As ?potentially catastrophic? Hurricane Katrina barrelled towards an evacuated New Orleans last night Hamilton?s Mayor feared for the safety of his good friends in Louisiana.

Mayor Lawson Mapp visited New Orleans, Gulf Port and Biloxi, Louisiana in April along with Corporation of Hamilton Aldermen and Courtland Boyle on a fact-finding mission on gambling.

?I am very, very upset,? Mayor Lawson Mapp said last night. ?Gulf Port suffered very seriously in a previous storm and was just getting back on its feet now. It?s very worrying.?

Mr. Mapp was also worried for the safety of his friends in the southern city.

Mr. Boyle could not be contacted last night.

At 7 p.m. last night the National Hurricane Center said Katrina was 130 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was expected to make landfall at 7 a.m. today.

?Maximum sustained winds are near 160 mph with higher gusts,? the Hurricane Center said. ?Katrina is a potentially catastrophic category five hurricane on the saffir-simpson scale.?

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 105 miles from the centre and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 230 miles.

Coastal storm surge flooding is expected 18 to 22 feet above normal tide levels, locally as high as 28 feet, along with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected near and to the east of where the centre makes landfall. Some levees in the greater New Orleans area could be overtopped, it said last night. Only three Category Five storms have hit the US since record-keeping began.

In November 2003, 60 members of the Bermuda Bridge Club went to New Orleans to compete in a local tournament and there is a Bermuda Street in New Orleans.