Hurricane Katrina continued losing its punch and was downgraded to a Category 1 storm early Monday afternoon.
Katrina roared ashore in southeast Louisiana as a powerful Category 4 hurricane before breakfast time but the eye of the storm bypassed New Orleans.
At 3 p.m. EDT, the center of the storm was near latitude 31.4 north and longitude 89.6 west, or about 20 miles west-southwest of Hattiesburg, Miss., moving north at nearly 18 mph. The bulk of the storm was moving through Mississippi Monday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 95 mph and higher gusts.
It was expected to dump heavy rain in central Mississippi Monday night.
Hurricane force winds extended up to 125 miles from the center, with tropical force winds as far as 230 miles out.
As much as 15 inches of rain was possible along Katrina's path, with totals of 5 to 10 inches more common.
Along with hurricane and tropical storm warnings, the National Hurricane Center also issued tornado warnings for parts of southern and eastern Mississippi, southern and central Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle.
The coastal storm surge flooding along the northern and northeastern Gulf of Mexico coast will begin to slowly subside later Monday, forecasters said.
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