Waves crash against Havana's seafront boulevard El Malecon as Hurricane Rita passes near Cuba, yesterday. As the monster storm barrels towards the Gulf of Mexico, officials in New Orleans are concerned that temporary levee patches made after Hurricane Katrina are vulnerable to heavy rains or storm surges from Rita. - REUTERS
KEY WEST, Florida (AP):
RAPIDLY STRENGTHENING Hurricane Rita lashed the Florida Keys and sections of northern Cuba yesterday and churned ominously into the Gulf of Mexico, where forecasters feared it could develop into another blockbuster storm.
Thousands of people were evacuated from the Keys and low-lying areas of northern Cuba as the storm dumped blinding rain in the regions. On the far side of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, the mayor ordered a state of emergency as Galveston started evacuations and officials made plans to move refugees from Hurricane Katrina who had been housed in the Houston area to Arkansas.
Amid forecasts that Rita could hit hurricane-ravaged Louisiana and nearby Texas, the BBC website yesterday reported that emergency teams had begun evacuating residents of the flood-hit New Orleans, only days after residents started returning. Some 500 buses are moving out people who had returned to the city battered by Hurricane Katrina three weeks ago.
COULD BECOME CATEGORY FOUR
Forecasters said Rita could intensify in the Gulf of Mexico into a Category Four storm with winds of at least 131 mph (211 kph). The most likely destination by week's end was Texas, although Louisiana and northern Mexico were possibilities, according to the hurricane centre.
Keen to avoid a replay of the catastrophic slow response, United States emergency chief R. David Paulison told reporters that the agency had more 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.
