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Tropical storm forms near Bahamas

Posted on: Sunday, 18 September 2005, 21:17 CDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Rita, the 17th tropical storm of the busy Atlantic hurricane season, formed near the Bahamas on Sunday and prompted an evacuation order for tourists in the lower Florida Keys.

Forecasters said Rita could be a hurricane by late on Monday, when it was expected to be in the Florida Straits between the Keys and Cuba. The Bahamas, southeastern Florida, the Keys, Cuba and the Turks and Caicos Islands were all under storm alerts.

At 8 p.m. EDT (2400 GMT), Rita's center was about 330 miles east-southeast of Nassau, Bahamas, and moving northwest near 9 mph (15 kph). A gradual turn toward the west-northwest or west was expected later on Sunday or on Monday, which would take it over the southeast and central Bahamas Sunday night and Monday.

Forecasters said Rita's path could take it into the Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Rita's sustained winds had strengthened to near 50 mph (85 kph), with higher gusts.

"Additional strengthening is expected during the next 24 hours," the National Hurricane Center said in its latest storm update, adding that Rita could become a Category 1 hurricane by late Monday.

Authorities in the Florida Keys, a 110-mile chain of islands off the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, began a phased evacuation, telling visitors to leave the lower Keys between the Seven-Mile Bridge and Key West. Schools were ordered closed on Monday and Tuesday.

The National Hurricane Center cautioned that residents in mobile homes and in low-lying areas should prepare now for possible evacuation.

A hurricane watch, alerting residents to possible hurricane conditions within 36 hours, was in effect for the Keys, parts of Cuba, and the northwestern Bahamas.

"Weather conditions will deteriorate slowly on Monday," the National Hurricane Center said. "Hurricane force winds of 74 mph (119 kph) or greater will be possible in the Florida Keys as early as Tuesday morning.

Southeastern Florida from Deerfield Beach south to Florida City was under a tropical storm watch.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Turks and Caicos islands, a British territory near the Bahamas, and for the central and southeast Bahamas.

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, produces an average of about 11 tropical storms or hurricanes. But forecasters had predicted an above-average season with as many as 21 storms due to high sea-surface temperatures and other conditions favorable to hurricane formation.

Hurricane Katrina has been blamed for at least 883 deaths after it hit the U.S. Gulf coast in late August.

Tropical Storm Philippe, meanwhile, was about 400 miles east of the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. It was moving on a north-northwest track that would take it through the open Atlantic and was no immediate threat to land.

Source: REUTERS

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