Workers remove rubble after a section of a bridge under construction collapsed on highway after Hurricane Katrina struck Miami Thursday night. The hurricane killed seven people, cut power to 2.4 million and left Florida's densely populated south-east coast littered with branches and fallen trees yesterday. - Reuters
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP):
FLOODED STREETS resembled canals, sailboats sat on the sand and a highway overpass lay in ruin yesterday in the hours after Hurricane Katrina plodded across south Florida.
The storm's wind then zoomed to 100 mph (161 kph) as Katrina moved over the Gulf of Mexico.
Seven people were killed, and more than a million homes and businesses lost power after the storm crashed ashore late Thursday. Insured damage for the region could top out at US$600 million, according to AIR Worldwide, a risk modelling company.
Three people were killed by falling trees, and a 79-year-old man died when his car struck a tree, all in Broward County. In Miami-Dade, two boaters died in Miami, one from injuries suffered when the storm buffeted his boat, and the other when his boat capsized, officials said. Another man was found floating in Florida City.
FAMILY MISSING
A family of five, missing since they left the Keys early Thursday in a 24-foot (7.2-metre) boat, were rescued Friday off Everglades City, the Coast Guard said. Their medical conditions were not immediately known.
Katrina reached Category Two status Friday morning, and forecasters said it could become a major hurricane, a Category Three, with top sustained winds above 110 mph (177 kph), by today. It was expected to turn north and hit the Gulf coast between Florida and Louisiana early next week.
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 (4.5 metres) and sustained wind hit 80 mph (129 kph), with gusts reaching 92 mph (148 kph). Up to 11.5 inches (29 centimetres) of rain fell on Miami-Dade County. Crews scrambled to clear roads and repair utility lines around the region.
Katrina was expected to make a gradual westward turn by Saturday and then move north, and Governor 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 had asked for federal disaster assistance for Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
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 November 30.
