Hurricane Katrina may hit Mississippi hardest

Monday, August 29, 2005

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -- Hurricane Katrina, a very strong Category 4 hurricane, which made landfall around 7:15am Monday morning between Grand Isle, Louisiana, and the mouth of the Mississippi River, may hit Mississippi hardest, weather watchers now predict.

Originally, it appeared that New Orleans would be directly in the path of Hurricane Katrina, but since making landfall the category 4 hurricane has shifted slightly to the East.

At around 8:00am ET, Hurricane Katrina was centered about 55 miles southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana, and 75 miles south-southwest of Biloxi, Mississippi. Packing winds in excess of 140 miles per hour, and heading North at a rate of 15 miles per hour.

Katrina has weakened slightly, but forecasters still warn that she is an "extremely dangerous storm" with hurricane force winds reaching out more than 120 miles from the eye of the storm.

Storm surges from Hurricane Katrina are expected to reach as high as 28 feet, and affect most of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi. This could pose a real problem for New Orleans, a city that is for the most part under sea level. The highest levees that surround the basin-like city are only 17-18 feet high.

If the diesel pumps that remove excess water become submerged, they could come to a grinding halt, and removal of floodwaters could take up to 6 months.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared a state of emergency Sunday and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. He estimates that over 1 million people fled the city and it's surrounding parishes by Sunday evening. About 15,000 people who remained in the city took refuge in the Louisiana Superdome overnight.