Hurricane Katrina rocks New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina pounded Louisiana Monday and threatened to swamp low-lying New Orleans as it followed a coastal path that will take it into neighbouring Mississippi and Alabama.

The historic city was rocked by Katrina and its 216 kph winds after the storm came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico and roared along the coast.

Powerful winds sent debris flying through the streets, blew windows out of high-rise hotels and tore through the roof of the Superdome where 26,000 people had taken refuge from the dangerous storm.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said in a news conference the damage had caused leaks and evacuees had been moved to dry areas in the stadium, but there was no immediate danger.

At 9 am CDT (1400 GMT), Katrina's centre was 48 kilometres south-southeast of New Orleans and the western wall of the eye was directly over the city, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. At 10 am CDT, it was downgraded to a Category 3 with maximum sustained winds of near 201 kph.

Heavy rains poured down in sheets and the biggest fear was that the levees protecting the city from the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain would be topped by a massive storm surge.

"Please Pray for New Orleans" read a giant hand-painted sign, appearing to sum up the fears that had seized the city, known as The Big Easy for its relaxed life and party atmosphere.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said on NBC's "Today Show" there was already "significant flooding" in the city, most of which lies below sea level.

"I've gotten reports this morning that there's already water coming over some of the levee systems," he said.

Weather experts have predicted that thousands of homes could be damaged or destroyed and a million people left homeless if the storm surge is too great for the levees to hold back.

Officials estimated that a million people had left the area ahead of the storm, which was previously a fearsome Category 5 with winds of 282 kph, but many chose to ride it out. It hit land as a Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.

Artist Matt Rinard, who owns a business in the French Quarter, holed up on the fifth floor of a Canal Street hotel and watched the storm roll in.

He said pieces of sheet metal and plywood, billboards and pieces of palm trees flew down Canal, which borders the Quarter, as huge gusts of wind blew through the city.

Utility company Entergy Corp. spokesman Morgan Stewart said 317,000 customers had lost power in the storm and that the number was expected to grow.

Risk Management Solutions, a Newark, California, consulting firm, estimates that insured losses are likely to fall in the range of US$10 billion to US$25 billion.

Source: China Daily