Katrina Grows Stronger, Menaces New Orleans

NPR | By Liane Hansen

Published August 28, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT

Katrina, which first struck Florida last week as a tropical storm, is now a powerful Category 5 hurricane churning in the Gulf of Mexico, pointed at New Orleans.

Meterologists at the National Hurrican Center said the storm's sustained winds reached 160 miles per hour. Forecasters predict the hurricane's center will pass over New Orleans close to dawn Monday morning. Eric Blake of the National Weather Service updates Liane Hansen on the storm's progress.

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.