Hurricane Katrina Hits Florida, Causes Two Fatalities (Update1)

[meganmonkey]

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Katrina hit land in southeastern Florida and caused two fatalities.

Katrina made landfall at about 7 p.m. at the Miami-Dade and Broward County line at about 80 mph (129 kph) said Florida Division of Emergency Management spokesman Mike Stone in an interview. Some power outages have been reported.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency today to free up state resources to help counties handle the storm. Because Katrina is moving slowly, it may dump as much as 15 inches of rain on some parts of the state.

snip--

A man between the ages of 20 and 25 was killed at about 6 p.m. in Fort Lauderdale when a tree fell on his car, Broward County spokesman Dennis Myers said in an interview. A pedestrian was killed in the City of Plantation at about 6:15 p.m., he said. No more details were available immediately, he said


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arq3q3vyAs.k&refer=us

[don954]

1. im in Fort Lauderdale, 2 miles from Port Everglades

lots of wind, rain, the city power is out and im on my generator.

[dweller]

2. hang on there don954!

Keep safe and inform us as you are able to, we're pulling for you guys to make it through safely.

dp

[etherealtruth]

3. Y'all ARE tough ...

Be safe!

[tinfoilinfor2005]

4. Stay inside! Two deaths so far,

overpass in Miami has collapsed, and they just reported that an eighteen wheeler has just blown off an overpass. Aren't those generators great? I'm rockin' and rollin' on my boat in Key Largo and thinking about all of you up there Good luck!!

[don954]

26. I made it through ok, i have a concrete house...! Generator is still

on, no powere anywhere in my area, downed trees are blocking my street.

[jus_the_facts]

5. Be safe and keep us posted South Floridian DU'ers.....

....wonder where Katrina will make landfall again...the Gulf is around 90 degrees along the Louisiana coast. :scared:

[shawmut]

6. Tropical Storm Katrina Moves Toward Fla.

MIAMI - Tropical Storm Katrina formed Wednesday morning in the Bahamas and could reach hurricane strength before hitting the coast of Florida later this week, the National Hurricane Center said.

A tropical storm watch was posted for a 200-mile stretch of Florida's east coast from the Seven Mile Bridge in the Keys north to Vero Beach, meaning tropical storm conditions were likely within 36 hours.

"It's time for South Florida to start taking precautions," said Eric Blake, a hurricane center meteorologist.

At 8 a.m., the season's 11th named storm had sustained wind of 40 mph and was centered about 70 miles southeast of Nassau, about 250 miles east-southeast of Florida. It was moving toward the northwest at 8 mph.



more ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050824/ap_on_re_us/tropical_weather

[shawmut]

7. map

[Gay Green]

28. Damn! The latest version of the map (11PM Eastern, 8/26)

has the cane going right over New Orleans!!! A collapsed real estate bubble will be the LEAST of that city's problems if Katrina holds to this track!

[malaise]

29. She's still going West so

she may just head for Texas. If she turns north now, New Orleans is is big trouble - now Cat 3 and likely to strengthen significantly. Winds now 115mph; Pressure now 940 - that is serious business.

[geomon666]

8. Damn, where the hell did that come from?

These things are worse than cockroaches.

[maxrandb]

9. Quick! Someone get Pat Robertson to Pray

that it misses Florida and goes to Venezuela.

[malaise]

10. How is Katrina dealing with the Florida folks.

I really hope Western Florida is spared this time - damn.
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200512.html

[CatholicEdHead]

11. Well guess what will be on the TV news for the next week

nonstop and beyond.

[malaise]

12. Well a lot of people do suffer with these hurricanes

and I'd rather see this than the Aruba story or the missing boyfriend story or the husband overboard story.

[QC]

18. Looks like that storm is headed right for me when it's done

with south Florida. Come hang out here and you won't have to watch it on tv. Then you might understand why some people do consider hurricanes newsworthy.

(Remind me to get all world-weary and ennui-ridden next time I'm supposed to care about a deadly blizzard in the upper midwest.)

[hedgehog]

24. I think what you're really seeing is frustration

Up here we keep seeing jobs moving South supposedly because of high taxes. We see people leaving because our winters are supposedly so terrible. Those "deadly blizzards" typically cause little damage and amount to a nuisance for a day or two. As soon as the snow stops, the local government that those "high taxes" pay for has the roads clear. It's only been in recent years that the Feds have paid anything for a northern storm. The perception is that we're paying for storm damage in the South.

[meganmonkey]

13. According to a post in GD

2 people have already been killed in S. Florida - it's hitting really hard

:scared:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

14. The local stations are reporting that an overpass just collapsed

on the Dolphin Expressway (very busy spot) but they don't know if there are any cars under it.

Yes, this is a nasty little storm. A lot of damage in a very heavy populated area. Mostly because it is a very slow moving storm and the winds didn't die down once they hit land.

[malaise]

15. I spoke with my sister

It's much worse than they expected in Dade County. Came in much lower than expected which means trouble for somewhere in Western Florida -more time to strengethen in the Gulf.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

16. Fortunately no one was under the underpass

they just reported. But it is barely moving so there will be a lot of flooding. I'm sure your sister knows to stay in and good luck to her!

[malaise]

17. She's near a nice pond but didn't worry

too much because the ducks still were there late this evening.
It would have to flood big time to affect her. They're safe and locked down since early evening. The problem for FLorida is that the ground is already saturated so trees will fall.
<edit - add sentence> I'm more worried for the poor people of Western Florida - they don't need another hurricane and the forecast is suggesting that it's heading their way.

[Bryn]

19. Anyone from Homestead/Florida City/Redland area??

I am at work in downtown Miami and will be spending the night here so I would like to know what's going on in Homestead area where my home is? I know the eye was just above Cutler Ridge which is too close for my own comfort. I live 18 miles from Key Largo. I have to wait til morning to find out if all is well with my home and my 5 cats. Bet they're scared! We got direct hit while ago here in downtown Miami. Wow!!!

[tinfoilinfor2005]

20. Third death now reported.

Another driver. Tons of rain here in Key Largo, but winds are tolerable. Just very important to stay inside.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

21. update

Death toll is now up to four.

We have been fighting Katrina, Bride of Andrew (Andrew 13 years, one day ago yesterday) all night. The eye dropped down so has been battering the Keys all night long. The boat I live on was slamming bad and I lost both biminis by one a.m. Many boats in our Marina appear to have the same type of problem, but that is only what I can see in the dark. The damage will be significant, I fear. Daylight will tell.

[malaise]

22. So how is it this morning -are you OK?

What about boat damage?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

25. We had a rough night with the wind and driving rains but all good now.

Presently Key West is getting slammed. My friend just called and she said they are flooding and the winds are 65 mph sustained, and this thing just doesn't want to move out.
I took a short drive down the highway today and there are lots of trees uprooted and some roofs gone. There is a family of five missing who went out on a boat yesterday and haven't been heard from since. Praying they are holed up somewhere.
The problem is that this storm was totally unexpected to turn south and head so close to the Keys, so no one was evacuated and not much prep work was done.

Now we say lots of prayers and think good thoughts for everyone in the panhandle.

[malaise]

27. It might miss the Panhandle and go further west

I feel sorry for everyone in Katrina's path now 100mph and gaining strength with loads of warm water around. It is a strange hurricane moving WSW at this time. She will sure mess up a lot of oil rigs...and could end up as far as Texas although they're saying Alabama and Mississipi.

[shawmut]

23. some damage pics