellicast radar, 7pm August 25 2005, of Katrina making landfall in South Florida.

[Jeb]

Hurricane Katrina drenches, pummels Florida

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story....ina&floc=NW_1-T

 

 

By Jane Sutton and Michael Christie

MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Katrina drenched and battered Florida's densely populated southeast coast on Thursday as it knocked down trees, left hundreds of thousands without electricity and caused at least two deaths.

 

The core of the wet but not overly powerful storm hit just south of the Fort Lauderdale area about 7 p.m. (2300 GMT), dumping up to 10 inches of rain on southern Florida as it began moving slowly across the state toward the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

 

A 25-year-old man was killed after a tree brought down power cables on his car in Fort Lauderdale, WFOR television reported. Another person was also killed by a falling tree, the channel said.

 

The authorities said heavy rainfall could well be the greatest threat from Katrina.

 

 

 

 

"The entire south part of the peninsula is at risk for flooding," said Ed Rappaport, the center's deputy director.

 

Some areas could get up to 15 inches of rain, the hurricane center said.

 

Skies darkened, rain poured down in sheets and sharp gusts stripped branches off trees, some flying into power lines. Streets began to flood and emergency managers urged people to stay inside. Florida Power and Light, the main electricity company in the area, said about 380,000 customers, representing more than 700,000 people, were without power.

 

"We've got roughly 4 to 6 million people right now who are experiencing hurricane or tropical storm-force winds," said Craig Fugate, Florida's director of emergency management.

 

Katrina made landfall between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach with sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and reported gusts of up to 92 mph (150 kph), the hurricane center said.

 

That made it a minimal Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Such hurricanes can damage flimsy trailer homes but rarely cause structural damage to buildings. Emergency managers urged people to leave vulnerable islands and mobile home parks, but did not order mandatory evacuations.

 

The storm was expected to weaken as it moved slowly westward over land. But hurricane center director Max Mayfield warned that Katrina was likely to strengthen again over Gulf waters and could slam into the Florida Panhandle as an even stronger hurricane early next week.

 

STOCKING UP

 

Punished last season by four powerful hurricanes in six weeks, Florida residents snapped up drinking water and spare batteries from stores. Some filled sandbags to try to protect their homes from flooding, but few bothered to put up hurricane shutters.

 

Drivers lined up to fill their cars with gasoline before the storm hit and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush urged South Floridians to conserve fuel.

 

"We start with a situation of very low inventories because gas companies are operating on very low margins in terms of their supply. That's bad when you combine that with increases in demand," he said. "You're going to have isolated or spotted areas where there will be shortages."

 

He said Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale got a shipment of 20 million gallons (90 million liters) of gasoline, which could be distributed after the storm passes.

 

Schools and businesses in southeast Florida closed and cruise lines rerouted their ships as the seaports shut down.

 

Party planners on Miami Beach canceled poolside bashes that had been organized for celebrities and fans in town for the MTV Video Music Awards. Forecasters expected the skies to clear in time for the awards show on Sunday.

 

In the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina's projected path would make it miss oil and natural gas rigs, but it was expected to inflict more misery on the Panhandle region pummeled by Hurricane Dennis in July and Hurricane Ivan last year.

 

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said President George W. Bush and federal authorities were ready to provide relief.

 

Forecasters have predicted an unusually high number of storms this year because the Atlantic has swung into a period of more intense storm activity.

 

The June-through-November Atlantic hurricane season has seen 11 named storms, a record so early in the year.

08/25/05 19:54

 

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[Jeb]

CHECK OUT THE STORM TOTAL ESTIMATES.

Easily 16 inches SW of Miami.

[Jeb]

Very heavy rain banding in between Everglade City and Miami.

[Jeb]

Great shot of Katrina's swirling rain bands at 1140pm Aug 25 2005 as she moves west.

[Jeb]

After wreaking flooding over South Florida, Katrina is rapidly intensifying over the Gulf of Mexico. A trough will turn the system north and pull it into the Florida Panhandle then into Georgia then into the Appalachian/Mid Atlantic states with strong winds and flooding rains. Florida stands to get head-slammed yet again by this storm, which may attain Category 4 strength by the time it slams into the Florida Panhandle on Monday.

