File:GOES-12 satellite image of Hurricane Katrina.jpg

English: 050828-N-0000W-003 Gulf of Mexico (Aug. 28, 2005) – GOES-12 Satellite image provided by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, Calif., showing the status of Hurricane Katrina, at 2245Z or just before 6pm EST. The storm crossed South Florida Thursday and headed back to sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm's wind is now in excess of 160 mph, a category 5 storm. Only three Category 5 hurricanes — the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale — have hit the United States since record keeping began. The last was 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which leveled parts of South Florida, killed 43 people and caused $31 billion in damage. The other two were the 1935 Labor Day hurricane that hit the Florida Keys and killed 600 people and Hurricane Camille, which devastated the Mississippi coast in 1969, killing 256. At 8pm EST, Katrina's eye was about 130 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The storm was moving toward the northwest at nearly 11 mph and was expected to turn toward the north. A hurricane warning was in effect for the north-central Gulf Coast from Morgan City, La., to the Alabama-Florida line. U.S. Navy photo (RELEASED)