Hurricane Katrina slams south Florida

By Michael Christie

MIAMI (Reuters) – Hurricane Katrina moved into the Gulf of
Mexico on Friday after hammering Florida’s crowded southeast
coast with hours of fierce winds and whipping rains, leaving 2
million people without power and killing four.

Katrina, which was downgraded earlier on Friday to a
tropical storm as it churned across the swampy Everglades,
regained hurricane status as it moved into the Gulf.

Katrina dumped up to 12 inches of rain after coming ashore
just south of Fort Lauderdale on Thursday and then began a slow
and punishing trek southwest across southern Florida, said the
U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

In its wake, Katrina left flooded neighborhoods and streets
carpeted with tree limbs and leaves.

By 5 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Friday, Katrina was located about
50 miles north-northeast of Key West, Florida, and was moving
west at 5 mph (7 kph). Winds were near 75 mph (120 kph) and
expected to strengthen after earlier falling slightly to 70 mph
(113 kph), the center said.

Three people were killed by falling trees during the storm.
One man in Fort Lauderdale and another to the west in the city
of Plantation, said Broward County authorities. WFOR television
said the first man died when the tree brought a power line down
onto his car. A woman who was struck by a tree died at a
hospital in Hollywood, local media reported.

And a man in Cooper City died when his car struck a tree,
according to local media.

Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield warned Katrina would
restrengthen again once it emerged over warm Gulf waters and
could loop north to slam into the hurricane-scarred Florida
Panhandle as a much more powerful hurricane. The area was hit
in July by Hurricane Dennis and last September by Hurricane
Ivan.

Florida Power and Light Co., the main electricity company
in the area, said more than 1 million customers, representing
more than 2 million people, were without power and that number
was bound to rise.

Katrina made landfall at about 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) on
Thursday between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach with
sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), the hurricane center said.

ALREADY PUNISHED

That still made it a minimal Category 1 hurricane on the
five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Such hurricanes can damage
flimsy trailer homes but rarely cause structural damage to
buildings. Emergency managers had urged people to leave
vulnerable islands and mobile home parks, but did not order
mandatory evacuations.

Punished last season by four powerful hurricanes in six
weeks, Florida residents had snapped up drinking water and
spare batteries from stores. Some filled sandbags to try to
protect their homes from flooding, but few bothered to put up
hurricane shutters.

Drivers lined up to fill their cars with gasoline before
the storm hit and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush urged South Floridians
to conserve fuel.

Schools and businesses in southeast Florida closed and
cruise lines rerouted their ships as the seaports shut down.

Party planners on Miami Beach canceled poolside bashes that
had been organized for celebrities and fans in town for the MTV
Video Music Awards. Forecasters expected the skies to clear in
time for the awards show on Sunday.

Forecasters have predicted an unusually high number of
storms this year because the Atlantic has swung into a period
of more intense storm activity.

The June-through-November Atlantic hurricane season has
seen 11 named storms, a record so early in the year.