Hurricane Katrina becomes category 4 storm

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2005

MIAMI (AFP) — Hurricane Katrina, churning in the Gulf of Mexico, was upgraded to a category four storm capable of causing major economic damage, the government weather service announced.

The National Hurricane Center said that around 0515 GMT, a US Air Force plane flying over the eye of the hurricane detected maximum sustained winds reaching 233 kilometers (145 miles) per hour.

The designation brings Katrina close to a killer storm as the Saffir-Simpson scale used to measure them has only five grades.

"Some additional strengthening is possible today," the center warned in its latest advisory. "Preparations to protect life and property should be pushed to completion."

Hurricane warnings were in effect along the Louisiana coast as thousands of people...