Hurricane Katrina – Category 5 Storm

If you live anywhere near where Hurricane Katrina will be coming to shore, please get away from there. This storm is now said to be the third strongest hurricane ever to be recorded with sustained winds of 175 mph. If it directly strikes New Orleans, the city could be underwater for months.

Link to Intellicast satellite loop. Update: KATRINA NOW A CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE WITH 160 MPH WINDS HURRICANE KATRINA INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY

God Bless.

More Links

• Washington Post, II
• New York Times. II
• CNN, II
• BBC Looking for Live Reports
• Mobile Register on the impact on Gasoline
• NOLA is Blogging the Storm

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New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin orders full evacuation.

This is a once in a lifetime event,” Mayor Ray Nagin said. “The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly.” The mayor said a direct hit by Katrina’s storm surge would likely top the levees that protect the city from the surrounding water of Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and marshes. The bowl-shaped city must pump water out even during normal times, and the hurricane threatened electricity that runs the pumps. Nagin said he spoke to a forecaster at the hurricane center who told him that “this is the storm New Orleans has feared these many years.”

At 11 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center said Katrina’s maximum sustained wind speed had stepped up to nearly 175 mph, with higher gusts. The hurricane’s eye was about 225 miles south-southeast of the mouth of Mississippi River.

President Bush on Sunday urged people living in the path of Hurricane Katrina to take the storm extremely seriously and to move to safer ground. “We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities,” Bush said. “We will do everything in our power to help the people and the communities affected by this storm,” Bush said as Katrina bore down on a stretch of coastline that includes New Orleans, a city sitting below sea level with 485,000 inhabitants.

Texas — President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on Saturday because of the approach of Hurricane Katrina and his spokesman urged residents along the coast to heed authorities’ advice to evacuate.