From: clarinews@clarinet.com (GENE MEARNS)
Newsgroups: biz.clarinet.sample,clari.news.weather,clari.news.disaster,clari.local.florida,clari.news.urgent
Subject: Hurricane Andrew aims fury at Gulf states
Keywords: general weather, weather, municipal goverment, government,
	severe weather, trouble
Date: 25 Aug 92 18:37:35 GMT
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample
X-Supersedes: <andrewU2aP140pe@clarinet.com>
Location: new york city, new jersey, new york
ACategory: national
Slugword: andrew
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 540; Id: z4578; Sel: nxnww; Adate: 8-25-235ped; Ver: 10/22; V: ld
Codes: ynwwrnx., yngcrnj., ynbwrny., xxxxxxxx
Note: (complete writethru -- updating death toll)


	NEW ORLEANS (UPI) -- Killer Hurricane Andrew bore down on Gulf Coast
areas of Texas and Louisiana Tuesday, sending hundreds of thousands of
people fleeing to higher ground and leaving death and destruction behind
it in Florida and the Bahamas.
	Andrew, which killed at least 16 people as it tore through the
Bahamas and South Florida Sunday and Monday, is the strongest storm to
aim at Lousiana since Camille killed 256 people and caused $1.4 billion
in damage in 1969.
	At least 13 people were killed in Florida and three deaths were
confirmed in the Bahamas.
	At 10 a.m. CDT, the National Weather Service said the center of the
hurricane was near latitude 27.5 degrees north and longitude 89.2 west,
or about 175 miles south southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico.
	Hurricane warnings were posted from Pascagoula, Miss., westward
through the Bolivar Penisula on the Texas coast southeast of Houston.
	Andrew was moving toward the west northwest at about 17 mph. A little
more northwestward motion was expected during the next 24 hours with a
decrease in forward speed, forecasters said.
	Hurricane force winds extended outward up to 70 miles from the eye of
the storm. Squalls were reported at dawn near Grand Isle, La., on the
coast where thousands of people in the southern parishes were leaving
for safety inland.
	Wallace Stickney, director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, said U.S. storm damage is already in the billions of dollars and
could become 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. Authorities said at least 13 people were killed
and 50,000 were left homeless.
	At 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.''
	About 200,000 people were ordered out of the Louisiana coastal areas,
leaving behind closed schools and boarded up homes and businesses.
	Voluntary evacuations were recommended along the upper Texas coast at
Sabine Pass, League City 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.''
	In New Orleans, Mayor Sidney Barthelemy did not order a citywide
evacuation but told people to leave low areas outside the city's
protective levees and stay with relatives or friends or go to shelters.
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