Tourists Ordered Out of Florida Keys

[Mich007]

The Florida Keys ordered tourists to leave Thursday as Hurricane Dennis stormed through the Caribbean on a course that forecasters said might bring it to the state by the weekend.

As of Thursday, the Keys were under a hurricane watch, which means winds of at least 74 mph and storm surges were possible by late Friday, and a tropical storm watch covered the state's southern section, including Miami. Monroe County officials ordered visitors to begin leaving the low-lying island chain at noon, and mobile home resident were required to evacuate beginning at 6 p.m.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami cautioned all Gulf Coast residents from Louisiana to Florida to pay attention as Dennis, still hundreds of miles southeast of Miami, strengthened its winds to 110 mph Thursday, 1 mph shy of becoming a major hurricane.

On the Alabama coast, where Hurricane Ivan made landfall last September, construction crews still rebuilding damaged property began securing equipment.

Joe Brown, general manager for Joe Raley Builders, said it was too late to remove tall construction cranes at beach high rises.

"We will lay them on the ground," Brown said. "If I were a tourist, I'd be headed north."

As Dennis moved through the Caribbean, the remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy dumped heavy rain in parts of the Carolinas on Thursday, prompting flood and tornado warnings to the west. Anderson, S.C., had 3.1 inches of rain by 9 a.m.

Cindy, which came ashore late Tuesday in Louisiana, also soaked northern Georgia, with over 5 inches falling on Atlanta's main airport by morning. Two people were reported dead in the state, tens of thousands had lost power, and there was severe damage to an Atlanta Motor Speedway building.

Dennis was forecast to be between the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Florida's southern tip by Saturday morning. At 2 p.m. EDT, Dennis' center was about 65 miles northeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and moving northwest at about 15 mph. More strengthening was expected as the day passed; it would become a Category 3 hurricane if sustained winds inched up to 111 mph.

Oil prices hit record highs. Traders fear a repeat of last year's Hurricane Ivan, which damaged oil platforms in the Gulf and caused others to shut down for months.

In Pensacola, also hard hit by Ivan last year, the Rev. Russell Levenson just this week had sent out a final batch of church pews for repairs, including some damaged by Ivan. He and his parishioners at Christ Episcopal Church talked about Dennis at a service Wednesday.

"One of the things that we prayed for was that Dennis would dissipate and if it didn't was that it wouldn't come with the force (of Ivan)," Levenson said. "It brings up all the anxieties again. And we're at least a year away from being back to normal."

The Panhandle took a glancing hit Wednesday from Cindy, with rain and winds of about 30 mph in Pensacola. Tropical Storm Arlene also caused little damage when it hit the Panhandle last month.

Georgia deaths from Cindy included an 18-year-old who drowned in a creek in Peachtree City. A woman died after her car hydroplaned on Interstate 20 in Douglas County, crossing a grassy median and colliding head-on with a sport utility vehicle.

Benita Glover of McDonough, Ga., said her dog, Queen, may have saved her life with a bark that sounded like a "scream" late Wednesday.

Glover, 41, said she woke up, grabbed the mutt and ran into a hallway moments before a tree fell onto her roof, causing it to collapse.

"I haven't had her long, but, you know, she's very smart," said Glover, who spent the rest of the night at a neighbor's house.

About 34,000 homes and businesses lost power in the Atlanta area, though most had it back by midday Thursday, Georgia Power said. Earlier, authorities in Louisiana reported about 260,000 customers lost power, while Alabama had up to 35,000 customers out.

Four Atlantic weather systems — Arlene, Bret, Cindy and Dennis — reached tropical storm status by July 5, the earliest for that many named Atlantic storms in recorded history, the hurricane center said.