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Hurricane Katrina pounds a storm-weary Florida

Hurricane Katrina relentlessly pounded storm-wary Florida, killing at least three people, leaving about 1.5 million homes without power and collapsing a Miami highway overpass.

Hours after the deadly storm slammed ashore in densely populated southeastern Florida, its eye headed out to the Gulf of Mexico early yesterday, but howling winds and pounding rain still battered Miami and surrounding areas.

Katrina weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland, but was expected to rapidly regain power as it barrels over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, causing concerns in oil markets where crude prices reached record highs on Thursday. As the hurricane crashed ashore, a 25-year-old man was killed when a tree fell on his car, and a pedestrian was also crushed to death by a falling tree.

Both fatalities occurred in Fort Lauderdale, just north of the area where Katrina made landfall late Thursday, becoming the sixth deadly hurricane to pummel Florida in just over one year. Also reported was the death of a 79-year-old man in a car crash near Fort Lauderdale.

Katrina packed maximum sustained winds of 128km per hour as it landed 22km north of Miami, with gusts reaching 140km per hour.

Authorities in Miami said they were investigating reports that a vehicle was trapped under a highway overpass that partly collapsed. Emergency services also reported that a truck was dangling from an overpass near Fort Lauderdale.

The storm sent roof shingles, signs, tree limbs flying, and downed power lines, leaving about 1.5 million homes without electricity.

Numerous streets in Miami were flooded, stranding motorists who braved driving rain and debris despite official warnings to stay off the roads. Greenish flares lit up the night skies as power lines short-circuited.

Initial concerns that Katrina could swirl over offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico helped push crude prices to new highs and caused the evacuation of non-essential workers from some platforms off the southern US. Crude oil futures jumped to a record New York closing price of 67.49 dollars a barrel, up 17 cents from Wednesday. But forecasts yesterday showed the storm should remain to the east of the main offshore oil fields, and would likely make a second landfall at hurricane strength in northwestern Florida tomorrow.
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