Hurricane Rita Moves Away From Keys
Posted on: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 00:00 CDT
Hurricane Rita moved away from the Florida Keys late Tuesday, heading through the Florida Straits.
Rita was on a course that spared Cuba and Florida its full force.
At 8 p.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Rita was 45 miles south-southeast of the Dry Tortugas, 65 miles west-southwest of Key West, Fla., and 75 miles north of Havana. The storm was moving west at 12 mph toward the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane force winds extended out 45 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds 140 miles out.
The hurricane, Florida's seventh in 14 months, passed far enough south to avoid major damage. Parts of U.S. 1, the highway that spans the Keys, were blocked by surging water Tuesday afternoon. Key West and other towns in the Keys lost power.
But forecasters feared that Rita would develop on the same pattern as Katrina, gaining strength over the warm waters of the Gulf before slamming into the southern coast of the United States.
In Galveston, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas ordered mandatory evacuations of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, starting Wednesday morning, CNN reported. In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin abandoned his effort to repopulate the city Monday.
Source: United Press International
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