News

'Rita' threatens Florida Keys

miami, (reuters)

TRAFFIC STREAMED OUT of the vulnerable Florida Keys yesterday as Tropical Storm Rita strengthened near the islands and threatened to power its way into the Gulf of Mexico three weeks after Hurricane Katrina cut a deadly path through the region.

A Louisiana official said the levees in New Orleans, where hundreds died after Katrina struck, would fail if the devastated city was smashed by a new storm surge, and oil companies only just starting to recover from Katrina began to evacuate oil rigs in the Gulf.

Rita was likely to become a major hurricane with winds of at least 111 mph (178 kph) as it drew strength from warm Gulf waters after passing over the Florida Keys today, said Max Mayfield, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"It's moving over very high-octane fuel here," Mayfield told CNN.

Rita's center was about 380 miles (610 km) east-southeast of Key West, Florida, at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) yesterday. It was racing west-northwest at 14 mph (23 kph) and had top winds of 70 mph (115 kph), putting it just short of hurricane strength.

Mayfield cautioned the storm could still veer north to the Miami metropolitan area, home to 2.3 million people. Miami-Dade County officials urged residents to evacuate mobile homes, barrier islands and flood-prone areas.

"The main impact we think will be on the Florida Keys but this is just cutting it too close," Mayfield said.

Authorities in the Keys, a 110-mile (177-km) chain of islands connected to the south Florida mainland by a single two-lane highway, ordered everyone to leave the chain of islands, which has about 80,000 year-round residents.

Rita was expected to drench the Keys with 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 cm) of rain and push several feet of seawater over the islands, possibly flooding the highway and stranding those who remained behind.

Authorities designated both lanes northbound to speed the evacuation and a steady stream of traffic headed north out of the Keys. City buses ferried out those who lacked transportation.

But some residents were reluctant to leave the laid-back island and were confident it would hit them as only a weak hurricane.

"The stores are all boarded up but it's open, everybody's very mellow. The tourists are all gone," said Key West resident Christelle Orr. "We may be crazy (not to evacuate) but I mean it's not like Louisiana, you know, we're not under water," she said, as the café where she worked was boarded up.

Others feared the traffic more than the storm.

SAFER AT HOME

"If you evacuate, you'll get stuck on the highway. I feel safer staying at home," said Chris Techmer, who lives in Sugarloaf Key, north of Key West. "My house was built in the 1950s. It's a stilt house, about 10 feet (3 metres) off the ground. I usually stay. I've been through so many hurricanes."

A hurricane warning was issued for south Florida from just north of Miami on the Atlantic Coast, through the Florida Keys and up to Cape Sable on the state's Gulf coast, alerting residents to expect hurricane conditions within 24 hours.

Hurricane warnings were also in effect for the northwest islands of the Bahamas and northwestern Cuba. The Bahamian government urged people to stay off the roads as much as possible because of the risk of flying debris.

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, produces an average of about 11 tropical storms or hurricanes. But forecasters had predicted an above-average season with as many as 21 storms due to high sea-surface temperatures and other conditions favorable to hurricane formation. Rita was number. 17.

Hurricane Katrina has been blamed for at least 883 deaths in six states. Meanwhile, Hurricane Philippe, upgraded from a tropical storm overnight, was about 365 miles (585 km) east of the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean but did not threaten land.