Post by triceracops on Aug 26, 2005 11:47:47 GMT -5
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Flooded streets resembled canals, sailboats sat on the sand and a highway overpass lay in ruin Friday in the hours after Hurricane Katrina plodded across South Florida.
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The storm's wind then zoomed to 100 mph as Katrina moved over the Gulf of Mexico.
Four people were killed, a family of five was missing at sea and more than a million homes and businesses lost power after the storm crashed ashore late Thursday.
It reached Category 2 status Friday morning, and forecasters said it could become a major hurricane — with top sustained winds above 110 mph — by the time it reaches the Gulf Coast early next week, perhaps with winds of at least 131 mph. Forecasters said it could be headed anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.
Katrina's first Florida land strike came Thursday night along the Miami-Dade and Broward county line.
Rain fell in horizontal sheets, seas were estimated at 15 feet and sustained wind hit 80 mph, with gusts reaching 92 mph. Up to 11 1/2 inches of rain fell on Miami-Dade County. Crews scrambled to clear roads and repair utility lines around the region.
"This place went bananas last night," said John Vazquez, 62, who rode out the storm in his oceanfront condominium in Hallandale Beach.
Carolyne and Carter McHyman, also living on the oceanfront, said heavy downpours pelted their windows after the eye passed.
"It's been horrible," Carolyne McHyman said. "Basically all our windows are leaking. We just keep mopping up and taping the windows, mopping up and taping again."
Katrina briefly weakened into a tropical storm over land, but rejuvenated over the gulf's warm waters to become a hurricane again early Friday. At 11:30 a.m. EDT, it was centered about 45 miles northwest of Key West, moving erratically westward at 7 mph.
Gov.
Jeb Bush urged residents of the Panhandle and northwestern Florida — areas hit by Hurricane Ivan last year and Hurricane Dennis this year — to make preparations. He said he has asked for federal disaster assistance for Miami-Dade and Broward.
"Maybe we can get rid of the phrase 'minimal hurricane,'" state meteorologist Ben Nelson said Friday. "There is no such thing as a minimal hurricane."
The hurricane was hindering the Coast Guard's search for a family of five who went out boating Thursday morning from Marathon, in the Keys, and never reached their destination of Cape Coral on Florida's southwestern coast.
"Unfortunately that hurricane is sitting right on top of my search area," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Smith said Friday.
Three people were killed by falling trees, and a 79-year-old man died when his car struck a tree, all in Broward County, officials said.
Damage was visible up and down the coastal region.
Roofs came off mobile homes in Davie, and dozens of families in Key Biscayne were forced to evacuate homes swamped in 3 feet of water.
Longtime Key Biscayne resident Raul Vidal said water reached halfway up his driveway and he had minor flooding through a leaky window, but no major damage.
"This is just an inconvenience. It's nature's way of doing landscaping for you — cleaning up trees that are overgrown," the 53-year-old banker said.
Sailboats washed up onto the Key Biscayne beach. Most lay tipped on their sides, some with ripped sails flapping in the wind. About 10 boats at the Coconut Grove marina had been pulled from their moorings and thrown on the rocks.
In the Keys, where rain totals could reach 20 inches, a tornado damaged a hangar and airplanes at the Marathon airport, and more than a dozen small planes were damaged at an executive airport southwest of downtown Miami, officials said.
An overpass under construction in Miami-Dade County collapsed onto a main east-west thoroughfare, closing it for 20 blocks.
Power outages were concentrated in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where more than 1.1 million homes and businesses remained without electricity Friday. More than 2,000 people were in shelters Friday, including more than 1,000 in Broward.
Katrina, which formed Wednesday over the Bahamas, was the second hurricane to strike Florida this year and the first to make a direct hit on Broward County since a destructive Category 4 hurricane in 1947.
Four hurricanes hit Florida last year, causing an estimated $46 billion in damage across the country.
Katrina is the 11th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. That's seven more than typically have formed by now in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the
National Weather Service said. The season ends Nov. 30.
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The storm's wind then zoomed to 100 mph as Katrina moved over the Gulf of Mexico.
Four people were killed, a family of five was missing at sea and more than a million homes and businesses lost power after the storm crashed ashore late Thursday.
It reached Category 2 status Friday morning, and forecasters said it could become a major hurricane — with top sustained winds above 110 mph — by the time it reaches the Gulf Coast early next week, perhaps with winds of at least 131 mph. Forecasters said it could be headed anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.
Katrina's first Florida land strike came Thursday night along the Miami-Dade and Broward county line.
Rain fell in horizontal sheets, seas were estimated at 15 feet and sustained wind hit 80 mph, with gusts reaching 92 mph. Up to 11 1/2 inches of rain fell on Miami-Dade County. Crews scrambled to clear roads and repair utility lines around the region.
"This place went bananas last night," said John Vazquez, 62, who rode out the storm in his oceanfront condominium in Hallandale Beach.
Carolyne and Carter McHyman, also living on the oceanfront, said heavy downpours pelted their windows after the eye passed.
"It's been horrible," Carolyne McHyman said. "Basically all our windows are leaking. We just keep mopping up and taping the windows, mopping up and taping again."
Katrina briefly weakened into a tropical storm over land, but rejuvenated over the gulf's warm waters to become a hurricane again early Friday. At 11:30 a.m. EDT, it was centered about 45 miles northwest of Key West, moving erratically westward at 7 mph.
Gov.
Jeb Bush urged residents of the Panhandle and northwestern Florida — areas hit by Hurricane Ivan last year and Hurricane Dennis this year — to make preparations. He said he has asked for federal disaster assistance for Miami-Dade and Broward.
"Maybe we can get rid of the phrase 'minimal hurricane,'" state meteorologist Ben Nelson said Friday. "There is no such thing as a minimal hurricane."
The hurricane was hindering the Coast Guard's search for a family of five who went out boating Thursday morning from Marathon, in the Keys, and never reached their destination of Cape Coral on Florida's southwestern coast.
"Unfortunately that hurricane is sitting right on top of my search area," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Smith said Friday.
Three people were killed by falling trees, and a 79-year-old man died when his car struck a tree, all in Broward County, officials said.
Damage was visible up and down the coastal region.
Roofs came off mobile homes in Davie, and dozens of families in Key Biscayne were forced to evacuate homes swamped in 3 feet of water.
Longtime Key Biscayne resident Raul Vidal said water reached halfway up his driveway and he had minor flooding through a leaky window, but no major damage.
"This is just an inconvenience. It's nature's way of doing landscaping for you — cleaning up trees that are overgrown," the 53-year-old banker said.
Sailboats washed up onto the Key Biscayne beach. Most lay tipped on their sides, some with ripped sails flapping in the wind. About 10 boats at the Coconut Grove marina had been pulled from their moorings and thrown on the rocks.
In the Keys, where rain totals could reach 20 inches, a tornado damaged a hangar and airplanes at the Marathon airport, and more than a dozen small planes were damaged at an executive airport southwest of downtown Miami, officials said.
An overpass under construction in Miami-Dade County collapsed onto a main east-west thoroughfare, closing it for 20 blocks.
Power outages were concentrated in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where more than 1.1 million homes and businesses remained without electricity Friday. More than 2,000 people were in shelters Friday, including more than 1,000 in Broward.
Katrina, which formed Wednesday over the Bahamas, was the second hurricane to strike Florida this year and the first to make a direct hit on Broward County since a destructive Category 4 hurricane in 1947.
Four hurricanes hit Florida last year, causing an estimated $46 billion in damage across the country.
Katrina is the 11th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. That's seven more than typically have formed by now in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the
National Weather Service said. The season ends Nov. 30.
