KEY WEST, Fla. - Florida Keys officials closed schools, opened shelters and urged visitors to leave as Tropical Storm Fay threatened to strengthen into a hurricane Sunday, but residents and tourists seemed in no hurry to evacuate.
Fay, the sixth storm of the 2008 Atlantic season, picked up some momentum Sunday afternoon as it headed toward Cuba, and could be a hurricane by the time it reaches the island's center, forecasters said. Fay has already killed at least five people after battering Haiti and the Dominican Republic with weekend torrential rains and floods.
At 5 p.m. EDT Sunday, Fay's center was located about 270 miles south-southeast of Key West and moving west-northwest near 15 mph. The storm had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph with some gusting.
Key West was last seriously affected by a hurricane in 2005, when Category 3 Wilma sped past. The town escaped widespread wind damage, but a storm surge flooded hundreds of homes and some businesses. The deadliest storm to hit the island was a Category 4 hurricane in 1919 that killed up to 900 people, many of them offshore on ships that sank.
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clipped from news.yahoo.com
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