Hurricane Katrina strengthening in the Gulf

[Reds Fanatic]

Hurricane Katrina is strengthening in the Gulf. They now say it could become a category 4 by the time it hits the Florida Panhandle on Monday. Here is the current track

[Roy Tucker]

Puffy better start to think about bugging out. That track looks like Panama City to me.

[Matt700wlw]

I'm glad my friends got back from Florida on Sunday...

[Unassisted]

We could still use the rain here. I don't think Texas wants anything to do with this one if it strengthens to Cat 4 in that short span of gulf, though.

[Puffy]

Puffy better start to think about bugging out. That track looks like Panama City to me.

I'm not in PC right now - I have a football draft on Sunday in Orlando, so I'm there already.

[Reds Fanatic]

The storm is moving to the west. May now hit closer to New Orleans on Monday.

[SandyD]

My niece and nephew live in Bay St Louis about a block from the beach.

[OnBaseMachine]

New Orleans couldn't handle a storm this big. That place will be under 20 feet of water if they get a direct hit from this storm.

Katrina May Be Strongest Gulf Storm Since Camille
Storm's Path Jogs West, New Orleans May Be Targeted

POSTED: 5:57 pm EDT August 26, 2005
UPDATED: 11:51 pm EDT August 26, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Hurricane Katrina's projected path of movement shifted west Friday night, moving Pascagoula, Miss., Mobile Bay and even New Orleans into the path of what may be one of the most powerful storms ever in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Local 6 News meteorologist Tom Sorrells.

Most computer models agree that the storm will make a due west swing in the Gulf and then shoot north taking many Florida city out of the projected path of movement.

"Now we are talking about a very dangerous Category 4 storm," Sorrells said. "It could become the nastiest thing in the Gulf of Mexico since Camille in the 60s. This is a bad storm."

Hurricane Camille, which hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast in August of 1969, is said to be the worst storm ever to hit mainland United States.

The National Hurricane Center says that Katrina -- which is now a Category 2 storm -- could reach near Category 4 strength by midday Monday.

Since there is no shear in the Gulf of Mexico, Sorrells said the storm could grow even stronger than a Category 4 storm.

"It is going to rage into a major, major hurricane before all is said and done," Sorrells said. "By the time it makes landfall Sunday into Monday, we are going to be talking about a giant Category 4 storm, according to the latest models, with maximum winds of 135 mph. There is a possibility that it can rage even larger."

At 11 p.m. Friday, the center of Katrina was located near latitude 24.6 north, Longitude 83.6 west or about 460 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River

Katrina is moving toward the west-southwest near 8 mph. A gradual turn to the west and west-northwest is expected on Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 105 mph with higher gusts.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 85 miles.

5 Missing Boaters Found

The Coast Guard said Friday that they found the family that was lost at sea.

Officials said the Larsen family had been missing since their 24-foot boat left Marathon at 6:45 a.m. Thursday. They were rescued off Everglades City.

Hurricane Katrina's projected path of movement shows the storm floating farther west in the Gulf of Mexico toward Pascagoula, Miss, Mobile Bay or even New Orleans as a powerful Category 4 storm, according to Local 6 News meteorologist Tom Sorrells.

Officials said Edward and Tina Larsen were spotted by a Coast Guard helicopter along with their children, ages 17, 14 and four. They were hoisted to safety and taken to Naples. Officials haven't released their medical conditions.

Hurricane Katrina had hindered the search because officials say the hurricane was sitting right on top of the search area.


Deaths Blamed On Storm

Officials said seven people have died in Florida because of Hurricane Katrina. The following describes some of the deaths:

A man died after a tree fell on his car while it was parked near Stranahan High School in Fort Lauderdale.

A 54-year-old man was killed outside his house by a falling tree in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Plantation. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Broward County authorities.
A woman was struck by a tree and died at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.
A 79-year-old man and his dog were killed when his car struck a fallen tree in Cooper City.

James Paolillo was driving when he crashed into a tree that had fallen on the roadway during the storm, the Broward Sheriff's Office said. He then drove around the debris, continued driving eastbound in a westbound lane, and crashed into a standing tree on the shoulder of the road.

Paramedics found Paolillo and his small dog dead inside the car, the sheriff's office said.

http://www.local6.com/weather/4903225/detail.html

[OnBaseMachine]

Here is an article that SandyD posted in a previous thread explaining why New Orleans is vulnerable to hurricanes.

[oneupper]

Katrina is bad one, guys. She roared through here (Broward county) as a Cat 1 and no one paid much attention, but she left a mess.
My house is full of "refugees"' (family & friends) from Homestead and Kendall who still haven't gotten their power back.
Can't imagine what this one will be like if it goes to Cat 3 or 4.

Just hoping it skips the populated areas...hang tough.

[OnBaseMachine]

Looks like the newest projected path has that thing hitting New Orleans head on.

[WVRed]

Copied this from another message board.

If a Cat 4 or 5 hit the city from the current trajectory, and assuming everyone in the city was evacuated who could evacuate- there would still be an estimated 25,000 to 80,000 deaths inside the City of New Orleans. Two thirds of the city would be completely destroyed. The immediate damage would be $100-$250 billion dollars. It would take nine weeks just to drain the city, unless they decided to destroy the levees to let the water out.

Around ten percent of the nation's petroleum supply would be disrupted.

The Red Cross no longer pre-places personell inside the city of New Orleans during hurricanes. They believe the risk to them is too great. The Weather Channel isn't even sending in Jim Cantore.

The New Orleans paper has a series of articles about this: http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/ You don't have to register, but you do have to answer the questions.

[ghettochild]

holy shiat

[OnBaseMachine]

Latest update on CNN has it hitting the New Orleans area with 145 mph winds, which is a very strong Cat 4 storm.

[SandyD]

Scary thing ... this reminds me of Camille. It was heading directly for New Orleans, and ended up hitting Biloxi instead. If Camille had hit New Orleans, I probably would not be here right now.

I'm not sure I believe all the estimates of death toll/destruction, but they're enough to make me respect the power of the storm. And not take I chance I don't have to.