Florida residents defy hurricane warning

Residents were defying warnings and taking a wait-and-see attitude as a strengthening Tropical Storm Fay swept over the Florida Keys at the tip of the state and bore down on the Gulf Coast.

The sixth named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season was expected to become a hurricane before curling up the state's western coast and hitting Florida's mainland some time today, possibly in the morning, local time.

No damage or injuries were immediately reported in the Keys islands, where a few bars and restaurants stubbornly remained open even as the storm centre passed. Authorities said a possible tornado knocked down a tree on Big Coppitt Key and there were scattered power cuts as well as street flooding.

National Hurricane Centre officials said Fay would probably be at or near hurricane strength - winds of at least 74mph.

At 4am BST, Fay was about 60 miles south of Naples and moving north at about 9mph. Sustained winds were about 60mph with some higher gusts.

A hurricane warning was in effect along south-western Florida from Flamingo to just south of the Tampa Bay area. A tropical storm warning was in effect in the east from Flagler Beach southward and in the Keys.

A warning means those conditions are likely within the area in the next 24 hours.

Officials were worried that complacency could cost lives, repeatedly urging people across the state to take Fay seriously. The message got through to tourists - Monroe County mayor Mario Di Gennaro estimated 25,000 fled the Keys.

Some residents have taken steps since the busy 2004-05 storm years, when eight hurricanes hammered Florida, such as buying generators and strengthening homes, but not everyone is as prepared.

"This is not the type of storm that's going to rip off a lot of roofs or cause the type of damage we normally see in a large hurricane," said Craig Fugate, the state's emergency management chief.

However, he said: "I've seen as many people die when I have a blob-shaped asymmetrical storm that they dismiss as not being very dangerous."

As it moved though the Caribbean, Fay was blamed for at least 14 deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, including two babies who were found in a river after a bus crash.

Four to 10 inches of rain was possible across mainland Florida, so flooding was a threat even far from where the centre came ashore, said Stacy Stewart, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Centre.

"This is a broad, really diffuse storm. All the Florida Keys and all the Florida peninsula are going to feel the effects of this storm, no matter where the centre makes landfall," he said. "We don't want people to downplay this."

Officials plan to reopen Key West's airport tomorrow.