August 26, 2005
There are 1.3 million customers without power after Hurricane Katrina slammed into Florida's southeastern coast last night.
Katrina slammed into Florida causing at least four deaths along with power outages, and major flooding. Katrina was downgraded to a tropical storm, but has since been upgraded to hurricane again. The threat to Florida is far from over.
Hurricane Katrina crashed ashore, packing 80mph to 100mph winds, knocking down an interstate bridge near Miami, which was under construction.
The category one storm also overturned a semi-truck, which was left dangling over the guard rails. The driver made it out alive.
Some residents weren't as fortunate, at least four people are dead, two of them were killed when trees fell on top of them. Emergency management officials are urging everyone to stay inside.
"We want to stress that it's still not safe to go out there," said Chief Carlos Castillo, the Director of Emergency Management Services, in Miami-Dade County.
Katrina ripped down power lines, leaving nearly a million and a half people without electricity. Police had to block off roads strewn with live wires and downed trees that were ripped out of the ground.
"Whatever we've seen out there, it is dangerous to be out there because of downed power lines, because of power out in a lot of areas and it's not safe to be driving there. In addition, the potential flooding is going to increase," added Chief Castillo.
Many residents admit they didn't take the category one storm that seriously. Katrina's wrath now has them thinking twice.
Hurricane Katrina has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but is expected to head into the gulf later this morning. The next projected target is Florida again, this time in the panhandle.