[Jeb]

Regional Intellicast shot of rapidly intensifying Hurricane Katrina over the SW GoMex. Note the deep tropical moisture flow over western Cuba. A trough is forecast to turn Katrina northward and the storm sould make landfall as a strong Cat 2 hurricane at some point between New Orleans and Apalachicola on Monday.

http://www.intellicast.com/Local/USLocalWi...v=none&pid=none

[Jeb]

National Intellicast view of Hurricane Katrina. This storm may develop into a strong Cat 2 then slam into the Florida Panhandle sometime Monday.

[Jeb]

Gulf Coast residents urged to get out

Deadly hurricane could hit land again Monday as a Category 4

 

Saturday, August 27, 2005; Posted: 2:38 p.m. EDT (18:38 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/27/trop...ther/index.html

 

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane-savvy Louisianans are leaving the state in advance of Hurricane Katrina's potential arrival on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

 

Katrina, drifting in the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of at least 111 mph, is expected to become a Category 4 storm before hitting land for a second time, probably Monday, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield has said.

 

The storm made landfall for the first time Thursday in Florida. (See video of the damage floodwaters left in one family's new house.)

 

Evacuations in some parts of Louisiana are voluntary, but mandatory for the southern-most parishes.

 

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said it is unclear how many families have already abandoned those regions.

 

Blanco said she expects those residents will take the proper steps. "I believe that our people will listen -- they're hurricane smart," she said. "And we'll protect as many people as possible."

 

Later Saturday the state might redirect highways so that all lanes lead out of the state, Blanco said.

 

The National Weather Service has issued a hurricane watch for Louisiana's coast stretching from Morgan City to the Pearl River. That area includes metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

 

A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible, generally within 36 hours.

 

Katrina came ashore Thursday evening in northeast Miami-Dade County as a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of 80 mph.

 

The hurricane is much stronger as it slugs across the water, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is urging people on the Gulf Coast to move out of low-lying areas within 36 hours.

 

"Beyond that, it's just too late," said Michael Brown of FEMA. "I can't emphasize enough ... how serious FEMA is taking this storm."

Tough time for Big Easy?

 

The hurricane center's five-day projection of Katrina's path shows it landing near the Mississippi-Louisiana state line Monday afternoon or evening. That would put New Orleans -- much of which sits below sea level -- near Katrina's epicenter.

 

However, given the erratic nature of hurricane movement, such long-term forecasts often change.

 

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Blanco declared states of emergency Friday.

 

Robert Latham, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said evacuations of tourists along the coast could begin late Saturday afternoon, followed by mandatory evacuations of coastal residents on Sunday.

 

The National Guard had been activated to help with storm preparations, he said.

 

FEMA has dispatched teams to Louisiana and Mississippi. "We're ready to respond in every possible way, because we do anticipate this being a very significant event," Brown said.

Oil rig evacuations

 

Katrina could be a Category 4 hurricane by the time it strikes the Gulf. The last time Mississippi or Louisiana saw landfall from a Category 4 storm was in 1969 when Hurricane Camille killed 256 people.

 

"That is exactly my concern -- since that time there have been literally millions of people that have moved to the Gulf Coast region," said Brown.

 

"I'm telling those people today you have about 36 hours now to understand how serious this storm is and to make your preparations to keep your family and to keep your business safe.

 

"You've got to do that now. Tomorrow and Monday (are) going to be too late."

 

In the Gulf of Mexico, six oil companies operating offshore facilities evacuated at least 150 people as a precaution. Most of those employees were described as "nonessential" to production, and rigs and platforms continued to operate.(Watch the video of drilling crews securing rigs and seeking safety.)

 

Two companies -- Newfield Exploration and Murphy Exploration -- said they may pull out production workers and shut down some facilities Saturday, depending on the hurricane's path.

 

At least 12 platforms and nine oil rigs in the Gulf have been evacuated, a small portion of the 953 manned rigs and platforms operating there, according to the Interior Department's Mineral Management Service.

Current conditions

 

As of 1 p.m. EDT, the center of Katrina was 230 miles west of Key West, Florida, and about 490 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

 

It was moving west near 7 mph with winds of 115 mph and higher gusts. Forecasters said the storm is expected to continue to strengthen and turn to the west-northwest during the next 24 hours.

 

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the storm's center, and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 150 miles, a release for the hurricane center states.

 

Storm surge flooding along Florida's southwest coast should abate today, the center said.

 

Katrina is expected to generate 5 to 10 inches of rain over western Cuba and 1 to 3 inches over the Yucatan Peninsula.

 

Katrina is the fifth hurricane to directly hit Florida in the past year and the 11th named storm of the busy 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

 

CNN's David Mattingly, Susan Candiotti, Jacqui Jeras and Rob Marciano contributed to this report.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Jeb]

NWS NEW ORLEANS OFFICE PULLING NO PUNCHES on this one.

