By Staff
From staff reports
Local government and Emergency Management officials were keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Katrina as the storm moved farther west this weekend.
Early projections put the storm coming ashore first near Ft. Walton Beach and later near the Alabama- Mississippi line. Those projections put local EMA director David Jennings in planning mode.
Most local residents would agree that the later projections were "a better idea."
Even when the projected landfall was moved to the Alabama/Mississippi line, local areas were not out of danger. Dan Darbe, senior meteorologist at the Mobile branch of the National Weather Service, said landfall in that area would have put Escambia County "on the dirty side of the storm," with 10 to 12 inches of rain and damage similar to that in Hurricane Dennis.
Saturday afternoon, the projected track had moved farther west and was expected to make landfall near New Orleans. The National Weather Service was projecting heavy wind and rains for Brewton on Monday as the storm moved ashore in Louisiana.