Hurricane hits US islands

Residents wait in line to enter the Superdome which is being used as an emergency shelter before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina Sunday in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina has sustained winds of 175 mph and made landfall in the Gulf Coast yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

The hurricane made its first landfall as its northern eye crossed the coast near Grand Isle, one of Louisiana's barrier islands, at about 1000 GMT, said Martin Nelson, an official with the National Hurricane Centre.

"We may have a second landfall later on," Nelson said in a brief telephone interview.

Although slightly weaker than on Sunday, the monster storm has already forced hundreds of thousands of residents from New Orleans to Biloxi, Mississippi, to flee and seek refuge on higher ground.

An estimated 80 percent of New Orleans residents have left the low-lying city, according to local officials.

But for three elderly people, evacuation from New Orleans to Baton Rouge proved fatal, officials said.

State police spokesman Markus Smith said the people were "indirect" victims of the storm, which has been downgraded to category four from the highest level of five but is still packing a powerful punch.

"It may have been dehydration-related," Smith said in a telephone interview.

He explained that Louisiana State Police views natural disaster casualties as direct when they are killed by falling trees and downed power lines or die as a result of flooding or storm surges.