Katrina Fades, Destruction In Wake

Storm Surges Hit Miss., Dozens Stranded By High Waters

(CBS/AP)  A mandatory evacuation had been declared Sunday for the New Orleans area.

"It was exactly the right thing for the mayor and governor to do," Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

The evacuation itself claimed lives. Three New Orleans nursing home residents died Sunday after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church. Officials said the cause was probably dehydration.

A FEMA worker heading south to help victims of Hurricane Katrina was killed in a traffic accident on Interstate 81 in Virginia. State Police say William McClaughlin of Manchester, New Hampshire was part of an eleven-vehicle convoy with the Federal Emergency Management Agency that was traveling through Virginia

The storm threatened to dump as much as 15 inches of rain on the Gulf Coast. Katrina recorded a gigantic 22-foot storm surge in Mississippi, where windows of a major hospital were blown out, utility poles dangled in the wind, and at least one casino was partially flooded. In Alabama, exploding transformers lit up the early morning sky as power outages spread.

The storm hammered the Gulf Coast with huge waves and tree-bending winds. Exploding transformers lit up the predawn sky in Mobile, Ala., while tree limbs littered roads and a blinding rain whipped up sand on the deserted beach of Gulfport, Miss.

"Our people are sturdy people, strong people. We've dealt with storms before," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "We know we're going to lose some property. There will be extensive damage but we will rebuild. We have confidence in ourselves and know we can restore property we can't restore lives."

Along U.S. 90 in Mississippi, the major coastal route that is home to the state's glitzy casinos, sailboats were washed onto the four-lane highway, which was deserted and flooded in areas.

In Gulf Shores, Ala., which nearly a year ago was Ground Zero for Hurricane Ivan's destruction, waves crashed over the seawalls and street lights danced in the howling winds.

A White House official tells CBS News a presidential release of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve "is certainly a possibility," reports Correspondent Mark Knoller. The storm has already forced the shutdown of an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity along the nation's Gulf Coast.

"Our Gulf Coast has been hit, and hit hard," Mr. Bush said.

While gas prices usually peak in August, any major disruption to oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricane Katrina could keep prices high even longer. Gasoline prices could see the largest spikes because so many refineries in the region could be shut down by flooding, power outages, or both, energy analysts said.

Oil hit $70 a barrel overnight in anticipation of Katrina. About a million dollars a day of oil production has been shot down, evacuating thousands of workers, reports CBS News Correspondent Susan McGinnis. Chevron, Texaco, BP and Mobil have all brought their workers ashore.