Posted on 08/28/2005 8:22:27 PM PDT by anonymoussierra
US city evacuated as storm nears
The mayor of New Orleans has ordered hundreds of thousands of people to flee the city as Hurricane Katrina nears with winds of up to 160mph (257km/h). Ray Nagin said Sunday's move was unprecedented. It came after Katrina grew to a Category Five hurricane - the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Forecasters say the low-lying city could be in the eye of the storm, which is expected to reach land on Monday.
Katrina has been blamed for nine deaths since she lashed Florida on Thursday.
President George W Bush had appealed for the mandatory evacuation of the Louisiana city, the governor said.
Click here to see Katrina's predicted course "This is a once in a lifetime event," Mayor Nagin said.
"The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly."
'Long feared'
Only three Category Five storms have hit the US since record-keeping began.
The last to strike the Louisiana area was Hurricane Camille in 1969, which killed more than 250 people.
Mayor Nagin says the key fear for the bowl-like city, which sits some six feet (two metres) below sea-level, would be the flooding caused by a post-hurricane storm surge.
He warned that Katrina's surge could top the barriers that protect the city from surrounding waters.
"We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," he said.
New Orleans has set up 10 places of shelter for those unable to leave, including the football stadium.
But thousands in and around the city of 485,000 people have been fleeing the approaching storm.
A major route out has been gridlocked, while shop keepers and residents in the city have been boarding up their homes and businesses.
President Bush has issued a state of emergency in the state, freeing the path for federal aid for those affected.
A woman in New Orleans said she was "really scared".
"I think everybody needs to get out," Linda Young said.
Flooding
The states of Mississippi and Alabama are also braced for the impact of the storm, which is now swirling over the Gulf of Mexico.
The hurricane looked likely to come ashore on Monday morning on the south-eastern Louisiana coast, the National Hurricane Center deputy chief said,
"If it came ashore with the intensity it has now and went to the New Orleans area, it would be the strongest we've had in recorded history there," Ed Rappaport said.
Some 21 oil platforms on the Gulf of Mexico, which produces about a quarter of US domestic oil and gas output, have already been evacuated.
The storm, which formed in the Bahamas, lashed South Florida on Thursday, uprooting trees, downing power lines and causing extensive flooding.
Katrina is the sixth hurricane to hit the Florida coastline since last August.
This is gonna be a doozy. The people of New Orleans are in my prayers.
From archeology it is known that in many cities the building floor was (with time) going higher, for the places were filling up with their own garbage (that's why they are speaking of "Troy V", "Troy VI" etc. - different levels corresponding to different times). Why hasn't New Orleans followed such an amply documented historical precedent?
“I will stand by of your nation all the time”thank you
grazie
thank you good friend
Thank you so much. You are a true friend to the United States and we to you as well.
Hopefully, all will go well and then they will need only minor clean up.
Then, afer it's over, but before it fades into memory, the people of New Orleans need good political representation to make the tough decisions and come up with intelligent development that is mindful of New Orleans unique geographics and its vulnerability to mother nature's storms. This won't be the last storm.
But first, let's pray for a safe night and a safe tomorrow.
Prayers from Jacksonville, Florida to all of our fellow Americans that are in Hurricane Katrina's path.
Can't wait to see the Palestinians dancing in the streets when disaster strikes against America once again.
Thanks for joining us in prayer, friend.
"The people of New Orleans are in need of prayers!"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!please help thank you all
Our prayers are with all in the path of hurricane Katrina. May God have mercy.
thank you!!!!!!
Thank you anonymoussiera. Sara, Thank you for you prayers.
We have very close family and friends in New Orleans. My niece, my brother in law and his wife and children have all evacuated. My daughter graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans, She has many friends in harms way.
Please pray that God will spare the city of New Orleans, and its residents from catastophe.
I'm hoping and praying for an angel in the whirlwind....
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