MIAMI -- Just after
6 a.m. CDT Aug. 29, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the bayou
town of Buras, La., as a strong Category 4 storm with winds near
145 mph.
When Hurricane
Katrina made landfall Aug. 25 in south Florida, the storm was a
Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 mph. After crossing
the state, the storm strengthened again over the warm waters of the
Gulf of Mexico. Prior to making landfall today, Katrina reached
Category 5 status, with wind speeds of up to 175 mph.
As of the latest
advisory, Katrina measured in at a Category 2 storm with sustained
winds near 105 mph as it made its way over southern and central
Mississippi.
With the storm
wreaking havoc on New Orleans, which is up to 10 feet below sea
level in some places and surrounded by water on three sides -- the
Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain -- the
National Hurricane Center was calling Hurricane Katrina a
"potentially catastrophic hurricane."
According to
published reports, parts of the city are flooded with up to six
feet of water after some of the pumps failed and windows at several
hotels were blown out.
The Louisiana
Superdome, home of the National Football League's New Orleans'
Saints, which acted as one of 10 last-resort temporary shelters for
up to 10,000 displaced residents, suffered damage to its roof and
lost power, leaving its refugees without air conditioning.
According to a Superdome spokesperson, the structure and its
temporary residents were in no immediate danger.
Elsewhere, Gulfport
and Biloxi, Miss., were reporting widespread flooding and
structural damage; and heavy flooding was being reported along
Alabama and Floridas Gulf Coasts as well.
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TravelWeekly.com's Managing Editor Kimberly Scholz, send e-mail
to[email protected].