Ramblings' Journal

Hurricane Katrina blasts through South Florida; now over Gulf at Cat 2

Hurricane Katrina blew through Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in Florida overnight with lots of flood damage and causing four deaths in metro Miami. Katrina became a hurricane just before landfall, and retained hurricane strength as it sucked energy out of the Everglades west of Miami.

It moved back over open water before daylight this morning, and rapidly intensified. The storm raked the lower Florida Keys, including Key West during the morning hours today. The storm is now pulling away to the west at 7 miles per hour.

The storm's sustained winds are now up to 100 miles per hour, making it a category two storm.

Katrina is expected to turn to the northwest and then the north, bringing it toward the Florida panhandle in the Pensacola/Panama City area by the end of the weekend. Katrina is then expected to make a bee-line for the Atlanta area, and then run up the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains running northward.

I really feel for folks along the panhandle area of Florida. They've had to deal with multiple storms last year; now Katrina will become the second major storm for them this year.

Time for me to batten down the hatches yet again.

UPDATE - Joe Bastardi at AccuWeather is reporting this morning in Yahoo Weather's video report (WMP) that he sees Katrina becoming a category 4 storm before landfall in the Florida panhandle Monday morning.