Hurricane Katrina

City of New Orleans evacuated...and there is every reason to believe the city will be totally trashed (see links below). Live local coverage on WWL-TV, weather permitting.
Hurricane Katrina is a big one: 160mph sustained winds, gusts higher; rain; floods...
Non-Precipitation Watch/Warning/Advisory, one of the scariest warnings ever.
Hurricane KATRINA Public Advisory
US National Hurricane Center
It all looks very bad. I was in Hong Kong in 1983 for Typhoon Ellen. It was not a picnic, believe me. A major typhoon (Typhoon Signal No. 10, highest warning) and direct hit, Typhoon Ellen was one of the scariest, most frightening times I have ever experienced. And there have been a few... ever looked down the wrong end of handgun? Had a stranger pull a knife on you? Neither events, I hasten to add, took place in Hong Kong. But I digress.
I was living on the 16th floor of a 24-floor highrise, in a residential complex on the west coast of Hong Kong island. Our block was mostly sideways on to the winds and rains. The building... swayed. Yes, swayed. The noise? It was like an express train roaring past. Bushes flew past our taped-up windows, the glass panes bending in and out. The rain went past sideways. My partner and I soon moved from our bedroom to the living room, where we hid under the duvet. The whole thing happened at night, lasted for hours, and no one got any sleep. Fortunately, the electricity stayed up. The next day, we ventured out to see the damage in the neighbourhood, which was a lot...
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Never need to go through a Big One again, thank you very much.
So, I wish all those in Katrina's path the best of luck.
Typhoon: Chinese for big wind.
Hurricane: Spanish from hura¡kan, the Taino word.