Hurricane Jeanne threatens Bahamas, then Florida

Deadly Hurricane Jeanne loomed near the northern Bahamas yesterday on a course that would likely inflict a record fourth hurricane hit in a year on storm-weary Florida.

Jeanne, which killed more than 1,000 people when it dumped torrential rains on Haiti last weekend, was churning west through the Atlantic Ocean with top winds of near 160 kph.

Hurricane warnings, meaning residents should expect hurricane conditions in 24 hours, were in effect for the northwestern part of the Bahamas, a 700-island chain with a population of 300,000.

Hurricane watches, meaning possible storm conditions within 36 hours, were up for almost all the eastern Florida coast from Florida City, south of Miami, to St Augustine near the Georgia border.

Florida, with a population of 17 million, was still recovering from an extremely rare string of three hurricanes - Charley, Frances and Ivan - since August 13 that have caused tens of billions of dollars in losses, and hammered sectors such as the citrus industry and tourism.

"Yes, we're tired, but there are 17 million people counting on us," Florida's director of emergency management, Craig Fugate, said as he sought to rally his staff and ready shelters and supplies yesterday morning.

Frank Lepore, a spokesman for the US National Hurricane Center, said that if Jeanne does slam into Florida it would be the first time since recordkeeping began in 1851 that the state had been hit by four hurricanes in one season.

Evacuation orders for people living in vulnerable coastal areas, barrier islands and mobile home parks could be issued later in the day - sending yet another stream of people fleeing inland.

Governor Jeb Bush, who has spent much of the past six weeks touring hurricane-battered areas, urged people to take the fresh warnings seriously, especially if they are told to leave their homes.

"I know people are frustrated. I know they are tired of all this. Trust me, the governor is as well. But we should heed the warnings of the experts as it relates to evacuation: it is not being done in a flippant fashion," said Mr Bush, President George W. Bush's younger brother.

In a familiar ritual, people began crowding stores for supplies such as batteries and water, and filling up on gas.

At 8 a.m. (noon GMT), the centre of Jeanne was about 505 kilometres east of the Bahamas' Grand Abaco Island near latitude 26.1 north and longitude 72 west, the hurricane centre said.

It was moving toward the west near 13 kph and was expected to hit the northern Bahamas today.

The longer-term forecast had the storm moving close to Florida's central east coast tomorrow. But the forecast has a wide margin of error several days out, meaning a long swath of the coast had to be on alert.

"I wish I could tell you where Jeanne is going to go," said state meteorologist Ben Nelson.

As a tropical storm, Jeanne soaked Haiti last weekend with torrential rains that triggered flooding and mudslides, killing 1,150 people and leaving 1,200 missing. It also killed two people in the US Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico and 29 in the Dominican Republic.

The storm meandered in the Atlantic for a few days before fixing a course for the northern Bahamas and Florida.

Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan killed 85 people in Florida and caused extensive damage.

Insured damage was estimated at $7.4 billion for Charley, $4.4 billion for Frances and between $3 billion and $6 billion for Ivan. Insured losses are always well below the total figure for damage.