By Alex Morales - Bloomberg - August 28, 2005

New Orleans Ordered to Evacuate as Hurricane Katrina Approaches

Katrina was upgraded to category 5 earlier today, U.S. National Hurricane Center spokesman David Miller said in a telephone interview from Miami. Such storms, with winds greater than 155 miles an hour (249 kph) can tear roofs off homes, blow down all trees and shrubs, and cause flooding. Only three Category Five hurricanes have hit the U.S. since records began.

``Katrina continues not only grow stronger, but it continues to grow larger,'' the city of New Orleans said in a statement posted before Nagin's press conference on its Web site. ``Everyone along the northern Gulf of Mexico needs to take this hurricane very seriously and put action plans into play now.''

Only three category five storms have made U.S. landfall since records began, according to the hurricane center: The Labor Day hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Andrew, which hit southern Miami-Dade county in August that year, caused $26.5 billion of losses, the costliest hurricane on record.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale

Videos of Hurrine Katrina from AccuWeather.com

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