Hurricane Nate is now expected to be a Category 2 hurricane when it makes landfall on the US central Gulf Coast in the coming hours.

ARMY engineers opened a key spillway along the bulging Mississippi River yesterday, deluging thousands of homes and farms in Louisiana’s Cajun country in order to avert a potentially bigger disaster in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Army engineers will open a key spillway along the bulging Mississippi River as early as today, deluging thousands of homes and farms in Louisiana’s Cajun country in order to avert a potentially bigger disaster in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

WORK to permanently choke off BP’s broken oil well stalled yesterday as Tropical Storm Bonnie raced toward the Gulf of Mexico and dozens of ships evacuated the area.

Hurricane Katrina strengthened to a Category 5 today with 160-mph sustained winds as US residents of south Louisiana jammed highways in a rush to get out of the way of the powerful storm.