;o) uh huh...
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Hurricane Katrina felled trees, peeled off roofs and left more than 1.3 million customers without power as it slammed into Florida's densely populated southeastern coast Thursday with driving rains and sustained winds of 80 mph. Four people were killed, three by falling trees.
Rain fell in horizontal sheets, seas were estimated at 15 feet and wind gusted to 92 mph, toppling trees and street signs. Florida Power & Light said the vast majority of people without electricity were in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
The storm made landfall along the Miami-Dade and Broward line between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach. Weather officials said flooding was the main concern as the storm dropped up to 15 inches in parts of Miami-Dade County.
Early Friday, Katrina had weakened into a tropical storm with top sustained winds of 70 mph. It was about 40 miles southeast of Marco Island near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, heading southwest at 8 mph.
The storm proved fatal for three people who ignored warnings to stay inside until the worst was over. A man in his 20s in Fort Lauderdale was crushed by a falling tree as he sat alone in his car, while a 54-year-old man was killed by a falling tree in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Plantation. A woman who was struck by a tree died at a hospital in Hollywood, hospital officials said.
A 79-year-old man in Cooper City also died when his car struck a tree, Broward County officials said. No other details were immediately available.
"The message needs to be very clear. It's not a good night to be out driving around," National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield. "The back side of the core of the hurricane has yet to come. It's not over yet."
Three storm-related trauma victims were being treated at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, including a driver in critical condition after a tree fell on a car, a spokesman said.
An overpass under construction in Miami-Dade County collapsed onto a highway, authorities said. No injuries were immediately reported, but the freeway — a main east-west thoroughfare — was closed for 20 blocks.
The usually bustling streets of Miami Beach, a tourist haven, were largely deserted as the storm pounded the area. The city is hosting celebrities and partygoers in town for the MTV Video Music Awards. MTV called off its pre-awards festivities Thursday and Friday.
"It's like a ghost town out here," said Mark Darress, concierge at The Astor Hotel in Miami Beach. "I see the random, not so smart people, riding scooters every now and then."
Tourists and others hoping to get out of town before the storm were stranded as airlines canceled flights at Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports, which both closed Thursday night.
Three mobile home parks in Davie sustained considerable damage, according to the Broward Emergency Management Agency. "A lot of roofs are off," said Dennis Myers, a spokesman for the agency.
When the eye of the hurricane passed over the National Hurricane Center in west Miami-Dade County, forecasters ran outside to experience the calm at the center of the storm.
In an oceanfront condominium in Hallandale, Carolyne and Carter McHyman said heavy downpours once again pelted their windows after the eye passed.
"It's been horrible," Carolyne McHyman said. "Basically all our windows are leaking. We just keep mopping up and taping the windows, mopping up and taping again."