Florida prepares for tropical storm Rita
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-19 19:09

Hotel workers secured pool chairs and umbrellas, tourists boarded buses out of town and lines of vehicles snaked out of the lower Florida Keys as Tropical Storm Rita churned toward the exposed island chain, the Associated Press reported.

line waiting for gas starts forming behind Edwardo Noe as he gases his bike in Holiday Isle, Fla. after leaving Key West, Fla. early due to the tourist evacuation order given Sunday, Sept. 18, 2005. Thousands of bikers left early due to storm warnings. [AP]

Rita, which strengthened Sunday into a tropical storm, had sustained winds of 60 mph and was forecast to be in the Straits of Florida between the Keys and northern Cuba on Monday, possibly as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of at least 74 mph, forecasters said.

The entire Keys was under a hurricane warning. 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.

Officials issued evacuation orders Sunday for visitors — but not residents — from the Seven Mile Bridge near Marathon to Key West, including the Dry Tortugas.

"We're happy to get out of here before the storm comes," said Joan Taylor, 73, of Midland Park, N.J., who was planning to fly out of Key West on Monday.

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.

Despite the evacuation order, however, some hotels and restaurants in Key West remained open, and few businesses were boarded up Sunday night.

In the Bahamas, which could be struck by Rita first, few on Mayaguana Island bothered to board their windows or stock up on emergency supplies as they normally would for a hurricane, said Earnel Brown, manager of the Baycaner Beach Resort.

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

At 5 a.m. EDT, Rita was centered about 250 miles southeast of Nassau, Bahamas, and about 490 miles east-southeast of Key West. It was moving to the west-northwest near 9 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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 that areas ravaged by Katrina should be watching the storm.

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 5 a.m., Philippe had maximum sustained winds near 75 mph, and was centered about 385 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.

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