From: clarinews@clarinet.com (GENE MEARNS)
Newsgroups: biz.clarinet.sample,clari.news.weather,clari.news.disaster,clari.news.urgent
Subject: Hurricane Andrew aims fury at Gulf states
Keywords: general weather, weather, municipal goverment, government,
	severe weather, trouble
Date: 26 Aug 92 00:15:13 GMT
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample
X-Supersedes: <andrewU2aP640pc@clarinet.com>
ACategory: usa
Slugword: andrew
Priority: urgent
Format: breaking
ANPA: Wc: 1183; Id: z6918; Sel: xxnww; Adate: 8-25-810ped; Ver: 13/2; V: ld
Codes: ynwwbxx., yngcbxx., ynbwbxx., xxxxxxxx
Note: urgent
 (complete writethru -- hurricane force winds ashore)


	NEW ORLEANS (UPI) -- Hurricane force winds roared over low-lying
coastal areas of southeast and south central Louisiana late Tuesday as
nearly 2 million people fled to higher ground to escape deadly Hurricane
Andrew.
	The Category 4 hurricane, which killed 14 people in Florida and
another three in the Bahamas earlier this week, is the strongest storm
to threaten Louisiana since Camille killed 256 people and caused $1.4
billion in damage in 1969.
	The National Hurricane Center at Coral Gables, Fla., said the 
``hurricane force'' winds of more than 74 mph extended outward up to 70
miles from the center of the hurricane. Andrew's highest winds were
still about 140 mph.
	At 6 pm CDT, the center of the storm was located near latitude 28.5
degrees north and longitude 90.4 degrees west, or about 105 miles south
of New Orleans and 155 miles southeast of Lafayette on the central
Louisiana coast.
	The forecasters said Andrew was moving toward the northwest at a
little slower speed, 13 mph, and further decrease in forward speed was
possible during the night before the eye of the hurricane crosses the
coastline.
	Hurricane warnings were posted from Pascagoula, Miss., westward
through the Bolivar Penisula on the Texas coast southeast of Houston.
	Earlier Tuesday, a Coast Guard helicopter rescued four people and two
dogs from a disabled 65-foot fishing vessel struggling in rough seas
from Hurricane Andrew, 50 miles south of Houma, La. They were reported
in good condition.
	Louisiana officials ordered or recommended evacuation of 11 coastal
parishes, which would affect 1.8 million people. Evacuations of
thousands more were underway from Sabine Pass to Port Bolivar on the
upper Texas coast.
	Wallace Stickney, director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, said U.S. storm damage already is in the billions of dollars and
could break records if Andrew comes ashore again.
	``If it goes ashore in New Orleans or does significant damage in the
New Orleans area, it could be one of the storms of the century before
we're done,'' he said.
	Andrew's 165-mph winds left a shambles of smashed houses, businesses
and trailer homes, uprooted trees, flooded streets and downed power
lines in south Florida when it struck early Monday. An estimated 50,000
are homeless.
	New Orleans Mayor Sidney Barthelemy said Tuesday the latest forecasts
appeared to indicate the city might be spared the brunt of Andrew's
fury, but he cautioned residents the track could still change at the
last minute.
	``From all indications, it seems the storm is heading west,'' he
said. ``It seems we will be spared from getting a direct hit.''
	Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Coral
Gables, Fla., said the core or strongest winds of the hurricane, which
caused severe damage south of Miami, will likely go west of New Orleans.
	``It's essentially the same storm that hit south Florida,'' he said.
``It's a Category 4, so the center is essentially the same,'' but the
central pressure if a bit higher than it was and more spread out.
	``At this point it's a lot like Hugo was,'' he said.
	Sheets said earlier he expected damage in Louisiana to be worse than
Florida because building codes there are less stringent.
	In Baton Rouge, Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards recommended evacuation
of threatened areas near New Orleans and along the coast.
	``At this point, all we can do is monitor the storm,'' the governor
said. ``If it hits, there's a possiblity it will be one of the worst in
recent times.''
	Edwards also activated 1,700 members of the Louisiana National Guard
to assist New Orleans with evacuation activities and anti-looting
patrols.
	Evacuations were recommended along the upper Texas coast at Sabine
Pass, League City, Port Arthur and the Bolivar Penisula, only about 60
miles southeast of Houston in Galveston County.
	County Commissioner Eddie Barr said the 5,000 residents of the
peninsula should head for safety.
	``The elevation through most of the peninsula is five to seven feet,''
said Barr, talking on a cellular telephone from a ferry. ``We're urging
people to evacuate by dark tonight because if the storm changes course
to the west, it'll be too late to evacuate.''
	Hardware stores and supermarkets reported a run on such emergency
supplies as bottled water, canned goods and batteries. Some stores
reported stocks dwindled rapidly as residents prepared for the storm.
	At Puglia's Supermarket in Arabi, La., the shelves were emptied of
bottled water, refilled and emptied again in five minutes.
	``They're buying water, candles, bread and they've been buying all
day,'' assistant manager Dat Nguyen said.
	In boarded-up Cocodrie, a fishing village in southern Terrebonne
Parish, Hubert Dupre and his family were loading up their possessions to
drive inland.
	``I'm not expecting anything when I come back,'' Dupre said.
	Nearby, Debbie Stevens and her family were packing up for a drive to
Alexandria, La. ``We're taking as much as we can. Things like albums and
photos of the kids, too,'' she said.
	New Orleans, which sits below sea level with a population of more
than 600,000, is considered very vulnerable to a direct hit from a
hurricane and an elborate protection system has been built to protect
it.
	Many New Orleans residents compared Hurricane Andrew to Hurricane
Betsy, a killer storm that also sliced across southern Florida before
crashing ashore south of New Orleans in 1965 with winds of up to 150
mph. Betsy claimed 70 lives, injured 17,600 and left 60,000 homeless.
	The Coast Guard said it closed a 250-mile stretch of the Mississippi
River between Southwest Pass and Baton Rouge to ship traffic at 10 a.m.
Tuesday.
	The American Red Cross was rushing disaster relief personnel and
truckloads of supplies to a staging area in Jackson, Miss. The agency
opened 38 shelters in Louisiana, eight in Texas and two in Mississippi.
	President Bush toured heavily damaged areas south of Miami Monday and
signed a federal disaster declaration for Dade, Broward and Monroe
counties in south Florida.
	At Florida's Homestead Air Force Base, virtually every building was
damaged or destroyed, Gov. Lawton Chiles said after a helicopter tour.
That included some 200 housing units damaged by the storm.
	Florida Power & Light said some 3 million customers served by 1.4
million accounts have been without power at the height of the storm, but
service had been restored to half of those by Tuesday.
	In the hard-hit south Dade County area, residents, some in tears,
inspected their shattered homes Tuesday and telling stories of terror
when the ``big wind'' hit.
	Andrew struck the northern Bahamas Sunday, but caused less damage
than had been feared. Maurice Tynes, national disaster coordinator for
the Bahamas, said one person was killed on northern Eleuthera Island.
Patricia Glinton, editor of the Bahamas News Bureau in Nassau, said two
other deaths were confirmed on north Eleuthera.
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