 

 

 

WWUS74 KLIX 281550

NPWLIX

 

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA

1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

 

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

 

.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED

STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

 

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT

LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL

FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY

DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

 

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.

PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD

FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE

BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME

WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

 

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A

FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

 

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH

AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY

VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE

ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE

WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

 

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN

AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING

INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

 

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY

THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW

CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE

KILLED.

 

AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR

HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE

CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.

 

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE

OUTSIDE!

 

MSZ080>082-282100-

HANCOCK-HARRISON-JACKSON-

1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

 

...INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IN EFFECT...

 

.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED

STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

 

0NSET OF TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS WILL BE AROUND 3 PM AND PERSIST

FOR 24 TO 28 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS WILL ONSET AROUND DAYBREAK

MONDAY AND PERSIST FOR 12 TO 15 HOURS.

 

ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE

OUTSIDE!

 

$$

[Jeb]

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Katrina, packing 175mph sustained winds with gusts over 200mph, continuing its inexorable approach down on New Orleans at 340pm CDT.

[Jeb]

Very symmetrical satellite presentation of Hurricane Katrina as she continues to move northwest toward New Orleans.

[Jeb]

New Orleans Braces for Powerful Katrina

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story....ina&floc=NW_1-T

 

By ALLEN G. BREED

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Monstrous Hurricane Katrina barreled toward the Big Easy on Sunday with 175-mph wind and a threat of a 28-foot storm surge, forcing a mandatory evacuation, a last-ditch Superdome shelter and prayers for those left to face the doomsday scenario this below-sea-level city has long dreaded.

 

``Have God on your side, definitely have God on your side,'' Nancy Noble said as she sat with her puppy and three friends in six lanes of one-way traffic on gridlocked Interstate 10. ``It's very frightening.''

 

Katrina intensified into a Category 5 giant over the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico on a path to come ashore early Monday in the heart of New Orleans. That would make it the city's first direct hit in 40 years and the most powerful storm ever to slam the city.

 

``I'm really scared,'' resident Linda Young said as she fill her gas tank. ``I've been through hurricanes, but this one scares me. I think everybody needs to get out.''

 

 

 

 

Rain began falling on southeastern Louisiana by midday Sunday, the first hints of a storm with a potential surge of 18 to 28 feet, topped with even higher waves, tornadoes and as much as 15 inches of rain.

 

``We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared,'' Mayor Ray Nagin said in ordering the mandatory evacuation for his city of 485,000 people, surrounded by suburbs of a million more. ``The storm surge will most likely topple our levee system.''

 

Conceding that as many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport, the city arranged buses to take people to 10 last-resort shelters, including the Superdome.

 

Nagin also dispatched police and firefighters to rouse people out with sirens and bullhorns, and even gave them the authority to commandeer vehicles to aid in the evacuation.

 

``This is very serious, of the highest nature,'' the mayor said. ``This is a once-in-a-lifetime event.''

 

For years, forecasters have warned of the nightmare scenario a big storm could bring to New Orleans, a bowl of a city that's up to 10 feet below sea level in spots and dependent on a network of levees, canals and pumps to keep dry. It's built between the half-mile-wide Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, half the size of the state of Rhode Island.

 

Estimates have been made of tens of thousands of deaths from flooding that could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a 30-foot-deep toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, and waste from ruined septic systems.

 

Katrina's eye was expected to make landfall around sunrise Monday on the southeastern Louisiana coast, although Mississippi also was in danger, said Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Because Katrina was such a big storm with hurricane-force wind of at least 74 mph extending up to 105 miles from the center, areas far from the eye's landfall could still be devastated.

 

At 2 p.m. EDT, Katrina's eye was about 180 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The storm was moving toward the west-northwest at nearly 13 mph and was expected to turn toward the north-northwest.

 

A hurricane warning was in effect for the north-central Gulf Coast from Morgan City, La., to the Alabama-Florida line, the hurricane center said. Tropical storm warnings extended east to Indian Pass, Fla., and west to Cameron, La., a spread of about 480 miles.

 

Despite the dire predictions, a group of residents in a poor neighborhood of central New Orleans sat on a porch with no car, no way out and, surprisingly, no fear.

 

``We're not evacuating,'' said 57-year-old Julie Paul. ``None of us have any place to go. We're counting on the Superdome. That's our lifesaver.''

