Hurricane Rita Lashes Florida Keys September 20, 2005
By MICHELLE SPITZER
News My Way
Photo: After loosing electricity in his home, Dan McCormick came to the Southernmost Point in Key West, Fla. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 to look at the ocean before Hurricane Rita hits the area. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Rita strengthened into a hurricane on Tuesday as it lashed the Florida Keys with heavy rain and strong wind, threatening the island chain with a storm surge of up to 7 feet and sparking fears the storm could eventually bring new misery to the Gulf Coast.
Rita became a Category 1 hurricane with sustained top wind of 75 mph during the morning, said meteorologist Michelle Mainelli at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. She said the wind speed was confirmed by data collected by a reconnaissance plane sent into the storm.
Thousands of residents and tourists had fled the Keys in advance of Rita, which forecasters said could dump up to 15 inches of rain on parts of the low-lying island chain.
Rita promised to gain more strength as it crossed the warm Gulf of Mexico for a weekend landfall, most likely in Texas although Louisiana could end up in the path of what could become a major hurricane.
"Right now, we expect that Rita will remain a Category 1 hurricane as it affects the Keys," said Chris Sisko, also a meteorologist at the hurricane center. "Further out, we do anticipate further strengthening up to Category 3, or major hurricane status." Category 3 storms have maximum sustained wind of 130 mph.
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.
Photo: A store owner shows the feelings of many in Key West, Fla. early Tuesday, Sept. 20,2 005 as Hurricane Rita approached the Florida Keys. This will be the fifth hurricane in a year. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
Hurricane warnings were posted for the Keys and Miami-Dade County. 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.
At 9:15 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.
Not everyone had fled the low-lying Keys.
(AP) John Anchak, a homeless man, plans to remain in Key West, Fla. at this strip mall shop Tuesday,...
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Key West resident Linda McAlarney moved to temporary quarters at a local hotel and walked 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.
Elsewhere in the Keys, sea water splashed across U.S. 1, the highway linking the islands, and wind hurled debris across roads. Roads were nearly deserted in Marathon, about 45 miles northeast of Key West, and virtually all businesses were closed, except for the Stuffed Pig diner, where workers promised to keep serving food regardless of the weather.
"We've stayed open lots of times with no power. We've got a gas stove so it gets awful hot in here but we can still serve up food," said Julie Gervasio, who has worked at the restaurant for five years.
Photo: John Anchak, a homeless man, plans to remain in Key West, Fla. at this strip mall shop Tuesday, Sept.20, 2005 during Hurricane Rita. He explained that he will be protected from the rain and wind. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
Wind and rain also were being felt north of the Keys in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where more than 13,000 customers were without power. Most schools and government offices were closed.
(AP) Hurricane specialist Richard Nabb gestures during a 8:00 a.m., EDT, update of Tropical storm Rita...
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New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin suspended his plan Monday to start bringing residents back to the city after forecasters warned that Rita could follow Hurricane Katrina's course into the gulf and rupture 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."
In the Bahamas, Nassau International Airport reopened Tuesday after the storm moved on to Florida, and schools reopened on every island of the chain except South Andros, where some damage was reported.
The strongest parts of Rita did not hit the Bahamas islands, where the wind peaked at just 40 to 55 mph, the Bahamas Weather Service said.
"We came out of this one relatively all right- some broken branches, some erosion to a road exposed to the sea, and no reports of flooding," said Great Exuma Island commissioner Everette Cooper.
Photo: Hurricane specialist Richard Nabb gestures during a 8:00 a.m., EDT, update of Tropical storm Rita Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 in Miami. Tropical Storm Rita began lashing the Florida Keys on Tuesday with heavy rain and strong winds, threatening a storm surge of up to 7 feet and sparking fears it could eventually bring new misery to the Gulf Coast. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
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 last hurricane to directly hit Key West was 1998's Hurricane Georges, which slammed the city with 105 mph wind, damaging hundreds of homes.
Crude-oil futures rose above $67 a barrel Monday, in part because of worries about Rita. About 56 percent of the Gulf's oil production was already out of operation because of Katrina's damage, the federal Minerals Management Service said.
The hurricane season started June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
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Associated Press writers Jill Barton in Marathon and Dominic Duncombe in Nassau, Bahamas, contributed to this report.
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