i'm nbc news meteorologist bill karins. i want to give you an update on the hurricane. the storm is moving at a painfully slow pace. we now have over a quarter of a million people without power, approaching 300,000 of people without power in louisiana, most of those are in the new orleans area. let me show you a little tighter view of the storm. the heaviest rain bands and strongest winds are going through the new orleans area and all of southeast louisiana. new orleans just had a wind gust approaching hurricane force. these pictures are coming from the big easy this evening. we are hearing the storm has definitely caught a lot of people not by surprise, but a little more strong than they thought it would be. you see the flashing in the background there. those are usually the transmission lines. that usually means the power is going out. that's why we're reporting the widespread power outages. the wind gusts have been very