Hurricane Katrina bulked up in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday for a second and potentially more deadly assault on the U.S. coast after killing seven people on its trek across southern Florida. Watches and warnings were posted for parts of the Louisiana coast, including vulnerable low-lying New Orleans, alerting residents to expect hurricane-force winds within 36 hours. By 11 a.m. (15000 GMT) on Saturday, the hurricane was 405 miles (650 km) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, with winds near 115 mph (185 kph). The storm was larger and more powerful than when it hit Florida's southeast coast on Thursday and was expected to swing gradually west-northwest, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The projected path could see it come ashore anywhere between the storm-scarred Florida Panhandle and the Louisiana coast west of New Orleans. But computer models pointed to a more westerly track, putting Katrina ashore on Monday near the Louisiana-Mississippi border. "That's bad news for New Orleans and better news for us," said Florida's top meteorologist, Ben Nelson. --More 2151 Local Time 1851 GMT
