Katrina Slams Gulf Coast

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, in an interview with NBC about 11:30 a.m. Monday, says it looks like the levees are holding, although water has come over the top in the 9th Ward, in southeast part of New Orleans. There is substantial flooding in that area. He also reported one pumping station has stopped operating, but for the most part the flood control system is holding.

Further east, Mississippi officials say there are reports of inundations of numerous portions of Interstate 10 paralleling the Gulf coast.

More than 1.2 million customers were without electricity at 1 p.m. EDT in the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. The hardest utility hit is Entergy Corp., which serves parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The company had 717,562 without power in Louisiana and 9,873 without power in Mississippi. Entergy on Sunday shut down the Waterford nuclear plant near New Orleans as precaution, say company officials.

Earlier today the company had 53 transmission line segments down and 36 substations down. It expects those numbers to rise as the day goes on. It could take weeks to rebuild Entergys damaged infrastructure, a company spokesman said. Flooding and debris could hamper restoration.

About 2,000 line workers are committed to begin Entergys restoration once winds go below 40 mph. Utilities in Florida have brought together a large work force that would normally be used in Louisiana. "Our work could be delayed until these workers complete the restoration in Florida," an Entergy spokesman said.

Southern Co. officials said the number of its customers without power had risen to 406,000. About 136,000 Mississippi Power customers are without power. Alabama Power has 170,000 out of power and Gulf Power has 100,000 outages, a Southern Company spokesman said.

Cleco Corp. reported that about 70,000 of its customers are now without power. Most of the outages are in southeastern Louisiana, primarily in St. Tammany Parish along Lake Pontchartrain. Another 3,000 are without power in south central Louisiana in the New Iberia region. About 350 are without power in central Louisiana.

Crews from Oklahoma, North and South Carolina and Florida will help restore power once the worst of the storm has passed. Flooding will likely hamper efforts, Cleco officials said.

The New Orleans airport was closed and calls to the Port of New Orleans could not be completed due to busy circuits.

Designed by Curtis and Davis and Associated Architects Inc., Edward B. Silverstein and Associates, Nolan Norman and Nolan--all of New Orleans--and Sverdrup & Parcel and Associates Inc., St. Louis, the Superdome was built in 1974 by Huber Hunt and Nichols, now part of Phoenix-based Hunt Group.

The roof design was subcontracted to Roof Structures Inc., St. Louis, patent holder of the lamella truss system, which consists of welded and bolted skewed trusses 7.3 ft deep in which one member frames the others, and so on to form a repetitious diamond pattern (ENR 3/22/73 p. 66). � The roof was the focus of rancorous litigation in 1982 after the roof's sprayed-on Hypalon membrane was damaged in 1980 by a freak hailstorm. The underlying polyurethane became saturated with water leaking through the membrane. By the time a decision was made to proceed with repair, the original estimate of $450,000 had ballooned to $4.5 million, in part because of subsequent corrosion of the steel members (ENR 8/5/82 p. 11).

Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, says the federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal and emergency measures.

For a period of up to 72 hours, federal funding is available at 100 per cent of the total eligible costs for emergency protective measures, excluding debris removal. After the initial period, federal funds are available for public safety debris removal and emergency protective measures at 75 percent of approved costs.

Brown said the declaration also makes cost-shared funding available for approved projects that reduce future disaster risks. FEMA is mobilizing equipment and resources to assist law enforcement with evacuations, establishing shelters, and meeting other emergency needs.

As Katrina pounds coastal Mississippi, the Florida Panhandle appears to have been largely spared. Sections of the Panhandle were devastated by Hurricane Ivan last September and by Dennis this July.

Still, about 100,000 Florida customers lost power and beach erosion was reported. Coastal roadways, however, apparently escaped damage. 3There is water over U.S. 98, but no reports of breaching,2 says Florida Department of Transportation spokesman, Tommie Speights.

The Escambia Bay Bridge of Interstate 10 near Pensacola, ripped apart by Ivan's storm surge last fall, was closed early Monday due to high winds, Speights says. The more damaged westbound span was closed at midnight while the eastbound span remained open until 2 a.m. 3We tried to leave the bridge open as long as possible for the evacuation,2 says Speights. The bridge likely will reopen Tuesday, once inspectors make make sure the spans are still properly aligned. The FDOT is using temporary metal spans to fill the gaps left by Ivan.

Officials are waiting for the storm to subside so they can assess damage to offshore oil and gas facilities. The Coast Guard expects to begin getting information by the end of the day. 3We can1t get aircraft out there yet because of the hurricane,2 says Mark Wine, a Coast Guard spokesman.

Chip Stockton, a spokesman for Williams Cos., Tulsa, Okla., says the company also does not know the extent of damage to its pipelines and facilities. 3We had to abandon our offshore and above-ground facilities,2 he says, but adds that the transmission pipelines, at least, are still operational. 3We had to evacuate people from pipeline compressor stations, but they can be operated remotely,2 Stockton says.