Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Weary Panhandle residents keeping a watchful eye

By JONI JAMES
Published August 27, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Florida Panhandle residents awoke Saturday to some good news: The path of Hurricane Katrina continued to move west during the night, lowering the probability that the storm-weary region would take a direct hit again.

But state officials warned Saturday morning that Pensacola and other western Panhandle communities, hit by two hurricanes already the past year, could still see high seas and severe winds, even if the eye of the hurricane went as far west as New Orleans.

They warned that the slow-moving Category 3 hurricane, traveling at just 7 miles per hour, is expected in the next 24 hours to increase to a Category 4, with minimum sustained winds of 131 miles per hour. And it may even grow stronger.

Katrina is already being blamed for seven deaths in South Florida where it hit Thursday. It would be the third hurricane this year to reach Category 4 status.

" We're having a very active, almost record-breaking season," said State Meteorologist Ben Nelson. "And strengthening beyond Category 4 is still possible."

At 8 a.m. Saturday, National Hurricane Center forecasts projected landfall for the Mississippi coast sometime Monday afternoon. But the forecast error suggested landfall could happen anywhere from the western Florida Panhandle to eastern Texas.

"We saw from Hurricane Dennis that you can be 200 miles away and still be impacted," Nelson said.

The storm's windfield had also increased signficiantly overnight, with tropical storm-force winds extending 150-miles from the center and hurricane-force winds extending 40 miles out.

Meanwhile in South Florida, State Emergency Response Team Chief Mike DeLorenzo said he saw little structural damage caused by from Hurricane Katrina, which was a Category 1 hurricane when it hit Broward and Miami-Dade counties Thursday night. But standing water remained across the region, with power out for 883,000 homes and businesses. Flood warnings were extended until 8 p.m. Saturday for south Miami-Dade County.

Two food and water distribution points opened in Miami-Dade Saturday morning at the Homestead Sports Complex and the Metro Zoo. More than 240 people remained in five shelters.

[Last modified August 27, 2005, 11:09:02]