Posted on 08/29/2005 10:14:17 AM PDT by anonymoussierra
New Orleans pounded by hurricane
Hurricane Katrina is pummelling New Orleans with howling gusts and blinding rain, after sweeping ashore over the southern Louisiana coast. The storm has knocked out power and submerged part of the low-lying city in up to 6ft (1.8m) of rising water.
Katrina has torn part of the roof of the stadium, where many sought refuge.
Mississippi and Alabama are also being pounded by the violent storm, which weakened as it moved inland, but brought winds of 125mph (200km/h).
The category-three storm flung boats onto Mississippi, flooded roads in Alabama and swamped bridges in Florida.
[end]
The National Hurricane Center warned the Louisiana city would be pounded throughout Monday - and the potential storm surge could still swamp the city, which sits some 6ft (2m) below sea level.
"It's capable of causing catastrophic damage," Director Max Mayfield warned.
"New Orleans may never be the same."
[end]
'Nervous'
Correspondents in the city say walls of water run down the skyscrapers like waterfalls.
A police officer told the BBC he had never seen anything like it.
Jonathon Carol said the shattered glass on the city streets looked like ice.
"This is unbelievable," he said.
Mayor Ray Nagin has said he believed 80% of the city's 485,000 residents have heeded his order for a mandatory evacuation of the city.
Those unable or unwilling to leave are huddled in shelters, as emergency vehicles patrol deserted streets.
Officials warn that the post-hurricane surge could topple the barriers that protect the city and its historic French Quarter.
There are fears the city's defences could be overwhelmed by floodwaters - inundating New Orleans with chemicals from refineries, and human waste from damaged septic systems.
"We are facing the storm that most of us have feared," Mayor Nagin said. "This is a once in a lifetime event."
A man in the east of the city said the water in his home was "rising pretty fast".
"Tell someone to come get me please," Chris Robinson said via mobile phone.
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"I want to live."
The evacuation claimed three lives, when three nursing home residents died after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church.
States of emergency
Mississippi and Alabama have also told residents in coastal areas to leave their homes.
US President George W Bush has issued a state of emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi, freeing the path for federal aid.
The storm, which formed in the Bahamas, lashed South Florida on Thursday, killing nine people, uprooting trees, downing power lines and causing extensive flooding.
"What happened to the hysterial "toxic disaster of biblical proportions" warnings from those environmental wackos?"
Others areas nearby got what folks were afraid N.O. would. Let's see what happened to Slidell, Gulf Shores, Mobile, Biloxi. Even in N.O. it won't be a picnic.
Nice trade!
When Saddam set of the oil well fires in the Gulf War we were all going to die.
"When Saddam set of the oil well fires in the Gulf War we were all going to die."
Hmm, I don't remember that we were ALL going to die. It did have a rather negative effect on the breathing ability of some folks over there, though.
I see nothing wrong with warning people about the possibility of major environmental problems. The place I live doesn't have nearly the amount of chemicals you find around N.O., but during our last big flood we had barrels of some pretty nasty stuff set loose.
anonymoussierra is Russian where they have an excess of punctuation, and are trying to flood the market constantly with it.
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