[Centraal Hurricane Rita] The beginning #01

quote:

Bron : CNN
Texas evacuations ordered as Rita enters Gulf

Boarding up to protect against Rita begins under bright sunlight in Galveston, Texas.

GALVESTON, Texas (CNN) -- With Hurricane Rita intensifying as it treks westward through the Gulf of Mexico, the mayor of Galveston declared a state of emergency Tuesday night.

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas ordered mandatory evacuations of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday.

She also said mandatory evacuations of other parts of the city would begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Galveston -- a city in which about 8,000 people died in a 1900 hurricane -- is about 50 miles southeast of Houston on a barrier island 2 miles wide.

The latest five-day forecast from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, has the storm making landfall near Galveston late Friday or early Saturday.

But forecasters also said the path of the storm will depend on a high-pressure system over the southern United States. As that system moves east, it will become easier for the storm to turn north.

Rita continued to strengthen as its eye passed through the narrow Straits of Florida between Key West and Cuba and into the warm, open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The hurricane center warned that the Category 2 storm could reach Category 4 status by Wednesday afternoon. (Watch fierce wind, huge waves --2:27 )

A Category 4 storm has winds from 131 mph to 155 mph (210 kph to 248 kph) and storm surges from 13 feet to 18 feet (4.3 meters to 6 meters), based on the Saffir-Simpson scale that measures hurricane intensity.

Gov. Rick Perry on Monday recalled Texas National Guard forces in Louisiana assisting Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The recall affects 1,099 service members, Louisiana officials said.

In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin postponed a planned return of residents to the city and ordered those who had returned to leave because of the threat posed by Rita.

The commander of the Army Corps of Engineers told CNN that only 40 percent of the pumping stations in New Orleans were working.

"We think something on the line of 3 inches over six hours would probably put 2 to 4 feet of water in the lower-lying sections of the city," said Lt. Gen. Carl Strock. "... The levees also are a concern. They would not stand any kind of significant storm surge."

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the federal point man for recovery efforts, said 500 buses were available to take people out of the city, and it was possible commercial jets also would be used to evacuate people.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco urged residents of southwestern Louisiana to be ready to evacuate on short notice.

Because Rita could hit Texas, which already has taken in tens of thousands of Louisiana residents after Katrina, she urged them to go north instead of west. (Full story)

Tuesday night, Blanco sent a letter to President Bush asking him to declare a federal state of emergency.

As of 11 p.m. ET, the storm was centered 95 miles (150 kilometers) west-southwest of Key West and 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Havana, Cuba. (Watch CNN's Jacqui Jeras describe Rita's growing strength -- :59)

A reconnaissance aircraft measured top sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph).

Rita was moving west and had slowed to about 13 mph (20 kph). Its hurricane-force winds extended out 45 miles (75 kilometers) and tropical storm-force winds extended 140 miles (220 kilometers) from its center into south Florida.
'People are stubborn'

In the Florida Keys, thousands of residents hunkered down as Rita lashed the islands with blinding rain and winds Tuesday afternoon. (Watch high winds and rain pound Florida -- 2:27)

In Key West, many residents took to the streets, some of which were slightly flooded by late afternoon, to see the extent of the storm's fury.

One woman -- dressed in a windbreaker and holding a small dog wearing a life vest -- said she would ride out the storm as she always has.

"I never do evacuate," she said. "I want to be able to get back in and get back to my job. And I work for the Department of Juvenile Justice so I feel like I need to be here."

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warned residents to stay put. "Now is the time to hunker down. As we say, 'Turn around, don't drown,' " he said. (Watch Gov. Bush warn Florida residents -- 4:05)

Key West Mayor Jim Weekley said about half of the city's residents left ahead of the storm, leaving about 13,000 people in the city.

He said people took the evacuation order more seriously in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, adding that only about 25 percent of the city's residents left in previous hurricanes.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued Monday for the Keys, but many residents insisted on staying. The evacuation was the fifth ordered for the Keys in the past two years.

