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Hurricane Katrina hits land
02/09/2005 13:22 - (SA)
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| CENTRE OF ATTENTION: A cameraman focuses on hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart as he conducts a coordinating conference call at the National Hurricane Centre in Miami. (Andy Newman, AP) |
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New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore early on Monday and charged toward low-lying New Orleans with 235km/h winds and the threat of an extremely dangerous storm surge.
Katrina edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city.
The northern part of the eyewall came ashore at about 05:00 local time, said Martin Nelson, a meteorologist at the US National Hurricane Centre.
Katrina's fury was quickly felt at the Louisiana Superdome, normally home of American professional football's Saints, which became the shelter of last resort on Sunday for about 9 000 of the area's poor, homeless and frail.
Failed
Electrical power at the Superdome failed at 05:02, triggering groans from the crowd. Emergency generators kicked in, but the backup power runs only reduced lighting and is not strong enough to run the airconditioning.
Two hours later, Katrina's centre was about midway between Grand Isle and the mouth of the Mississippi River.
The location is about 113km south-southeast of New Orleans and about 150km south-southwest of Biloxi, Mississippi.
Katrina, which weakened slightly overnight to a strong Category 4 storm, turned slightly eastward before hitting land, which would put the western eyewall - the weaker side of the strongest winds - over New Orleans.
'Plenty bad'
"It's not as bad as the eastern side. It'll be plenty bad enough," said Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami.
Mayor Ray Nagin said he believed 80 percent of the city's 480 000 residents had heeded an unprecedented mandatory evacuation as Katrina threatened to become the most powerful storm ever to slam the city.
Crude oil futures spiked to more than $70 a barrel in Singapore for the first time on Monday as Katrina targeted an area crucial to the country's energy infrastructure, but the price had slipped back to $68.95 by midday in Europe.
The storm already forced the shutdown of an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity.
- AP
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