Hurricane bears down on Florida
2.5 million ordered to flee homes
AFP, Miami
Thousands of people choked Florida's main highways yesterday after 2.5 million people were told to leave their homes -- the largest evacuation in state history, as Hurricane Frances, after pummeling the Bahamas, barreled toward the eastern US coast. "We need to take this seriously, this is a deadly storm" said Florida Governor Jeb Bush, urging residents in threatened areas to board up their homes and seek shelter inland. Most of Florida's densely populated east coast was placed under a hurricane warning, which means the storm could slam within 24 hours into the state that is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Charley earlier this month. About 2.5 million people along south Florida's Atlantic coast were told to evacuate their homes and move to safer areas as Frances approached with sustained winds of 195km per hour and higher gusts. It was the largest evacuation in Florida's history, surpassing the 1.3 million people urged to leave when Hurricane Floyd threatened but missed the state in 1999. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," said forecaster Lixion Avila of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. As a sign of how seriously forecasters took Frances, storm shutters were put up Thursday at the Hurricane Center.
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