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Hurricane Katrina was the 11th named storm and fourth hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It formed on August 24, 2005 and quickly made landfall near North Miami, Florida the next day as a Category 1 hurricane. It has quickly strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to impact the Florida Panhandle as a Category 3 or 4 hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center issued a statement on August 23 saying that a tropical depression had formed over the southeastern Bahamas. The numbering of this system was debated, as Tropical Depression Twelve formed out of what some weather analysts called the "remains of Tropical Depression Ten". The naming and numbering rules at the NHC require a system to keep the same identity if it dies then regenerates, which would have normally caused this storm to remain numbered Ten. However, the NHC gave this storm a new number because a second disturbance merged with the remains of Tropical Depression Ten on August 20, and there is no way to tell whether the remnants of T.D. Ten should be credited with this storm. (This is different from Hurricane Ivan in the 2004 season, when the NHC ruled that Ivan did indeed reform; the remnant of Ivan that regenerated in the Gulf of Mexico was a distinct system from the moment Ivan originally dissipated to the moment it regained tropical storm strength.)[1] The system was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24. Katrina became the fourth hurricane of the 2005 season on August 25 and made landfall later that day around 6:30 p.m. between Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach, Florida.
Katrina spent only a few hours over southern Florida, and soon regained hurricane strength after emerging into the Gulf of Mexico.
Katrina has proven difficult to forecast, as the models show widely-varying landfall locations and intensities as soon as it re-enters the Gulf of Mexico and makes landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
So far, four fatalities and five missing persons have been reported in Southern Florida. [2] Three of the deaths were caused by falling trees, and one death was caused after a man crashed his vehicle into a tree. Furthermore, more than 1.2 million customers were left without electriciy. [3]
Current
As of 11:30 a.m. EDT on August 26 (1530 UTC), the center of Hurricane Katrina was located over the Gulf of Mexico about 45 miles (70 km) northwest of Key West, and 75 miles (120 km) south-southwest of Naples, Florida. The storm was reported moving southwest near 7 mph (11 km/h) with maximum sustained winds of approximately 100 mph (160 km/h).
Katrina is expected to strengthen further, likely to at least a Category 3 hurricane and possibly a Category 4 hurricane, as it curves north towards a final landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Watches and Warnings
Warnings and watches in effect:
- Tropical storm warning for:
- the southern and western coast of Florida from Florida City round to Longboat Key.
- the Florida Keys, including the Dry Tortugas, and Florida Bay.
- Inland tropical storm warning for all of extreme southern Florida around and south of Charlotte Harbor and the Everglades area.
- Tropical storm watch for:
- the west coast of Florida from Longboat Key north to Anclote Key.
- Inland tropical storm watch for the inland areas of the Tampa Bay Area.
For official forecasts, see the NHC's latest public advisory on Hurricane Katrina.