"In the Keys, a lot of people are stubborn," said Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

CNN's Dan Lothian reported from Key Largo that he saw some people still putting up boards on their windows as late as Tuesday morning.

Gov. Bush said more than 1,600 residents of Monroe County, which includes all the Keys, were in shelters elsewhere in Florida. All three hospitals in the county were evacuated, as well as its nursing homes.

A hurricane warning stretched from just south of Florida City in southeast Florida down to East Cape Sable, around the tip of the peninsula and then north to Chokoloskee. All of the Florida Keys are included in the warning.

Hurricane warnings were still in effect for three Cuban provinces, including Havana. CNN's Lucia Newman said more than 58,000 Cubans were evacuated from coastal areas.

quote:

Bron : Nu.Nl
Orkaan Rita krijgt zorgwekkende krachten

WASHINGTON - Orkaan Rita zal volgens Amerikaanse meteorologen de komende periode fors aan kracht winnen. Het National Hurricane Center verwacht dat de orkaan uiteindelijk in categorie 4, de op een na hoogste, terechtkomt op de schaal van Saffir en Simpson. Dat zal waarschijnlijk woensdagmiddag gebeuren.

Orkaan Rita is dinsdagmiddag (plaatselijke tijd) opgewaardeerd tot een orkaan van de categorie 2 op de schaal van Saffir en Simpson. De storm bereikt windsnelheden van 160 kilometer per uur. Dit heeft het National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami bekendgemaakt.

Rita is inmiddels geland op de Key-eilanden voor de kust van Florida. De orkaan Katrina, die eind vorige maand het zuiden van de VS teisterde, hoorde thuis in categorie 4.

Geen tijd

Eigenlijk had Florida de Keys-eilandengroep willen evacueren, maar daar is het nu te laat voor. Gouverneur Jeb Bush heeft de bewoners opgeroepen ter plaatse bescherming te zoeken. De waterstand bij vloed kan 1,2 meter hoger zijn dan normaal.

Scholen, winkels en enkele wegen zijn gesloten in delen van zuid-Florida. In Miami zijn enige laaggelegen gebieden geėvacueerd. Meer dan 11.000 huishoudens in Florida zitten zonder stroom. Op Cuba zijn inwoners van kuststreken opgeroepen hoger gelegen terrein op te zoeken. Duizenden toeristen zijn geėvacueerd.

Evacuatie New Orleans

Amerikaanse hulpdiensten zijn dinsdag begonnen met het evacueren van inwoners van de stad New Orleans in verband met de dreiging van orkaan Rita. Dat maakte burgemeester Ray Nagin bekend. De evacués komen samen bij het conventiecentrum, zei hij. De stad werd eind vorige maand deels verwoest door orkaan Katrina. Volgens Nagin zal New Orleans opnieuw te lijden hebben als orkaan Rita haar huidige koers voortzet.

Amerikaanse marineschepen die worden ingezet om de slachtoffers van Katrina in Louisiana en Mississippi te helpen, treffen inmiddels voorbereidingen om een veilig heenkomen te zoeken.

Olieplatforms

Evenals bij de komst van voorgangster Katrina zijn olieplatforms geėvacueerd. Volgens meteorologen kan Rita boven de golf nog aan kracht toenemen en windsnelheden van 178 kilometer per uur bereiken. Komend weekeinde zal de storm naar verwachting opnieuw landen, dan in Texas.

Noodtoestand

Gouverneur Kathleen Blanco van Louisiana heeft dinsdag de noodtoestand uitgeroepen in het westen van deze Amerikaanse staat. Zij riep de bevolking op te vertrekken met het oog op de komst van orkaan Rita. Louisiana raakte eerder deze maand zeer zwaar gehavend door orkaan Katrina met als resultaat tientallen miljarden dollars schade en honderden doden.