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Flooding, power outages from Katrina posted: 08-29-2005
Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore in southeast Louisiana this morning, charging across the low-lying area with 145 mile per hour winds and the threat of a catastrophic storm surge.
Water has either breached or risen over levees in several parishes. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said water was rising at a rate of approximately one foot per hour and conditions are expected to worsen throughout the day as the storm moves across Louisiana and Mississippi.
There was six to eight feet of flooding in the Lower Ninth Ward near St. Bernard Parish, Blanco said. Flooding also was occurred in other parts of Orleans Parish and in St. Bernard, Jefferson and St. Charles parishes.
Some buildings have collapsed in downtown New Orleans, while winds have blown windows out of several high-rises.
Blanco advised residents, who evacuated by the hundreds of thousands, not to try to return home today.
Late this morning, the hurricane was getting a little weaker and had been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane with winds of nearly 125 mph. It was expected to get weaker as it moves over land but hurricane-force winds are still expected as far as 150 miles inland.
Katrina, which weakened to a Category Four storm overnight, edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near
Grand Isle, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city of New Orleans, which is below sea level and protected by a system of levees. But Biloxi, Miss., was taking a pounding.
National Hurricane Center meteorologist Martin Nelson said the northern part of the eyewall came ashore at Grand Isle about 5 a.m.
Katrina's fury was soon felt at the Louisiana Superdome, which became the shelter of last resort for about 9,000 people who could not leave New Orleans. Winds blew two holes in the roof of the stadium, sending water onto the field. Officials said they do not believe the building was in danger because it was built to withstand 200 mph winds.
Three nursing home patients are reported to have died during their evacuation.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)