Hurricane Rita packs 160kmh winds near US coast

Hurricane Rita blasted near a vulnerable chain of islands in southernmost Florida, heading to the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico on a track that could take it close to devastated New Orleans.

With the centre of the storm swirling 80km south of Key West and packing winds of 160kmh today, authorities urged residents to hunker down and brace for large and dangerous waves.

Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys were ordered evacuated earlier, but the state's governor said it was now too late to flee the low-lying chain of islands linked to the mainland by a series of bridges and a single highway.

"Now is the time to hunker down," said Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a brother of the US president, warning the storm was expected to strengthen further.

The hurricane sent street signs flying in Key West, flooded roads in Miami and left more than 11,000 homes without power.

"Storm surge flooding of four to six feet (1.2 to 2 metres) above normal tide levels ... along with large and dangerous battering waves are possible in the Florida Keys," said Lixion Avila, a forecaster with the National Hurricane Centre (NHC).

Forecasters also warned the hurricane might spawn potentially dangerous tornadoes.

Hospitals in the Florida Keys were closed, while schools, government buildings and many businesses, as well as some roads, shut down in parts of south Florida, including Miami where authorities had ordered the evacuation of mobile home parks and urged residents in low-lying areas to do the same.

Miami airport remained open, but numerous flights were either cancelled or delayed.

Rita skirted the Bahamas islands at tropical-storm strength before becoming a hurricane yesterday morning, churning past Cuba's Atlantic coast and virtually paralysing Havana where pounding wind and rain kept most residents indoors.

It ranked as a category two on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale yesterday, and forecasters warned it could eventually strengthen by another notch as it draws fuel from the warm Gulf of Mexico waters.

"We need to watch this storm very carefully," Governor Bush said.

AFP

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