Hurricane Katrina pummels south Florida

MIAMI, Friday (Reuters) Hurricane Katrina battered Florida's densely populated southeast coast with high winds and drenching rain on Thursday as it knocked down trees, left 2 million people without power and caused at least two deaths.

The core of what was supposed to be a minimal hurricane but which nevertheless delivered a furious punch hit just south of the Fort Lauderdale area about 7 p.m. (2300 GMT) and then cut southwest through some of the most crowded parts of Miami-Dade, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm dumped up to 12 inches (30.5 cm) of rain as it began moving slowly across south Florida toward the Gulf of Mexico, and bands of fierce gale-force winds uprooted trees from soggy soil, howled through gaps under doors and brought down power lines.

A 25-year-old man was killed after a tree fell on his car in Fort Lauderdale, and another man died in Plantation when a tree fell on him outside his home, said Broward County public information officer Dennis Myers. WFOR television said the first man died when the tree brought a power line down onto his car. The authorities said heavy rainfall and flooding could well be the greatest threat from Katrina.