Rita slams Keys, stirs fear in Gulf

The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY) September 20, 2005 | Michelle Spitzer Rita strengthened into a hurricane today as it lashed the Florida Keys with heavy rain and strong wind, threatening the island chain with a storm surge of up to 6 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 85 mph, said meteorologist Michelle Mainelli at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Thousands of residents and tourists have fled the Keys in advance of Rita, which forecasters said could dump up to 8 inches of rain on parts of the low-lying island chain. category1hurricane.com category 1 hurricane

Rita is expected to strengthen as it crosses the warm Gulf of Mexico later this week headed 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, 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 in 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.

Hurricane warnings were posted for the Keys and Miami-Dade County. Residents and visitors were ordered to clear out of the Keys; voluntary evacuation orders were posted for 134,000 Miami- Dade residents of coastal areas such as Miami Beach. here category 1 hurricane

Cuba evacuated 58,000 people from low-lying areas along the northern coast, the National Information Agency reported.

Meanwhile, parts of U.S. 1, the highway linking the Keys, were flooded and impassable.

Roads were nearly deserted in Marathon, about 45 miles northeast of Key West, and virtually all businesses were closed.

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.

In the Bahamas, Nassau International Airport reopened today after the storm passed, and schools reopened. The strongest parts of Rita did not hit the Bahamas, 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.

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, but fell today after OPEC agreed to make available 2 million extra barrels of oil a day starting Oct. 1.

Chevron and Shell began evacuating employees from offshore oil- and gas-drilling platforms in the gulf. Other companies were watching the storm’s track but had not yet begun evacuations.

“These storms are pretty big and broad sometimes, so you take no chances,” said Chevron spokesman Mickey Driver.

About 56 percent of the gulf’s oil production was already out of operation Monday because of Katrina’s damage, the federal Minerals Management Service said.

Michelle Spitzer