Gulf Residents Get Ready to Run as Hurricane Nears

Hurricane Kate cranked up 115-m.p.h. winds and barreled toward the Gulf Coast today, forcing residents from Florida to Louisiana to prepare to evacuate for the fourth time this season.

“It is a very serious hurricane, a very dangerous hurricane,” warned forecaster Jim Lynch at the National Hurricane Center.

Kate, which made a 16-hour assault on Cuba Tuesday, rapidly drew new strength today as it swept northwest in the Gulf of Mexico at 15 to 20 m.p.h.

Forecasters said the hurricane could reach land as early as Thursday afternoon, and a hurricane watch was posted from Cedar Key, Fla., to Grand Isle, La.

At 11 a.m. PST, Kate was centered about 275 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, Fla..

Hurricane forecaster Mark Zimmer said Kate was most likely to hit the Florida Panhandle, “but there’s a 10% probability all the way from New Orleans to the Tampa area.”

Kate would become the first November hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in 50 years and the fourth hurricane this season to crash into the Gulf Coast.

The National Weather Service urged coastal residents to secure boats, board up homes, stock up on hurricane supplies and fill vehicle gasoline tanks to be ready to evacuate.

“We are preparing for the full brunt of the storm but hoping and praying it will go to the east of us. It’s been a crazy year,” said Wade Guice, civil defense director in Gulfport, Miss.

Off the Louisiana coast oil companies used helicopters to evacuate many of the 20,000 offshore oil workers in the Gulf.

During the storm’s assault on Cuba, 10 people were killed and at least 50 were injured, Orlando Contreras, public relations director for Cuban broadcasting operations, told KFYI radio in Phoenix today.