Hurricane Frances lashed the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas as it barrelled toward Florida, where authorities have declared a state of emergency, ordered evacuations and closed schools.
”Dangerous Hurricane Frances [is] battering the Turks and Caicos islands and the south-eastern Bahamas,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said late on Wednesday.
The US Department of State issued a travel warning urging US citizens to leave the Bahamas and Caicos, adding that all non-essential personnel and family members at US embassies have been ordered to evacuate the islands.
A hurricane watch has been issued for Florida’s south-eastern coast from Florida City to Flagler Beach, an area that includes Miami. A hurricane watch means sustained winds of at least 119kph are expected within 36 hours.
The storm, which packed winds of 235kph, caused some damage to roofs and trees as well as power outages on Grand Turk, according to ham radio reports from the island.
At 5am on Thursday, the eye of the huge storm was 95km north of Mayaguana Island in the Bahamas, or about 835km east-southeast of Palm Beach, Florida.
Hurricane-force winds extended up to 130km outward from the eye of the hurricane, which is moving west-northwest at 20kph.
NHC forecaster Stacy Steward warned that the Bahamian islands of Eleuthera and Grand Bahamas could expect ”storm surge flooding of six to 14 feet [2m to 7pm] above normal tide levels … along with large and dangerous battering waves.”
As residents of the Bahamian islands battened down, Florida braced for the potentially devastating storm.
In Palm Beach county, 300 000 residents were told to evacuate their homes by Thursday afternoon, and schools there and in other parts of south Florida were ordered closed.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency and stressed: ”We are prepared, we will respond and we will recover.”
While some forecasts have the hurricane slamming into Georgia or South Carolina, or heading into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, most experts believe there is a stronger chance it will hit Florida.
”We want everybody in the state to know there will likely be some impact from this very dangerous hurricane,” NHC director Max Mayfield said in Miami as the storm was still almost 1 000km away.
”If it remains a category-four hurricane it certainly will cause extreme damage,” he said at a news conference.
He also warned that because of the size of the storm, ”the hurricane will not be just a coastal event. Wherever it strikes land, those strong winds, heavy rains and some of the tornadoes will spread well inland.”
Florida is still recovering from the death and destruction wrought earlier this month by Hurricane Charley, which hit south-western parts of the state.
The eventual hurricane track will depend largely on a ridge of high pressure just north of the storm. If that system remains where it is and maintains its strength, ”it will be a Florida hurricane”, said Mayfield.
Florida authorities are taking no chances.
”All Floridians should complete their family hurricane preparedness plans today and be ready to implement them in the event that local emergency management recommends action on Thursday or Friday,” the state’s division of emergency management said in a statement.
Across South Florida, residents lined up to buy hurricane supplies, including plywood to board up their windows, bottled water and flashlights.
Several cruise ships diverted from their initial schedules to avoid the storm.
Meanwhile, Richmond, the capital of the US state of Virginia, was cleaning up on Wednesday after Tropical Storm Gaston caused widespread flooding and reportedly killed at least five people. — Sapa-AFP