Miami ? Hungry, thirsty and sweaty South Floridians waited for hours in lines that sometimes stretched for miles to get food, ice and water Saturday, two days after Hurricane Katrina knocked out power and flooded hundreds of streets and homes.

Some Panhandle residents were slightly relieved that the 115-mph storm appeared less likely to make a second landfall in their area sometime Monday, but many weren’t placing too much faith in forecasts that shift as fast as a hurricane’s winds blow.

“It’s so up in the air, you don’t know,” said Jeff Lance, 42, a Spanish teacher in Pensacola who has been through one of the six hurricanes that have hit Florida in just over a year.

The Category 3 Katrina was expected to get even stronger in the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters – high-octane fuel for hurricanes. The National Hurricane Center warned that it could become a top-of-the-scale Category 5, with winds topping 155 mph.

Katrina’s projected path shifted farther west Saturday, with forecasters saying southeastern Louisiana appeared the likely target for the second landfall. As cities like New Orleans prepared for the onslaught, residents in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area continued recovering from Katrina’s hit on Thursday with 80-mph top sustained winds.