I was on Hallandale Beach as the eye crossed the other night...I have been in a dozen cane's including Andrew...I can tell you all right now that Katrina felt like a Cat 2 crossing than a Cat 1.
My best friend left for the Mississippi coastline at 3 am this morning for rescue and recovery operations from Georgia. He is a paramedic and nurse.
I told him he better have his will made out. We are truly witnessing an act of God's hand here.
Looking at the video of the winds when Katrina went across, and some of the news reports the following morning showed the trees as bent in the wind as I have seen them in hurricane video. Then the flooding. Whew, some of those homes were isolated.
Just a few short days ago, she was flattened out and not really expected to be much of a problem; not well organized, probably become cat 1 if at all and curve northeast before landfall.