NEW ORLEANS, United States : Heavy rain spawned by approaching Hurricane Katrina lashed this southern city, but the monster storm lost some of its punch as it roared toward the Louisiana coast threatening death and massive destruction. The National Hurricane Center downgraded Katrina to a category four storm after it measured sustained winds reaching 250 kilometres (155 miles) an hour, a notch weaker than necessary to qualify for category five status. But forecasters warned the change could be fleeting as patches of warmer than usual water in the Gulf of Mexico could lend the storm additional strength in coming hours. "Katrina is expected to make landfall as either a category four or possible a category five hurricane," the centre said. Katrina also claimed its first human casualties early Monday as three elderly people died following their evacuation from coastal New Orleans to Baton Rouge. State police spokesman Markus Smith said the people were "indirect" victims of the storm. "It may have been dehydration related," Smith said in a telephone interview. He said Louisiana State Police count natural disaster casualties as direct only when they killed by falling trees and downed power lines, or die as a result of flooding or storm surges. The elderly people lived at a nursing home in New Orleans, but were evacuated inland by bus, according to Smith. He said they died shortly after arriving at Baton Rouge, where they were supposed to stay at a church. At 0700 GMT, the eye of the hurricane was located 113 kilometres (70 miles) south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 209 kilometres (130 miles) from New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who issued an unprecedented mandatory evacuation order for the city known as "The Big Easy," warned people to remain vigilant ahead of the storm's anticipated landfall at about 7:00 am (1100 GMT). "I do not want to create panic," he said. "But I do want the citizens to understand that this is very serious and it's of the highest nature." "We need to pray, of course, very strongly, that the hurricane force would diminish," said Louisiana state Governor Kathleen Blanco. US President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency that clears the way for federal aid, and urged people to get out of the hurricane's path. "We cannot stress enough the dangers this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities. I ask citizens to put their safety and the safety of their families first by moving to safe ground," Bush said from his Texas ranch. Highways were gridlocked as tens of thousands of people fled New Orleans and other coastal areas. Because much of the city of 1.4 million people is below sea level, it is highly prone to flooding. Nagin feared flood embankments would not withstand the ferocity of the hurricane. At the city's Louis Armstrong airport, people anxiously awaited outbound flights. "I'm just happy to be getting out of here," said Tracy Roberson, a 31-year-old postal worker who sat at the airport with her cat. "I think there's going to be casualties because they didn't give enough notice." Some 30,000 people took refuge in the Superdome sports arena, which authorities designated a shelter of last resort for those unable to flee the city. Authorities also ordered evacuations in neighbouring Mississippi, which also expected to be slammed by the monster storm. Since Katrina raged dangerously close to offshore oil platforms, most of which have been evacuated, oil prices hit new record highs after crossing 70 dollars a barrel in Asia Monday and were expected to go higher. The deadly storm wrought havoc in Miami and other areas of south Florida last week, uprooting trees, flooding entire neighbourhoods, downing power lines and sending a highway overpass crashing down. About half a million people still had no electricity on Sunday. Katrina is the 11th named Atlantic storm this year and among the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record. Records going back to 1851 show that only three category-five hurricanes have hit the United States in over 150 years. Hurricane Andrew killed more than two dozen people when it slammed into south Florida in 1992, while Camille caused more than 250 deaths in Mississippi in 1969, and "Labor Day" killed about 600 people in the Florida Keys in 1935.
