Hurricane Katrina could leave 1 million homeless

Monday, August 29, 2005

Hurricane Katrina made landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana early Monday with 150-mph winds as an eastward move by the monster storm provided some hope that the worst of its wrath might not be directed at New Orleans, the Associated Press reported.

More than 1 million residents of New Orleans and surrounding parishes had evacuated the area as of Sunday evening, as New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin called for a mandatory evacuation of the city, in preparation for "the largest storm New Orleans has ever seen."

Freeways exiting New Orleans were turned into one direction - out of town - and were gridlocked for hours. More than an estimated 15,000 people with no way out of town raced to take cover in shelters including the Loiusiana Superdome, where the face hours and maybe days without food and water.

Estimates predict that 60-80 of the town's homes could be blown away by Hurricane Katrina's high winds, and with flood damage, most of the people living in and around New Orleans could be left homeless.
The rest of the United States could become a refugee camp for more than 1 million Louisiana residents.

Flooding from Katrina could also could create a toxic nightmare from the many chemical plants and refineries that dot the region, authorities said. Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on a region that produces about a quarter of U.S. domestic-oil production.

Natural gas facilities both onshore and in the Gulf of Mexico were closing ahead of the storm, and the fears of lost production - perhaps for months - sent crude oil futures soaring to a record $70.80.