As we drove to the coast Saturday night in order to get ready to cover Hurricane Katrina, we stopped in Ocean Springs, Mississippi to gas up our vehicles. Gasoline the probably be in short supply. Our Storm Chaser van attracts a lot of attention with its lights and logos. A very nice Mississippi State Trooper came up and spoke to us. He asked about the storm and what we thought it would do. We told him that it would be a category four or maybe even a five and that we thought it would go just east of New Orleans and make landfall near Slidell.

We asked him if people were taking the storm seriously. He said no. In fact, he told us a story. Seemed his wife had come in the living room and found him sitting quietly “What’s wrong with you,” she had asked. He told her that he was worried about people’s response. He said that since people had been told than Ivan and Dennis were coming here during the last year, only to have the storms go elsewhere. He said that he was afraid that people would not take the hurricane seriously. He thanked us and we thanked him and we parted company His words stuck with me all weekend.

As we departed Biloxi on Sunday morning after deciding it was just two dangerous, the Troopers’ words reverberated as we detected a rather nonchalant attitude about preparations from residents of the Mississippi Coast. It all came to roost tonight when I heard WKRG-TV (Mobile) anchor Mel Showers begin to cry after he read the report that there are “many” deaths in coastal Mississippi. The Trooper was right.

A band of high winds, part of the circulation around Katrina, uprooted hundreds of trees across Central Alabama late this afternoon and evening.

One of the lestest reports came from the St. Clair EMA Office. They report numerous trees down across the county tonight.

Katrina was demoted to tropical storm status late today. She was centered near Columbus, Miss., and moving steadily northward. She will be up in West Tennessee tomorrow morning.

A Tornado Watch continues for most of North and Central Alabama. A Flash Flood Watch is also still in effect. But down south, most of the rain had ended over SW Alabama.

Here are some recorded wind gusts within the hour:

40 mph in Huntsville
39 mph in Muscle Shoals
45 mph at Birmingham Airport
29 mph at Anniston Airport
68 mph at Vance (East Tuscaloosa County)
53 mph at Tupelo, Miss., with heavy rain

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
844 PM CDT MON AUG 29 2005

ALZ017-026>028-036-037-043-300245-
BLOUNT-CLAY-COOSA-ELMORE-ST. CLAIR-TALLADEGA-TALLAPOOSA-
844 PM CDT MON AUG 29 2005

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT IN EFFECT FOR
ELMORE...COOSA...TALLAPOOSA...CLAY...TALLADEGA...ST. CLAIR AND
BLOUNT COUNTIES UNTIL 945 PM CDT...

...DAMAGING WINDS OF 45 MPH FROM FEEDER BANDS ACROSS CENTRAL
ALABAMA...

AT 839 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
FEEDER BAND ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL STORM KATRINA WILL MOVE THROUGH
BLOUNT...ST.CLAIR...TALLADEGA...COOSA...ELMORE...TALLAPOOSA AND ST.
CLAIR COUNTIES. THIS BAND HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING WIDESPREAD
DAMAGE ACROSS TUSCALOOSA...SHELBY...AND OTHER COUNTIES. THIS BAND
WILL AFFECT THE ABOVE COUNTIES THROUGH 9:45 PM.

THE DAMAGING WINDS WILL DOWN NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES...ALONG
WITH SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE.

YOU ARE URGED TO STAY INDOORS OR SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY UNTIL THE
FEEDER BAND MOVES OUT OF THE AREA.

THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT AREAS IN AND NEAR
TITUS...TALLADEGA SPRINGS...NECTAR...MILLBROOK...MARBLE VALLEY...
COOSA RIVER...COOSADA AND CLEVELAND THROUGH 945 PM CDT.

• Outage numbers continue to increase as Hurricane Katrina moves north across the Alabama Power service territory. As of 8:30 p.m. Monday, 348,414 Alabama Power customers were without power statewide. This well exceeds the 241,000 customers who lost service in July during Hurricane Dennis, but is significantly less than the 825,000 customers who lost power following Hurricane Ivan.

• The majority of outages continue to be in Mobile, where 199,619 customers were without power. Other outages by division:
Birmingham – 54,611
Anniston – 2,577
Montgomery – 9,107
Tuscaloosa – 82,194
Eufaula –306

• We expect outage numbers to rise as the storm continues to move through our service territory. Some outages could be prolonged.

• Restoration estimates cannot be made until a full inspection and evaluation of the damage is made. Assessments will begin as soon as weather conditions permit.

• We have commitments from outside utilities to support our restoration efforts.

• As soon as we are able to address the restoration needs of our own customers, we will move our resources to neighboring states to assist them.

Recent wind gust of 61 mph in Tuscaloosa County at Vance. Check out this Special Weather Statement:

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
755 PM CDT MON AUG 29 2005

ALZ011-014-015-024-025-300200-
JEFFERSON-MARION-SHELBY-WALKER-WINSTON-
755 PM CDT MON AUG 29 2005

..SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT IN EFFECT FOR SHELBY...JEFFERSON

WALKER...WINSTON AND MARION COUNTIES UNTIL 900 PM CDT...

