KEY WEST, Fla. — Rapidly strengthening Hurricane Rita lashed the Florida
Keys on Tuesday and headed into the Gulf of Mexico, where forecasters
feared it could develop into another blockbuster storm targeting Texas
or Louisiana.
Thousands of people were evacuated from the Keys and low-lying areas of
northern Cuba. On the far side of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Galveston
started evacuations and officials made plans to move refugees from
Hurricane Katrina who had been housed in the Houston area to Arkansas.
AP/J. Pat Carter
After loosing electricity in his home, Dan McCormick came to the
Southernmost Point in Key West, Fla., Tuesday, to look at the
ocean before Hurricane Rita hits the area.
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Forecasters said Rita could intensify in the Gulf of Mexico into a
Category 4 storm with winds of at least 131 mph. The most likely
destination by week's end was Texas, although Louisiana and northern
Mexico were possibilities, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison told reporters that the agency
has aircraft and buses available to evacuate residents of areas the
hurricane might hit. Rescue teams and truckloads of ice, water and
prepared meals were being sent to Texas and Florida.
"I strongly urge Gulf coast residents to pay attention" to the storm, he
said.
Stung by criticism of the government's slow initial response to
Hurricane Katrina, President Bush signed an emergency declaration for
Florida and spoke with Texas Gov. Rick Perry about planning for the
storm's landfall.
"All up and down the coastline people are now preparing for what is
anticipated to be another significant storm," Bush said.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said more than 2,000 Florida National Guard troops
and dozens of law enforcement officers were ready to deal with the
storm's aftermath, although it appeared the Keys were spared the storm's
full fury.
"I think we did, so far, dodge a bullet," said Key West Mayor Jimmy
Weekley.
Rita started the day as a tropical storm with top sustained wind of 70
mph. But as it cruised through the Florida Straits between the Keys and
Cuba, it gathered energy from the warm sea, becoming a Category 2
hurricane. By late Tuesday, its top winds had strengthened to 110 mph,
just 1 mph away from qualifying as a Category 3 storm.
Bush received a briefing about Rita aboard the USS Iwo Jima, which is
docked near downtown New Orleans, as the hurricane caused new anxiety
among Katrina victims in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
"There's still plenty of warm water that it needs to move over in the
next couple days. The forecast is favorable for further
intensification," said Michelle Mainelli, a meteorologist at the
National Hurricane Center.
Residents and visitors had been ordered out of the Keys, and voluntary
evacuation orders were posted for coastal mainland areas such as Miami
Beach. Some 130,000 people were evacuated in Cuba, on the southern side
of the Florida Straits.
Many of Key West's shops and bars were boarded up.
"This city was really very well prepared," said Jim Gilleran, owner of
the 801 Bar in the Old Town section of Key West. He kept his business
open despite the heavy rain and a power outage.
At least one segment of the Keys highway, U.S. 1, was barricaded because
of water and debris, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Wind-driven water
was flowing across other sections of the two- and three-lane highway
that connects the Keys.
At 11 p.m. EDT, Rita's eye was about 95 miles west-southwest of Key
West. The storm was moving west at 13 mph on a track that kept the most
destructive winds at sea, the hurricane center said.
Nearly 900 miles from Key West, officials of Galveston were already
calling for voluntary evacuations, with mandatory evacuations to begin
Wednesday. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco urged everyone in the
southwest part of the state to prepare to evacuate.
Even those who had survived major hurricanes were getting ready to
leave. Catherine Womack, 71, was busy boarding up the windows on her
one-story brick house in Galveston.
"Destination unknown," she said. "I've never left before. I think
because of Katrina, there is a lot of anxiety and concern. It's better
to be safe than sorry."
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin suspended his plan Monday to start bringing
residents back to the city after warnings that Rita could follow
Hurricane Katrina's course and rupture his city's weakened levees.
The Pentagon stationed coordinating officers and staff at Tallahassee,
Fla., and Austin, Texas, to assist storm preparations and recovery. The
USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, was off Florida's Atlantic coast
near Jacksonville, preparing to follow behind Rita to support relief
efforts.
The hurricane lifted crude oil prices more than $1 late Tuesday in
electronic trading on the New York Merchantile Exchange, sending futures
back above $67 a barrel as workers fled facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Katrina destroyed 46 platforms and rigs and significantly damaged 18
platforms and rigs, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
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. Six hurricanes have hit Florida in
the last 13 months.
The hurricane season isn't over until Nov. 30.
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Associated Press writers Jill Barton in Marathon and Vanessa Arrington
in Varadero, Cuba, contributed to this report.
