Hurricane Katrina, a category four storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, made landfall very close to Gulfport, Mississippi, home of Josh Hayes, the 2003 AMA Superstock Champion, at daybreak Monday morning, August 29. The storm brought with it sustained 140-mph winds, extremely heavy rains and a storm surge (an abnormal rise in the sea level) of 15-20 feet that flooded streets and homes as far as six miles inland. As many as 80 deaths may have occurred in Harrison County, Mississippi, where Gulfport is located, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour told the media. Hayes’ home is located two miles inland from the gulf coast, but the Attack Kawasaki rider was not at his home when Katrina hit. Hayes, 30, who raced in the AMA Superbike event at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), continued with his plan to stay near VIR Monday and travel directly to Atlanta, Georgia, Tuesday. The 2005 AMA season finale is scheduled this weekend at Road Atlanta, near Atlanta, Georgia. Hayes’ manager Gina Nadeau, however, left VIR Sunday morning, August 28 with plans to return to her powersports dealership located on Gulfport’s coast and prepare for the storm. Reached on his cell phone Tuesday morning, Hayes said he last spoke with Nadeau at 8:30 a.m. Gulfport time Monday. At that time, Nadeau reported that she and her family were taking refuge on the second floor of her new home while the first floor held three feet of flood water. Nadeau also informed Hayes that his Ford F250 pick-up truck, which she had been driving, was “gone,” presumably washed away by the storm surge. Hayes, who is single, was also able to contact two sets of relatives who were attempting to ride the storm out in their Gulf Coast homes, but one of the homes had already lost its roof Monday morning at the peak of the storm. Since Monday morning, communications with the Gulfport, Mississippi, area have been interrupted by the storm, but Hayes said he has exchanged text messages on his cell phone with a few more friends who expressed that they were “alright.” “Yeah, for sure, I’m terrified about my home and everything,” Hayes told Roadracingworld.com. “I won’t find out until a week from now what’s going on. There’s not much I can do right now except concentrate on what I need to do this weekend at Road Atlanta. “If you write anything about this, please tell everyone that I appreciate all of the calls of support I’ve received and thanks for thinking of me.”