WORK to permanently choke off BP’s broken oil well stalled yesterday as Tropical Storm Bonnie raced toward the Gulf of Mexico and dozens of ships evacuated the area.

BP engineers in the Gulf of Mexico said they will leave the leaky cap fixed to its well head closed as key ships stationed over the site were ordered to evacuate today as Tropical Storm Bonnie loomed.

The temporary cap on BP’s ruptured oil well can stay closed even if ships evacuate the Gulf of Mexico during a tropical storm, the American federal government’s oil spill chief said today.

More heavy rain is set to hit the coastal area where a village was devastated by a freak deluge.

HURRICANE Charley slammed Florida’s west coast with winds of 145mph last night, striking south of populous Tampa and threatening to swamp the vulnerable shore with a 15-foot tidal surge.

More than two million people were told to flee from the path of 110 mph Hurricane Charley as it roared toward Florida’s west coast tonight.

Around a million residents and tourists have been warned to leave parts of Florida over fears that Tampa and other parts of the west coast could be submerged by the massive storm surge when Hurricane Charley strikes the state’s central gulf coast today.

THE legend of St Swithin’s Day may have jinxed our summer weather this year.

A state of emergency was declared for all of Florida today as a tropical storm and then a hurricane raged closer, the first time the state has faced such a potentially disastrous plight in almost 98 years.

Two hurricanes could strike Florida on the same day – something meteorologists say they have never seen.