LONDON - Hurricane Katrina roared toward the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts on Monday with 135 mile per hour (216 kph) winds and a massive storm surge that threatened to swamp the low-lying historic city of New Orleans.
At least a million people had fled the area ahead of the powerful storm, which was once a fearsome Category 5 storm with 175 mph (280 kph) winds, but as of 10 a.m. CDT (1500 GMT) was a Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph ((201 kph).
Here are some of the deadliest hurricanes to strike the southern United States since 1900 by number of casualties:
1900 - An unnamed hurricane, since known as the Galveston Hurricane, slams into Texas, killing at least 8,000 people.
1928 - About 2,500 people are killed in Florida by a hurricane that caused an enormous storm surge in Lake Okeechobee.
1935 - An unnamed Category 5 hurricane, since referred to as the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and the most intense storm to hit the United States since records began, sweeps over the Florida Keys, leaving 408 dead.
1919 - An unnamed hurricane targets Florida and Texas, killing 287 people.
1957 - Hurricane Audrey hits southwest Louisiana and Texas, killing 390.
1915 - New Orleans, the largest city in Louisiana, suffers a direct hit from a storm which left 275 dead.
1969 - Hurricane Camille, the second most intense storm to strike the US, kills 256 people in Mississippi, Virginia and Louisiana.
1972 - Hurricane Agnes, while only a Category 1, kills 122 people when it hits Florida and moves to the northeast United States.
1954 - Hurricane Hazel slams into North Carolina and South Carolina, killing 95 people.
1965 - New Orleans takes a direct hit from Hurricane Betsy, a Category 3, that flooded the city and killed about 75 people.
1961 - Hurricane Carla hits Texas, killing 46.
1989 - Hurricane Hugo swamps South Carolina, killing 32.
1992 - Category 5 Hurricane Andrew tears into Florida and Louisiana, leaving 29 dead and causing over $25 billion in damage. It was the costliest hurricane to ever hit the United States and the third most intense in history.
2004 - Category 3 Hurricane Ivan hits northwest Florida and Alabama, killing 25 and Category 4 Hurricane Charley slams into Florida, killing 23.
Sources: Reuters; US National Hurricane Center (www.nhc.noaa.gov)
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
