Hurricane Katrina hits Florida

Tropical storm Katrina strengthened into a hurricane yesterday and deluged Florida's densely populated southeast coast with rain, heightening fears of flooding.

The core of the storm was expected to hit the Fort Lauderdale area late yesterday or early today, dumping up to 25 cm of rain on southern Florida as it moved slowly across the state into the Gulf of Mexico, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

"The entire south part of the peninsula is at risk for flooding," said Ed Rappaport, the centre's deputy director.

Some areas could get up to 38 cm of rain, the hurricane centre said. Skies darkened and rain poured as the outer bands of the storm moved ashore. Some streets were already flooding and emergency managers urged people to stay inside.

At 4 p.m. (2000 GMT), Katrina was centred 40 kilometres east-northeast of Fort Lauderdale.

Fuelled by warm Gulfstream currents, Katrina's top winds strengthened to 7120 kph, up from 65 kph a day earlier and just over the 118 kph threshold to become a hurricane, said hurricane centre director Max Mayfield.

Such hurricanes can damage flimsy trailer homes and strip leaves off trees but rarely cause structural damage. Emergency managers urged people to leave vulnerable islands and mobile home parks, but did not order mandatory evacuations.

Meanwhile, a powerful typhoon beating a path towards Tokyo yesterday was forecast to batter the Japanese capital with strong winds and heavy rainfall overnight, snarling transportation and disrupting oil shipments.