Thousands evacuate as Georges nears Keys

Forecasters said Georges would probably slice through the Keys - the curving, whisker-like string of islands off the tip of Florida - with 105 mph winds early Friday and could be up to 125 mph by Sunday in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

"This storm looks like it's all set to explosively intensify once the eye gets over water," said a worried Jerry Jarrell, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. He urged stragglers in the Keys to get out: "We're extremely concerned that the land areas will be inundated with water and we'll lose a lot of folks down there."

The first squall line from the hurricane moved into Marathon in the middle Keys shortly before sunset, spawning a waterspout.

As many as 690,000 people were urged to evacuate along Florida's Atlantic Coast as far north as Fort Lauderdale, and along the Gulf Coast up to the Tampa Bay area, for a total of about 300 miles of coastline. The roughly 80,000 people in the Florida Keys were ordered out on Wednesday.

"When I return I might not have a home. Anything could happen," Juana Ingles, a 67-year-old widow, said as she waited for a bus to take her from her Miami Beach apartment to a shelter at a school. "I'm a sick person, too, with high blood pressure."

At 8 p.m., Georges was centered off the northern coast of Cuba, 205 miles southeast of Key West, moving to the northwest at 14 mph, with winds of 85 mph. Hurricane warnings were posted for four counties - Monroe, Dade, Broward and Collier - with a population of 3.8 million.

Along Ocean Drive on Miami Beach's chic South Beach, workers at cafes and bars put up plywood and took down awnings.

NASA initially ordered space shuttle Discovery rolled back to its giant hangar 3 1/2 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, but decided Thursday evening to keep it on its seaside launch pad. The shuttle had been moved to the pad Monday for next month's flight with John Glenn.

The threat of lightning and sporadic rain prevented the shuttle from being moved into its hangar throughout the day. NASA decided the risk of a lightning hit en route to the hangar was greater than the risk of damage in possible hurricane-spawned storms.

At Miami's Metrozoo, which lost most of its birds and many other animals during Hurricane Andrew in 1992, workers planned to round up the flamingos and put them in a bathroom. Other animals were to be shut up in their quarters for the night. At nearby Parrot Jungle, birds and monkeys were moved inside concrete buildings.

"They know something is up," said Robert Diaz, show director at Parrot Jungle. "They are uneasy, pacing back and forth, acting irregular."

Classes were canceled yesterday and today for most students in south Florida. On Wednesday a dozen F-16 fighter jets flew from Homestead Air Reserve Base to Georgia to get out of harm's way.

09-25-98