Page 7 - Storm Winds News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Classification as it continues to gain strength from the warm open waters of the gulf. notably this potentially catastrophic storm comes on the 16th anniversary of hurricane katrina. another devastating natural disaster that left that state of louisiana reeling. let's go to nbc today show al roker who is joining me once again from new orleans. let me go to the waters. it's apparent this storm surge is coming in powerfully, al. how are you withstanding things? what is it like where you are? >> well, i'm down on the ground. my crew is up on a deck at a restaurant. and so they are more out of har...

Pictures. yes they'll constituent get gusts. galliano had a high of 84. that's the highest i've seen on the lakefront. the winds are starting to head towards gonzalez, hammond, and eventually baton rouge. charge year devices now while you can, stock the freezer of everything that's frozen and keep it shut. you never know when you'll lose power, so the storm winds, the red is the hurricane force, then tropical storm force winds to the north. specifically looking at new orleans, the storm surge have been held back by the levees. so the levees versus done their job.

When you go from a category 1 storm's winds to a category 4 storm winds. the other thing we have to worry about as this system comes on shore and, by the way, alex, we were thinking around 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, it's probably going to be within the next two hours. as this system comes in, we already have tornado watches up. there have been tornado warnings. because whenever you get a vigorous system like this, tornadoes are sure to spin off. so despite everything else, folks here not just along the coast but inland as well, especially inland, will have to worry about tornadoes with this system. sto...

This point, is it not safe to try to still evacuate? >> looking at the winds, they're starting to reach the coastline. looking at the radar, there is the extreme portion of the center. but important the hurricane-force winds, we don't want to just look at this center, alex. the hurricane-force winds are stretching out 50 miles from the center. it is time to really, if you can get out, that is the time. the real thing is shelter in place. it's time to have a safe place to be. ride out the storm. think about the rain. you need to have height off the ground. but the wind as well. have a safe stru...

Spots. notice where you see that maroon color. that's going to be the highest amounts of rainfall. but again, it's not going to take much to see flooding. that includes the tennessee valley, appalachian, mid-atlantic, northeast. we talked about the winds. we talked about those where we could see significant damage to homes and buildings. we could certainly see downed trees because we're looking at really soggy land. so those trees are going to come down quickly. in addition to power lines and passable roads. new orleans put out a statement, it could be in habitable for a couple weeks to come. ...