AT 750 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
FEEDER BAND ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL STORM KATRINA THAT WILL MOVE
THROUGH MARION...WINSTON...WALKER...JEFFERSON...AND SHELBY COUNTIES.
THIS BAND HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING WIDESPREAD DAMAGE ACROSS
TUSCALOOSA AND OTHER COUNTIES. THIS BAND WILL AFFECT THE ABOVE
COUNTIES THROUGH 9 PM.

THE DAMAGING WINDS WILL DOWN NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES...ALONG
WITH SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE.

YOU ARE URGED TO STAY INDOORS OR SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY UNTIL THE
FEEDER BAND MOVES OUT OF THE AREA.

THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT AREAS IN AND NEAR
WESTON...TUTWILER...SHELBY CO AIRPORT...OAKMAN...NORTH JOHNS...
HAMILTON...BRILLIANT AND BESSEMER THROUGH 900 PM CDT.

Katrina was demoted to Tropical Storm Katrina early this evening. She is moving north up the east side of Mississippi and just before 8 pm was centered between Columbus and Meridian,

Bands of showers and storms continue to swing around the circulation like a whip...or spokes in a wheel.

Numerous trees continue to be uprooted across West Central Alabama.

The strongest band, swinging around between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, will give the Birmingham area probably the strongest winds of the evening. Could see some trees falling in the Birmingham area between now and about 9 O'clock tonight.

We have a report of a tree across a house at Samantha, in North Tuscaloosa County with two elderly persons trapped. Some wind gusts:

59 mph in Northport around 7:30
54 mph at Legion Field, Birmingham45 mph at Talladega
38 mph in Anniston

Also...

* About one half of Hale County without power

* 43,000 without power in the Tuscaloosa area

Howling winds continue tonight, a part of the circulation around Katrina.

At 7 pm, the center of Katrina was moving north through Central Mississippi.

This places West Alabama in an area especially subject to high winds.

In fact the NWS warns that several West Alabama Counties will be subject to 70 mph winds this evening. These specific reports only partially cover what is going on.

* NWS says the storms in West Alabama was causing "all kinds of problems" with 50-60 mph winds causing lots of trees to come down in Tuscaloosa County.

* Trees and powerlines down across Dallas County.

* The Hale County EMA Office reported numerous trees down across the county...at least 40-50 reported that they know of. In Greensboro, one man was severely injured when a tree fell across his house. The EMA also estimated that about half of Hale County is without power.

* Trees down across Greene County according to the EMA. In Eutaw, a large tree was blocking highway 14 between Eutaw and Interstate 20-59. Winds were high. Big trees were down on Boligee Street and trees were across powerlines on Wilson Avenue.

* A new Tormado Watch is in effect all night...until 5 am...for much of Central Alabama. Sumter, Greene, Hale and Marengo Counties were not included.

* Katrina was downgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina early this evening.

Very high winds are causing damage over western sections of the state tonight in association with the circulation of Hurricane Katrina. At least three distinct feeder bands continue across the northern half of Alabama tonight.

The main one in over West Alabama and it is producing very high winds. Those winds are gusting to near 70 mph. A significant weather alert is in effect for Hale... Greene... Pickens... Lamar... and Tuscaloosa Counties. Places like Aliceville... Carrollton... Eutaw... Greensboro... Fosters and Elrod will experience the worst of the weather.

It is a serious situation over these counties. Please remain in your homes until the worst of the weather has passed. The Pickens County EMA is urging people to stay off the roads in their area. Thousands of trees are down and the high winds continue. Power is out over a wide area. That is good advice over all of the counties. Many deaths occur in inland areas from falling trees.

The situation in eastern Mississippi is even more dire. Local Emergency Management Agencies are calling for help from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

FAST FACTS ON KATRINA AS OF 4PM CDT...
LOCATION....Latitude 31.9N Longitude 89.6W or near 30 miles WSW of Laurel MS.
MOVEMENT: N 18 mph...
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS: 75 mph (Cat 1)
CENTRAL PRESSURE: 960 millibars... 28.35 inches

Hurricane Katrina is weakening but still packing a punch as she heads northward over East Central Mississippi. Katrina will be downgraded to a tropical storm on the next advisory package. It is also expected to begin a more north northeast track that will carry it just north of the Northwest Corner of Alabama overnight.

Hurricane Katrina was moving northward through East Central Mississippi late this afternoon.

At 4 pm, a wind gust of 81 mph was reported at Meridian Airport. Power is out through parts of the city and county.

While it is windy over most of Alabama, the highest winds are yet to come for the West and Central part of the state. Especially in places like Demopolis, Greensboro, Vernon, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham (to name a few)

Another Tornado warning was issued for macon County.

Spiral bands continue to swirl northward all the way from the Gulf of Mexico into North Alabama. In these bands is where small tornadoes sometime form and dissipate quickly.

We have the unusual situation where all 67 Alabama counties are under a Tornado Watch.