 

The Superdome, the 70,000-seat home of football's Saints and the New Year's Sugar Bowl, opened at daybreak Sunday, giving first priority to frail, elderly people on walkers, some with oxygen tanks. They were told to bring enough food, water and medicine to last up to five days.

 

In the French Quarter, most bars that stayed open through the threat of past hurricanes were boarded up and the few people on the streets were battening down their businesses and getting out.

 

Sasha Gayer tried to get a train out of town but couldn't. So she walked back to the French Quarter, buying supplies on the way, and then stopped at one of the few bars open on Bourbon Street.

 

``This is a lot more fun than sitting at home listening to apocalyptic media reports,'' she said. ``This is how you know it's a serious hurricane. You can't find a slice of white bread in the city, but you can still buy beer.''

 

Airport Holiday Inn manager Joyce Tillis spent the morning calling her 140 guests to tell them about the evacuation order. Tillis, who lives inside the flood zone, also called her three daughters to tell them to get out.

 

``If I'm stuck, I'm stuck,'' Tillis said. ``I'd rather save my second generation if I can.''

 

But the evacuation was slow going. Highways in Louisiana and Mississippi were jammed as people headed away from Katrina's expected landfall. All lanes were limited to northbound traffic on Interstates 55 and 59, and westbound on I-10.

 

Katrina was ``unmitigated bad news'' for motorists across the nation because it shut down offshore production of at least 1 million barrels of oil daily and threatened refinery and import operations around New Orleans, said oil analyst Peter Beutel. He predicted crude oil could top $70 a barrel by Monday or Tuesday.

 

Hotels were spared from evacuation orders to give tourists and locals a place for ``vertical evacuation.''

 

Tina and Bryan Steven, a couple from Forest Lake, Minn., who came to attend a conference of emergency medical services, sat glumly on the sidewalk outside their hotel in the French Quarter.

 

``We're choosing the best of two evils,'' said Bryan Steven. ``It's either be stuck in the hotel or stuck on the road. ... We'll make it through it.''

 

His wife, wearing a Bourbon Street T-shirt with a lewd message, interjected: ``I just don't want to die in this shirt.''

 

Only three Category 5 hurricanes - the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale - have hit the United States since record-keeping began. The last was 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which at 165-mph leveled parts of South Florida, killed 43 people and caused $31 billion in damage.

 

New Orleans has not taken a major direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged parts of the city in seven feet of water. Betsy, a Category 3 storm, was blamed for 74 deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

 

Rappaport warned that Katrina, already responsible for nine deaths in South Florida as a mere Category 1, could be far worse for New Orleans.

 

``It would be the strongest we've had in recorded history there,'' Rappaport said. ``We're hoping of course there'll be a slight tapering off at least of the winds, but we can't plan on that. ... We're in for some trouble here no matter what.''

 

On the Net:

 

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

 

Editors Note: Associated Press reporters Mary Foster, Adam Nossiter and Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report.

 

 

08/28/05 15:24

 

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[Jeb]

The weather is rapidly deteriorating in the lower parishes as the heavier rainbands associated with Katrina spiral into the southeastern LA region as of 1230am CDT on Aug 29 2005.

[Jeb]

Radar loop of heavier rainbands associated with Hurricane Katrina at 110am CDT on August 29 2005.

[Jeb]

Katrina's weakening as she moves over land. Note the feeder bands coming in from off the GoMex to the right of the main circulation. This is typical of a landfalling hurricane. Watch out for tornadoes in these bands. The winds will gradually subside but the forward speed of the storm (NNE at 16mph) wil ensure that hurricane force winds will persist well inland, plus that forward speed must be added to wind speeds to the right of the circulation center. Hattiesburg got thrashed by the Right Front Quad pretty badly.

[Jeb]

National perspective of the remnants of Katrina. This system will cause serious freshwater flooding impacts as it moves NNE and interacts with an old frontal boundary.

[Jeb]

You have GOT to see this storm video of Katrina making landfall in Mississippi! You need Internet Explorer with RealPlayer to be able to view it!!

 

http://www.sky-chaser.com/ka05vid3.htm

 

also

 

http://www.riotvideo.com/Video-15-Hurrican...ina_Videos.html

 

 

Found at S2K in this thread:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=73804

 

and

 

Hou/Galv -- the aftermath of a Cat 5 like Katrina here

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=73850

 

Gen. Honore rips media!

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=73625

 

Prelude to Armageddon (warning: long and detailed)

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=73638

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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