Tropical Storm Ernesto Aims for Florida

By JESSICA GRESKO

KEY WEST, Fla. – Rain from Tropical Storm Ernesto began pelting the island on Tuesday morning as residents hurried to make last-minute preparations before the storm strikes the vulnerable Florida Keys and populous South Florida.

The storm has a chance of regaining minimal hurricane strength before it makes landfall as early as Tuesday night, the National Hurricane Center said.

On the anniversary of Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans and with still fresh of the seven hurricanes that have hit Florida since 2004, state officials urged residents not to wait for Ernesto to strengthen again before making preparations.

Tourists were ordered out of the Keys, linked to the mainland by a single highway. Mainland Broward and Miami-Dade counties urged residents of mobile homes and homes still damaged from previous storms, including roofs protected only by tarpaulins, to evacuate early Tuesday.

"If your home currently has a blue tarp, it is not safe," Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

Ernesto had sustained wind of 45 mph, with higher gusts, and the hurricane center said it was likely to grow more powerful as it crossed the warm Florida Straits between Cuba and the peninsula.

Forecasters put the chance of tropical storm-force wind of at least 39 mph hitting Florida at about 70 percent. The number was only 5 percent for hurricane-force sustained winds of at least 74 mph, but forecasters warned Floridians to pay attention even if it doesn’t become a hurricane.

"A strong tropical storm is certainly capable of producing wind gusts to hurricane force and those winds can cause power lines to go down" and can cause roof damage, senior hurricane specialist Richard Knabb said.

Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were in effect for most of southern Florida and hundreds of miles of the state’s densely populated Atlantic coast.

Line formed across southern Florida at gas stations and groceries and home-supply stores as soon as they opened as people grabbed emergency supplies.

At a Miami pharmacy, 71-year-old Migdalia Antigua was the first person in line early Tuesday, buying cholesterol medication and other supplies for her family.

"All of the responsibility falls on me because I’m the one in the household with my legs under me," Antigua said.

NASA decided to move the space shuttle Atlantis off the launch pad and back into its giant shelter at Cape Canaveral because of the storm. Cruise ship companies diverted several liners to avoid the storm.

At 8 a.m. EDT, Ernesto was centered off Cuba over warm open water, about 200 miles southeast of Key West and 215 miles south-southeast of Miami. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph and could dump 5 to 15 inches of rain.

Northward up the Atlantic Seaboard, South Carolina was activating nearly 250 National Guard members to be ready if Ernesto reaches that state later in the week, Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley urged residents to make preparations.

After crossing Florida and hitting open water again, Ernesto was expected to make landfall along the South Carolina coast Thursday afternoon as a tropical storm, the National Weather Service said Tuesday morning. "There’s more uncertainty surrounding this storm than with some of the storms last year," said Jonathan Lamb at the weather service in Charleston, S.C.

"One thing we know about Mother Nature is that she’s a fairly fickle instrument and we don’t know exactly what comes next," Sanford said.

Key West streets were relatively quiet early Tuesday. Some hotels had plywood up over windows, but many homes were unprotected.

At Islamorada in the middle Keys, Tracy Aulet installed metal shutters at the family medical practice where she works.

"I’ve learned from past experience. We’ve got to protect what’s inside. We can’t function without it," said Aulet, 38, a Keys resident for 12 years. "You never get used to it."

Shelters opened around the area but initially were not very crowded. At midmorning Tuesday, 27 people with special health needs had arrived at a shelter for Monroe County residents at Florida International University near Miami. Some had to be moved on gurneys.

Over the weekend, Ernesto, the fifth named storm of the hurricane season, became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season and lashed the Dominican Republic and Haiti, killing one woman on a Haitian island. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury Monday in Cuba.

In an unusual recognition of the quiet cooperation that has long existed between American and Cuban meteorologists, an advisory from the hurricane center expressed "special thanks to the government of Cuba" for permitting reconnaissance aircraft to fly "right up to their coastline to gather this critical weather data."

The Bahamas on Monday ordered boats in southern islands to stay in port. The island chain had a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch in effect for western islands close to Florida’s coast.

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On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/  

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Associated Press writers Howard Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica; Anita Snow and Vanessa Arrington in Havana; and Matt Sedensky in Florida City, Fla., contributed to this report.