Weather: Florida Keys Evacuated As Deadly Fay Builds to Hurricane Strength
Four lives already claimed by tropical storm in Caribbean as Florida prepares for onslaught
Tourists were ordered to evacuate the Florida Keys yesterday in preparation for a tropical storm that has claimed at least four lives in the Caribbean.
Authorities placed the low-lying island chain and coastal areas of south-west Florida on a hurricane watch in anticipation of winds over 75mph and a tidal surge up to two meters above normal later today.
Charlie Crist, Florida's governor, called a state of emergency as the evacuations began, saying: "Tropical storm Fay threatens the state with a major disaster."
Visitors to resorts on Cuba's east coast were also moved inland as the storm passed over the country yesterday, dropping up to 30cm of rain and prompting a warning from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami of "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides".
Erratic path and rapid cycles of strengthening and weakening winds has made Fay difficult to predict. But meteorologists insisted it had the potential to escalate rapidly as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico towards Florida.
"Fay is expected to reach hurricane strength in the south-eastern Gulf," said an NHC forecaster, James Franklin.
The Florida Keys, which have not been in the direct path of a hurricane since 1998, are particularly vulnerable to flooding because they lie at sea level. Business owners in Key West, the most westerly island, began laying sandbags and boarding up windows yesterday morning as hurricane shelters opened for residents and visitors began the drive to the mainland over a 150-mile chain of bridges.
Shell Oil said it was evacuating workers from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico as a precaution.
The death toll from tropical storm Fay rose to four on Saturday when a woman and two children, aged 13 and five, drowned in the Dominican Republic when they tried to cross a swollen river in a car, emergency services said.
Another man drowned in Haiti, where local radio reported that flooding and high winds had destroyed rice fields and banana crops.
Authorities placed the low-lying island chain and coastal areas of south-west Florida on a hurricane watch in anticipation of winds over 75mph and a tidal surge up to two meters above normal later today.
Charlie Crist, Florida's governor, called a state of emergency as the evacuations began, saying: "Tropical storm Fay threatens the state with a major disaster."
Visitors to resorts on Cuba's east coast were also moved inland as the storm passed over the country yesterday, dropping up to 30cm of rain and prompting a warning from the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami of "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides".
Erratic path and rapid cycles of strengthening and weakening winds has made Fay difficult to predict. But meteorologists insisted it had the potential to escalate rapidly as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico towards Florida.
"Fay is expected to reach hurricane strength in the south-eastern Gulf," said an NHC forecaster, James Franklin.
The Florida Keys, which have not been in the direct path of a hurricane since 1998, are particularly vulnerable to flooding because they lie at sea level. Business owners in Key West, the most westerly island, began laying sandbags and boarding up windows yesterday morning as hurricane shelters opened for residents and visitors began the drive to the mainland over a 150-mile chain of bridges.
Shell Oil said it was evacuating workers from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico as a precaution.
The death toll from tropical storm Fay rose to four on Saturday when a woman and two children, aged 13 and five, drowned in the Dominican Republic when they tried to cross a swollen river in a car, emergency services said.
Another man drowned in Haiti, where local radio reported that flooding and high winds had destroyed rice fields and banana crops.
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