Evacuations ordered as Tropical Storm Karen nears Gulf Coast

Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying areas south of New Orleans, Friday, as a weakened Tropical Storm Karen closed in on the Louisiana coast after disrupting U.S. energy output in the Gulf of Mexico.

Although Karen's wind speeds have dipped to 45 mph, down from 65 mph a day earlier, National Hurricane Center forecasters in Miami said the storm was expected to strengthen slightly Saturday but remain a tropical storm.

Oil output in the region had been cut in half as oil and gas firms shut platforms and evacuated workers in preparation for the storm. The Gulf accounts for about 19 percent of U.S. oil production and 6 percent of natural-gas output.

The mayor of Grand Isle, La., ordered a mandatory evacuation on a popular island vacation and fishing destination south of New Orleans. Evacuations were also issued in Lafourche Parish in the south, and residents in much of Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans, were told to be out of their homes before nightfall.

Late Friday, the National Hurricane Center reported that Karen was located about 235 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was on the move again, heading north-northwest at 7 mph.

"We are confident on a northeastward turn. Just not exactly sure where or when that turn will occur," Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said earlier Friday.

Forecasters said late Friday that Karen was expected to dump 1 to 3 inches of rain on the central Gulf Coast and southeastern United States by Monday night, less than originally predicted, with up to 6 inches in isolated parts.

At the Port of New Orleans, cargo operations continued normally, but the harbor pilots who guide ships through the mouth of the Mississippi had ceased operations.

"No ships are coming in or out the mouth of the river," said port spokesman Matt Gresham.

Carnival Cruise Line officials announced that two ships that had been due to arrive in New Orleans over the weekend, the Carnival Elation and Carnival Conquest, could be delayed until Monday. Guests onboard were being kept apprised and the ships were sailing at a safe and comfortable distance from the storm, the company said.

The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama declared states of emergency to speed storm preparations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency recalled some furloughed workers to assist.

At Alabama's Grand Mariner Marina on Dog River and Mobile Bay, boaters were tying down the larger vessels with double ropes and putting the smaller ones on trailers to haul them up the river to sheltered coves.

"It's like New York City at lunch time here. We are really busy," said marina manager Steve Penny. "We are doing everything we can to make room for 4 to 6 feet of water. Anything we can move, we get out."

Marina workers were adding fuel to their 8,000-gallon tanks to weigh them down and keep them from floating away.

A hurricane watch for the coast from Grand Isle, La., to Destin, Fla., was dropped. Tropical storm watches and warnings were still in effect in other areas including metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Tropical storms carry winds of 39 mph to 73 mph.

Wire services