August 28, 2005\r\n5:27 pm CDT\r\n\r\nPotentially Catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Katrina Taking Aim on the LA/MS Coasts ***\r\n\r\nFolks...the news continues to get worse for the north-central Gulf Coast as it pertains to Hurricane Katrina. The storm has once again rapidly intensified early this morning and now has maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour, making it a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The minimum central pressure reported by the Hurricane Hunters on the 9:50 a.m. advisory makes Katrina one for the record books:\r\n\r\nFrom, NOAA Hurricane Tracking Center in Miami, Florida \r\n\r\nFor more info & stats click here. \r\n\r\nThe Category 5 storm is expected to come ashore in the Barataria Bay-Grand Isle, Lousiana area about 6 a.m., move over New Orleans, across Lake Pontchartrain, cross to the North Shore around Mandeville and Slidell, La. and then begin to move northeasterly toward Jackson, Miss.\r\n\r\n5:19 PM CDT: Greetings this is Margaret Saizan reporting on Hurricane Katrina from Baton Rouge Louisiana. The city of Baton Rouge is expected to feel the impact of the storm even though we are a bit inland. New Orleans (our neighboring city 70 miles to the northeast) is expected to take a direct hit.\r\n\r\nAt present skies are overcast, the wind is still and it is very hot. I wil continue with live updates on the storm as it makes its way inland for as long as we have power. I am not new to hurricanes having lived in this area for 49 years. Weathered Hilda, Betsy, Camille and Andrew. The reports are that this storm will be worse than Andrew but maybe not as bad as Camille, which destroyed the Mississippi Gulf Coast. \r\n\r\nMood is upbeat in Baton Rouge - most everyone is prepared, but we are gravely worried about our friends, family, and business colleages in New Orleans who couldn\'t get out. New Orleans is an entrapped soup bowl - a city below sea level completely surrounded by water. The ground there is so marshy that they bury their dead in above ground tombs. Dig a few feet, and the ground fills with water. The entire state has been dreading the day when a Hurricane of this magnitude would make a direct hit to this area- which at present is what NOAA is predicting. I saw a computer simulation once of what the storm surge would look like in the event of a hurricane of this kind, and it is pretty frightening. \r\n\r\nI have been cooking all day in preparation of power outages which may last up to six weeks. Although the Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco lives a few doors down from me, and I am hoping that our neighborhood will get power quickly so that Ms. Blanco can have power! I have shrimp thawing and will make a shrimp casserole later. I have baked cakes, brownies, and stocked the pantry with all kinds of great food for a Louisiana Hurricane. In Louisiana we do good food here, no matter what else is going on. \r\n\r\nMy husband just came in from the hunting camp with a borrowed generator - thank goodness. He\'s battened everything down in the yard and we\'re ready to ride out the storm. \r\n\r\nMy 20 year old daugher who is an LSU student just came in with a load of wash. Once the power goes out we won\'t be able to wash. My son who is also an LSU student is off at a Hurricane Party. A friend from Shreveport, La. called worried about one of her LSU students who decided to stay in town and ride out the storm. My younger child and a friend are out riding the four-wheeler around the neighborhood. \r\n\r\nRight now everything feels pretty normal - literally the calm before the storm. \r\n