Florida Keys evacuated as Rita threatens

Last updated at 08:36 20 September 2005


Hundreds of tourists have been forced to leave the Florida Keys after Hurricane Rita, the latest storm to target America's south, threatened to wreak havoc.

Traffic streamed out of the vulnerable Florida Keys and shopkeepers boarded up windows yesterday as Tropical Storm Rita 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 in Katrina's floods, would fail again if the city were smashed by a new storm surge.

Rita would likely become a major hurricane with sustained winds of at least 111 mph (178 kph) as it drew strength from warm Gulf waters after passing over or near the Florida Keys.

Its center was about 315 miles (505 km) east-southeast of Key West, Florida, at 8 p.m. (0000 GMT) on Monday.

The storm had top sustained winds of 70 mph (115 kph), putting it just short of hurricane strength. The Hurricane Center cautioned that Rita could still veer north to the Miami area, home to 2.3 million people.

Miami-Dade County officials urged residents to evacuate mobile homes, barrier islands and flood-prone areas, and long lines formed at gas stations as motorists filled their tanks.

All 80,000 residents were ordered out of the Keys, a 110-mile (177-km) island chain connected to southern Florida by one two-lane highway. Both lanes were designated northbound to speed the exodus and a steady stream of traffic headed out. Public buses ferried those who lacked transportation.

Rita could drench the Keys with up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain and send a wall of seawater up to 9 feet (2.7 metres) above normal surging over the low-lying islands, flooding the highway and stranding those who stayed behind.

'That's where we've lost the most people over the years in this country, from the storm surge,' Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the hurricane center, told Miami TV station WFOR.

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