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| Rita Nears Hurricane
Strength With Winds At 70 MPH Hurricane Warnings Extended Tropical Storm Rita is nearing hurricane strength with maximum sustained winds now at 70 mph. |
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At 3 p.m., the center of Tropical Storm Rita was located near latitude 23.1
north, longitude 75.9 west or about 165 miles southeast of Nassau and about
380 miles east-southeast of Key West.
Rita is moving toward the west-northwest near 14 mph and this motion is expected to continue during the next 24 hours. On this track, the center of Rita will pass over or near Andros Island in the Bahamas Monday night, and approach the Florida Keys Tuesday morning.
Maximum sustained winds were near 70 mph with higher gusts. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 145 miles from the center.
Some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours, and Rita could become a hurricane later Monday.
Officials ordered residents evacuated from the lower Florida Keys on Monday as a strengthening Tropical Storm Rita churned toward the exposed island chain, bringing with it a potential 8-foot storm surge. Hurricane warnings were issued for the Keys and Miami-Dade County.
The evacuation covers 40,000 residents living southwest of the Seven Mile Bridge to Key West as the weather was expected to deteriorate throughout Monday as the first rain bands approached.
Key West streets were quiet as dawn broke Monday under clear skies -- the proverbial calm before the storm. Visitors had been ordered out of the Keys on Sunday, as the storm was expected to pass to the south Tuesday.
Rita was forecast to be in the Straits of Florida between the Keys and northern Cuba on Monday, possibly as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of at least 74 mph, forecasters said.
The Keys and Miami-Dade County were under a hurricane warning, meaning hurricane-force winds were expected by Tuesday morning, and Broward County was under a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch. Palm Beach County was under a tropical storm warning.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez urged residents of Miami-Dade County to be prepared and advised that anyone with questions should call the new 311 call center.
In southwest Florida, the Gulf coast from Cape Sable north to Chokoloskee was under a hurricane watch, and a tropical storm watch was issued for Chokoloskee north to Englewood.
Rainfall totals of 6 to 15 inches were possible in the Keys, with 3 to 5 inches possible across southern Florida. Storm surges of 6 to 8 feet above normal tide levels were predicted to batter the Keys.
Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Monday that the storm's eye is predicted to remain over the water between the Keys and Cuba, but even a slight deviation to the north could bring it over the islands and closer to mainland Florida.
"Right now the biggest concern is the Keys," Mayfield said.
Long-range forecasts showed the system moving into the Gulf of Mexico late in the week as a hurricane, then possibly approaching Mexico or Texas.
But forecasters warned those across the U.S. southern coast that long-term predictions are subject to large errors. That means residents of Louisiana and Mississippi, which were ravaged by Katrina, should be watching the storm.
"This is something everyone should be paying attention to," said Daniel Brown, a hurricane center meteorologist.
Officials had earlier Monday ordered all remaining visitors from the entire Keys, including the Dry Tortugas, and residents in mobile homes and areas at risk for storm-surge flooding, as well as those living aboard their boats.
The stream of vehicles leaving the Keys on Sunday included RVs, cars towing boats and thousands of motorcycle riders who left an annual gathering a day early. U.S. 1, the lone highway in the Keys, was packed.
Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida, which gives the state authority to oversee evacuations and activate the National Guard, among other powers. The state was flying in a National Guard cargo plane later Monday to evacuate 22 patients from Key West's hospital to Sebring, near Lake Okeechobee. Several critically ill patients have already been evacuated by ambulance and helicopter to hospitals in Miami.
Despite the evacuation order, however, some hotels and restaurants in Key West remained open, and few businesses were boarded up.
Kelly Friend and two workers were boarding up her store in Key West, Audio Video in Paradise Inc., on Monday morning.They had spray painted a message on the plywood: "Hey bartender 1 Rita on the rocks to go!"
"Not that we're afraid of the hurricane, but we want to protect our investment. Plus it gives us an excuse to take a day off and drink," she said Monday.
Rita was going through the Bahamas first, and threatened Cuba, which activated its civil defense program, issuing bulletins about the storm's progress over state-run radio.
Rita is the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. That makes this season the fourth busiest since record keeping began in 1851 -- 21 tropical storms formed in 1933, 19 developed in 1995 and 1887 and 18 formed in 1969, according to the hurricane center.
Four hurricanes struck Florida last year, killing dozens of people and causing $19 billion in insured losses in Florida. Hurricane Dennis brushed by the Keys in July, flooding some Key West streets, toppling trees and knocking out power, before slamming the Florida Panhandle.
Hurricane Katrina hit South Florida last month, killing 11 people.
Farther out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Philippe formed late Sunday well east of the Lesser Antilles. At 11 a.m., Philippe had maximum sustained winds near 75 mph, and was centered about 365 miles east of the Leeward Islands and was moving to the north near 7 mph.
The hurricane season started June 1 and ends Nov. 30.