New Orleans braces for monster hurricane

 
Sunday, August 28, 2005; Posted: 8:29 p.m. EDT (00:29 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans braced for a catastrophic blow from Hurricane Katrina overnight, as forecasters predicted the Category 5 storm could drive a wall of water over the city's levees.

The huge storm, packing 160 mph winds, is expected to hit the northern Gulf Coast in the next 12 hours and make landfall as a Category 4 or 5 hurricane Monday morning.

The National Hurricane Center reports that conditions are already deteriorating along the central and northeastern coast.

A statement from the National Weather Service in Slidell, near New Orleans, Louisiana, warned that much of the affected area "will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer."

Low-rise, wood-frame buildings will be destroyed, and concrete apartment buildings "will sustain major damage," it said.

"High-rise office and apartment buildings will sway dangerously, a few to the point of total collapse," the warning read.

"All windows will blow out. Airborne debris will be widespread, and may include heavy items such as household appliances and even light vehicles."

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared a state of emergency Sunday and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city.

Nagin exempted essential federal, state, and local personnel; emergency and utility workers; transit workers; media; hotel workers; and patrons from the evacuation order."We are facing a storm that most of us have feared," Nagin said. "I do not want to create panic, but I do want the citizens to understand that this is very serious and it's of the highest nature.