As Storm Threatens, Thousands Flee Keys

KEY LARGO, Fla. —  Thousands of tourists jammed a highway Sunday after they were told to evacuate the lower Florida Keys because Tropical Storm Rita developed over the Bahamas and moved toward the low-lying island chain.

A hurricane watch was posted for the entire Florida Keys, which means that hurricane winds of at least 74 mph are possible by late today.

In Tallahassee, Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency for Florida, which gave the state authority to oversee evacuations and activate the National Guard, among other powers.

“It does look like that there is the potential for it to become a hurricane, near or just before it reaches the Florida Keys,” said Daniel Brown, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

Long-term forecasts show the system heading generally toward the Gulf of Mexico and Texas or Mexico later in the week, but such forecasts are subject to large margins of error. That means that areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina could potentially be in the storm’s path.

“Once it reaches the gulf, really everybody should pay attention at that point,” Brown said.

As the storm strengthened hundreds of miles away, the lone highway in the Keys was packed with sport utility vehicles, RVs and motorcycles heading north to the mainland.

The exodus caused a miles-long traffic jam in the section of U.S. 1 connecting Key Largo to Florida City.

Rita is the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. That makes this season the fifth-busiest since record keeping began in 1851 -- 21 tropical storms formed in 1933, 19 in 1995 and 1887, and 18 in 1969, according to the hurricane center.

Farther out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Philippe strengthened from a tropical storm late Sunday.

It was east of the Lesser Antilles and had maximum sustained winds near 75 mph.