Hurricane Katrina Kills Two in Florida

A sodden, slow-moving Hurricane Katrina lumbered ashore on Florida’s densely populated southeastern coast Thursday, toppling trees that killed two people, knocking out power to more than 1 million households and dumping so much rain that widespread flooding was feared.

“This isn’t so much a windstorm as a rainstorm. It’s the flooding we’re worried about,” said Judy Sarver, Broward County communications director.

Citing Katrina’s “tremendous rain,” Gov. Jeb Bush urged Floridians to prepare well for the sixth hurricane to strike the state in about a year.

Katrina made landfall shortly before 7 p.m. between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Katrina, the 11th named storm and third hurricane in an unusually busy Atlantic storm season, could soak areas of South Florida with up to 15 inches of rain in isolated locations and 6 to 10 inches elsewhere.

Bush warned that flooding could be severe. “In essence, this is a very dangerous storm,” he said. “It’s important to take this seriously.”

Sustained winds rose Thursday to 80 mph after Katrina trudged west from the Bahamas, strengthening from a tropical storm to Category 1 hurricane status. As Katrina approached, public schools in Broward and Miami-Dade counties were closed. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was ordered shut down by 7 p.m., and many flights were canceled at Miami International Airport. Cruise ships set to leave Miami and Port Everglades were halted.

In Broward County, authorities urged residents of barrier islands, low-lying areas and trailer parks to evacuate. Shelters opened in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Florida Power and Light said 7,200 of its workers and others from out-of-state utilities had been mobilized in case they were needed.

As Katrina’s gusts and outer rain bands began to buffet South Florida in the early afternoon, palm trees bobbed in strong winds, rain fell in sheets from lead-gray skies and crashing waves attracted daredevil surfers to the beach. As conditions worsened, Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne offered a word of advice for would-be drivers: “Don’t.”

Two people were reported killed by trees blown down by high winds. One of them was a man in his 20s in a parked car in Fort Lauderdale, the other a pedestrian in nearby Plantation, Broward County spokesman Dennis Myers said.

“There are power lines down all over the place,” Myers said Thursday evening.

Another official said the storm plunged more than 1 million South Florida households into the dark.

Before Katrina made landfall, Floridians jammed service stations to fill up with gasoline and emptied store shelves of bottled water, bread and other staples. But the storm’s sustained winds, which were as low as 50 mph earlier Thursday, convinced many it wasn’t worth the trouble to put up hurricane shutters.

“They say it’s just going to be a tropical storm,” said Lourdes Vargas, 17, who stopped at a grocery store in Plantation to buy Cuban bread, canned soup, candles and other supplies for her family. “This is just in case the supermarkets close down and have no more food.”

By early evening, traffic lights at many Fort Lauderdale intersections had been knocked out, and streets were strewn with foliage. Wind gusts of 92 mph were registered at Port Everglades.

As Katrina’s eye whirled about 15 miles offshore, patrons huddled inside the Elbo Room, a watering hole on Fort Lauderdale’s beach. Wind blew a blinding mixture of sand and seawater across state Highway A1A.

That was too much for Jeremy Raynes. The 27-year-old plumber had been ready to ride out Katrina on the beach, he said, but that didn’t mean letting himself be blasted by a sandstorm.

“It’s not as strong as it could be. But it’s gotten a lot worse,” Raynes said, as he and his roommate, each holding a bottle of beer, retreated from the beach.

Lori Vun Kamon, assistant director of emergency operations for Broward County, said the greatest problem could be heavy rain in a county where the highest point is just 17 feet above sea level and where the ground already was saturated.

To get ready for Katrina, the South Florida Water Management District had since Tuesday been operating its pumps, some so large they could move 10,000 gallons of water a second, to drop canal levels about a foot to speed the runoff of the hurricane’s rain. But district spokesman Randy Smith said heavy rains this summer, including twice the usual amount in June, meant some flooding was inevitable.

“The system is full, and there’s not a lot of places to put the water,” Smith said.

National Hurricane Center meteorologist Trisha Wallace said Katrina was causing such flooding problems because it had soaked up moisture crossing the Gulf Stream and because its leisurely 6-mph forward pace enabled water to accumulate.

“It’s a major weather maker as far as rain is concerned,” Wallace said.

In 2004, when Florida was hit by four hurricanes, Broward County was buffeted by high winds. But local officials said Katrina was the first hurricane to directly hit the area since Irene in 1999. That storm was blamed for $800 million in property damage in Florida and eight deaths by electrocution or drowning.

After crossing the Florida peninsula and reaching the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina was expected to turn north and make landfall in northwestern Florida on Sunday or Monday.

On July 10, a more powerful hurricane, Category 3 Dennis, hit the Florida Panhandle east of Pensacola.

In Miami Beach, the mayor’s office and MTV said that because of Katrina, MTV Video Music Awards activities Thursday were suspended, but that the ceremony was expected to proceed Sunday.