Lower Florida Keys ordered evacuated



Tropical Storm Rita heads toward Bahamas, southern Florida

Monday, September 19, 2005; Posted: 11:08 a.m. EDT (15:08 GMT)


MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Approaching Tropical Storm Rita prompted officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order Monday for residents in the lower Florida Keys.

Forecasters expect Rita to strengthen into a hurricane as it churns toward the Keys and the Bahamas.

At 8 a.m. ET, Rita's center was about 235 miles southeast of the Bahamian capital, Nassau, moving west at nearly 9 mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center reported. Maximum sustained winds were clocked near 60 mph.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the Exumas and for Andros Island in the Bahamas and in Florida from Ocean Reef southward and westward to the Dry Tortugas.

The evacuation area in the Keys stretches from Seven Mile Bridge to Key West, said Becky Herrin of the Monroe County Emergency Operation Center.

The move follows Sunday's order for tourists to evacuate. There are about 80,000 residents of Monroe County, which includes about 27,000 residents of Key West.

Rita could become a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity in the next 24 hours, the center said.

In Key West, Mayor Jimmy Weekley said Monday that although tourists already had been ordered to leave, residents might not be so willing to follow.

"Conch is a mussel and it's a very tough mussel," Weekley said. "So, a lot of the old Conchs here, as Key Westers are known, will not evacuate at all, they will stay and ride the storm out, for various reasons."

National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said Monday that people in some areas still recovering from Hurricane Katrina should be watching Rita. (Watch the video of where Rita might be heading -- 2:23)

"This is definitely becoming a concern for the northwestern Gulf of Mexico," Mayfield said. He said the storm could threaten Texas and Louisiana within five days.

"What will determine the steering there is this high pressure system that currently is anchored over Louisiana and Texas -- but with time that's forecast to erode and move to the east and that may let Rita turn up more towards the north. So at this point in time the folks in Texas and even the Louisiana coast need to monitor this very carefully."
President Bush: 'Deep concern'

As recovery efforts from Katrina continued along the Gulf Coast, the possibility of another storm prompted reaction from President Bush.

"There is deep concern about this storm causing more flooding in New Orleans," Bush told reporters Monday during a Homeland Security council meeting.

Rita is the 17th named storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, and with water temperatures in the Florida Straits in the high 80s, it has plenty of fuel.

Forecasters predicted the storm would move over the eastern and central Bahamas on Monday.

In the Bahamas, Earnel Brown, manager of the Baycaner Beach Resort, told The Associated Press that few people on Mayaguana Island had bothered to board their windows or stock up on emergency supplies.

"I don't expect that much trouble," Brown told AP. "I don't think we're going to have that much damage from it."

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency Sunday, activating National Guard troops, authorizing the use of public buildings as shelters and invoking state laws against price-gouging.

A storm surge of up to 8 feet is forecast for the Keys. The storm surge could reach up to 5 feet in extreme southeastern Florida and the northwestern Bahamas.

Cuban authorities posted a hurricane watch for five provinces, including the capital of Havana; tropical storm watches were posted in three other provinces. In addition, a tropical storm watch was posted for southeastern Florida from Deerfield Beach to Florida City, continuing westward to East Cape Sable.

Rita is the third tropical system to emerge from the Atlantic in two weeks. Tropical Storm Philippe was upgraded to a hurricane Sunday night, while Tropical Storm Ophelia was fading into the North Atlantic as it chugged northward off Newfoundland.

At 5 a.m. ET, Philippe had top winds of 75 mph. It was centered about 385 miles east of the Leeward Islands, moving north at about 7 mph. That track was expected to hold for the next 24 hours, the hurricane center reported.



Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Florida Keys evacuating as Rita nears hurricane strength



Storm heads toward southern Florida, Bahamas

Monday, September 19, 2005; Posted: 2:17 p.m. EDT (18:17 GMT)


MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents of the Florida Keys on Monday, as Tropical Storm Rita neared hurricane strength.

At 2 p.m. ET, Rita's maximum sustained winds were clocked at 70 mph -- just 4 mph short of hurricane strength -- as it churned toward the Keys and the Bahamas.

Rita's center was about 165 miles southeast of the Bahamian capital, Nassau, moving west-northwest at nearly 14 mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center reported.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the Exumas and for Andros Island in the Bahamas and in Florida from Golden Beach southward to Florida City and westward to East Cape Sable. The warning also includes the Keys from Ocean Reef to the Dry Tortugas.

Tourists were told to leave on Sunday. There are about 80,000 residents of Monroe County, which includes about 27,000 residents of Key West.

Miami-Dade County is also under a hurricane warning; hurricane-force winds are expected there by Tuesday morning.

Rita could become a Category 1 storm in the next 24 hours, the center said. Category 1 hurricanes have winds of 74-95 mph.



E sad...meni to počinje ličiti na "Day after tomorrow"...a vama?