States braced for hurricane

HURRICANE DENNIS closed in on the Gulf Coast last night with battering waves and high winds after strengthening into a dangerous Category 4 storm, roaring toward a region still patching up damage from a hurricane 10 months ago.

More than 100 miles ahead of the eye of the storm, rain blew sideways and wind exceeded 45mph in some spots this morning and rolling waves pounded piers and beaches.

Landfall was expected late last night somewhere along the coast of north-western Florida, Alabama or Mississippi, where nearly 1.4 million people were under evacuation orders and some towns were almost deserted.

Blamed for at least 20 deaths in Haiti and Cuba, Dennis weakened to a Category 1 storm over Cuba, then regained strength in the Gulf yesterday and became a Category 4 storm again early yesterday.

"Category 4 is not just a little bit worse it's much worse," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami. "Damage increases exponentially as the wind speed increases. And, no matter where it makes actual landfall, it's going to have a tremendous impact well away from the centre."

Storm shelters were filling up in Mississippi, Florida and Alabama. More than 7,000 people were in shelters yesterday in Florida alone, and others headed to motels and relatives' homes.

"We're expecting to be sheltering tens of thousands," said Margaret O'Brien of the Red Cross.