US city evacuates as storm looms / 'Once in a lifetime'

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Updated: Monday, 29

August 2005, 03:00 GMT 04:00 UK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US city evacuates as storm looms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People queued for

blocks to enter the city's Superdome

 

 

 

Hundreds

of thousands of New

Orleans

residents have fled as Hurricane Katrina, strengthening to the deadliest

level, closes in on the city.

Highways were jammed as people obeyed Mayor Ray Nagin's order to

evacuate the Louisiana city for higher ground.

Those unable to leave through infirmity or lack of transport

queued around the block to get into refuges - including the 77,000-seater

Superdome stadium.

Katrina is expected to hit land about sunrise

on Monday (1100GMT).

Forecasters say Katrina has grown to a Category Five - the scale's highest, and

it will hit the city with winds of up to 160mph (260km/h).

In the Gulf of Mexico, oil

production has been hit, with capacity of over 650,000 bpd closed down, along

with seven refineries and a huge offshore terminal.

In Asian trading on Monday, oil prices jumped

nearly $5 to touch a high of $70.80.

'Once in a lifetime'

Issuing his unprecedented mandatory evacuation, Mayor Nagin said

the city - which sits some six feet (two metres) below sea level - was at

real risk of flooding.

The post-hurricane surge could reach 28

ft (8.5 metres) toppling the barriers that protect the city and its historic

French Quarter, he warned.

" This is a once in a

lifetime event, " he told the city's 485,000

residents.

" The city of New Orleans has never seen a

hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly. "

Darkening skies

Many of the city's businesses and homes

had been boarded up and sandbags stacked up in doorways.

Resident Sharron told the BBC News website she did not expect to

find much left of the home that has been in her family for 300 years when she

returns to the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope I have a home to return to

 

Alex Bush

Mandeville, US

 

 

 

 

 

 

" I pray for those who could not find a way

out of the city. I believe this will devastate the city I love with all my

heart, " she said.

The BBC's Alistair Leithead in

New Orleans says many of those who are not leaving

have headed to hotels in higher areas. Car parks are full.

The most frail have been given priority in the city's Superdome,

the home of the NFL's New Orleans Saints

and now a make-shift shelter. Doctors and nurses are on hand.

More serious cases have been taken to hospitals in other cities

in Louisiana.

States of emergency

The neighbouring states of Mississippi and Alabama are also

braced for the impact of the storm, which is now swirling over the Gulf of Mexico.

US President George W Bush has already

issued a state of emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi, freeing the path for federal aid for

those affected.

 

 

 

 

People are having

to drive for hours to find vacant accommodation

 

 

 

" If it came ashore with the intensity it has

now and went to the New Orleans area, it would be the

strongest we've had in recorded history there, "

Ed Rappaport of the US National Hurricane Center said.

Some 21 oil platforms on the Gulf of Mexico, which produces

about a quarter of US domestic oil and gas

output, have been evacuated.

The storm, which formed in the Bahamas, lashed South Florida on Thursday, claiming

the lives of nine people, uprooting trees, downing power lines and causing

extensive flooding.

Katrina is the sixth hurricane to hit the Florida coastline

since last August.

Only three Category Five storms have hit the US since

record-keeping began.

The last to strike the Louisiana area was

Hurricane Camille in 1969, which killed more than 250 people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4192218.stm

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

satva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jorge Angelino

 

 

Rua da Sociedade Filarmónica

Perpétua Azeitonense, 29

2925-598 Azeitão

Portugal

 

 

 

 

jorge.angelino

 

 

 

 

 

 

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