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Hurricane Katrina

Katrina washes in, early and ornery

The bay area waits to see which way the storm will go, how close it will come, and how much rain we'll get as a result.

By GRAHAM BRINK, JONI JAMES and TAMARA LUSH
Published August 26, 2005

	Projected path Hurricane Guide Ten things you can do to prepare

MIAMI - Hurricane Katrina roared ashore Thursday evening near North Miami Beach, killing two people and leaving at least 1-million without power.

While the storm is expected to remain south of Tampa Bay as it enters the Gulf of Mexico today near Naples, the uncertainty of its path had emergency officials on alert.

If Katrina restrengthens and hugs the coast, the Tampa Bay area could get thrashed. But even if the storm moves farther west, heavy rain, flooding and tornadoes are still possible.

Forecasters urged Tampa Bay area residents to be vigilant.

"When nothing is really pushing or driving the storm, the question is, "Where will it go?' " said meteorologist John McMichael of the National Weather Service in Ruskin. "Right now, we can't say for sure."

Emergency managers in the Tampa Bay area will meet today to decide what precautions to take.

"I don't think we can go into it thinking about just one of the impacts a tropical system imposes," said Gary Vickers, Pinellas County emergency management director. "The storm is expected to reintensify after it goes into the gulf, so we need to consider that to ensure residents' safety."

Katrina knocked down trees, power lines and street signs in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Falling trees killed two people in Broward.

Streets flooded as the storm dropped inches of rain on an already drenched area. It lashed Miami-Dade with horizontal sheets of rain as it moved toward the Everglades. An overpass under construction near the Dolphin Expressway in Miami collapsed. Roofs were lifted off in Broward.

Storm warnings and watches were issued from Anclote Key on the gulf coast to Vero Beach on the east coast.

Katrina, the 11th named storm of the busy Atlantic season, developed over the Bahamas earlier this week and remained disorganized and hard to forecast.

The National Hurricane Center thought the storm would slow considerably as it crossed the Gulf Stream from the Bahamas. Instead, it slowed only a little, arriving hours earlier and farther south than expected.

The storm reached Category 1 hurricane status Thursday afternoon with maximum sustained winds of about 80 mph. It was moving at about 6 mph as it made landfall at 6:30 p.m. near the Miami-Dade and Broward county line between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach. Wind gusts of 92 mph were reported late Thursday.

Katrina was expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved to the interior of the state. The faster it moves and the more strength it retains, the easier it will be for the storm to reintensify in the Gulf.

"It could weaken as it moves across the state, but not too much," said McMichael, of the National Weather Service. "The Everglades are basically a large body of warm water."

Conditions remain favorable for a rapid intensification after Katrina reaches the gulf. Surface water temperatures remain unusually high, and low wind shear is forecast.

"At the least, this looks like it will be a major rain event," said Trisha Wallace, meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center. "The storm will drag all that precipitation right up the west coast."

Gov. Jeb Bush emphasized that nearly the entire gulf coast is at risk because of the uncertainty of Katrina's path.

"People need to take this storm seriously, not just in the traditional mobile home communities and low-lying areas," Bush said. "It is a major storm that could create flooding."

The second hurricane to hit Florida this season also prompted Bush to ask consumers to go light on buying gasoline, saying fuel inventories were low. Closing Port Everglades for Katrina, plus increased demand, all but guaranteed some shortages in the southern part of the state, he said.

Colleen Castille, who coordinates fuel supplies for the state in emergencies, said her office began working with oil companies early Wednesday. That allowed 20-million additional gallons of gasoline to be off-loaded at Port Everglades, leaving it at 95 percent capacity before it closed Thursday, she said.

"Once the storm does pass and the port is opened and tankers can come in, that can create the ability to get to South Florida much more gasoline than we would have had a year ago," Bush said.

Katrina could have a mixed impact on the stubborn Red Tide that has plagued the area's beaches, said Larry Brand, a professor of biology and marine fisheries at the University of Miami.

On the upside, a hurricane could break up a boundary layer that is separating cool bottom water in the Gulf of Mexico from warmer surface water that contains needed oxygen for marine life. But a hurricane could also stir up toxic hydrogen sulfide in the lower layer, which could kill fish and other life.

Times staff writers Curtis Krueger and Nicole Johnson contributed to this report, which also includes information from the Associated Press. Graham Brink can be reached at brink@sptimes.com or 727 893-8406.

[Last modified August 26, 2005, 01:38:04]