NOLA MAY FEEL THE BRUNT, BUT EVACS ORDERED IN BIG BEND

While much of the attention regarding Hurricane Katrina is centered on New Orleans and it's surrounding area, the now Catagory 4 storm is having it's effects felt in Florida.

Emergency management officials have ordered mandatory evacuations of low lying areas in the Big Bend area of the Panhandle, affecting coastal residents of Taylor, Franklin, and Wakulla counties.

The National Weather Service had predected 5-to-8 foot storm surges related to Katrina at high tide early this morning, which would be nearly comparable to that experienced during Dennis.

The death toll from Katrina has now reached a total of ten. In addition to seven who perished when the hurricane struck southeast Florida Thursday, three residents of a New Orleans nursing home apparantly died Sunday while being evacuated on a school bus to a Baton Rouge church. Many on the bus were determined to be suffering from dehydration. The normally 1 1/2 hour trip between New Orleans and the state capitol took several hours as traffic was in near gridlock.

And the storm will certainly have an effect on what you pay at the gas pump. With more than 40 percent of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico shut down, U.S. oil prices surged to new records...$70.80 a barrel.