Rita begins lashing Keys with wind, rain
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-20 21:30

Tropical Storm Rita began lashing the Florida Keys on Tuesday with heavy rain and strong wind, threatening a storm surge of up to 7 feet and sparking fears it could eventually bring new misery to the Gulf Coast.

Dark clouds gather and a palm tree blows in the strong winds from Tropical Storm Rita on the Eastern shore line of Nassau, on New Providence Island in The Bahamas, Monday, Sept. 19, 2005. Heavy rain and strong winds lashed the Bahamas on Monday as Tropical Storm Rita crossed the island chain, gathering strength as the system headed toward Cuba and the Florida Keys. [AP]

Thousands of residents and tourists fled the Keys in advance of Rita, which forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said would probably develop into a Category 1 hurricane as it swept across the islands on its way into the Gulf of Mexico. It promised to gain more strength as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico for a weekend landfall, most likely in Texas although Louisiana could end up in its path.

"It's right on the cusp of being a hurricane," said Chris Sisko, a meteorologist at the hurricane center. "It will probably reach that strength later on. This is going to be a daylong event."

Officials of Galveston, Texas — nearly 900 miles from Key West — were already calling for a voluntary evacuation. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco urged everyone in the southwest part of the state to prepare to evacuate.

The storm threatened to dump up to 15 inches of rain on parts of the low-lying Keys island chain. With sustained wind over 70 mph and the possible storm surge of 4 to 7 feet, many residents fled on Monday for points to the north — but not everyone.

Key West resident Linda McAlarney, who moved to temporary quarters at a local hotel, was walking her dog, Onyx, just after daybreak Tuesday during a lull in the storm. Few others were out amid Key West's boarded-up shops and bars.

"I think evacuating is the right thing to do, and I probably should have done that," McAlarney said.

South Floridians kept a wary eye on Rita. The state has been battered by six hurricanes since August of last year.

"I've lived in Florida all my life," said James Swindell, 37, who shopped along a cleared-out Miami Beach on Monday. "You always have to be worried about a storm, because they are too unpredictable and they can shift on you at the last minute. Nobody knows what they are going to do."

In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin suspended his plan to start bringing residents back to the city after forecasters warned that Rita could follow Hurricane Katrina's course into the Gulf of Mexico and shatter his city's already weakened levees.

"The levee systems are very wet, they're somewhat weakened, and any type of storm surge would cause flooding both in our parish and in other parishes. So we're not taking any chances," Nagin said Tuesday on NBC's "Today."

The storm had top sustained winds of 70 mph early Tuesday, and it was expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of at least 74 mph, later in the day.

Hurricane warnings were posted for the Keys and Miami-Dade County, the National Hurricane Center said. Residents and visitors were ordered to clear out of the Keys, and voluntary evacuation orders were posted for some 134,000 Miami-Dade residents of coastal areas such as Miami Beach.

"We're just trying to get enough gas to get home," said Andres Sweeting, 29, of Miami, as he stopped at a Coconut Grove gas station with his family. Long lines of customers had emptied two of the station's four gasoline tanks.

Forecasters said 3 to 5 inches of rain was possible across southern Florida.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Rita was centered about 100 miles east-southeast of Key West. It was moving between west and west-northwest at nearly 15 mph, according to the hurricane center.

In the Bahamas, no serious damage was reported after Rita passed to the south. However, fishermen had dragged their boats to dry land and some people shuttered their windows — a sign that normally laid-back islanders were concerned.

Rita is the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, making this the fourth-busiest season since record-keeping started in 1851. The record is 21 tropical storms in 1933.

The last hurricane to directly hit Key West was 1998's Hurricane Georges, which slammed the city with 105 mph wind, damaging hundreds of homes and closing the island to tourists for two weeks.

Rita brought new gyrations in the oil markets, including a $4 per barrel increase Monday, and some companies, including Chevron and Shell, began evacuating employees from offshore oil and gas platforms. About 56 percent of the Gulf's oil production was already out of operation because of Katrina.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Hurricane Philippe was far out at sea and posed no immediate threat to land. The hurricane season started June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

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