KEY WEST, Fla. -- Hurricane Alberto, boiling up suddenly off Western Cuba, threw gales and tornadoes at the Florida Keys Thursday night and then headed for a landfall on the southwest Florida coast.
'The hurricane has turned slightly to the north of its previous track and is now moving between northeast and north-northeast at 10 mph,' the National Hurricane Center at Miami reported Thursday night.
Forecasters indicated the slight change in direction would bring the center of Alberto ashore north of Naples about daybreak Friday.
At 10:30 p.m. EDT, the 'poorly defined' center of Alberto was located about 100 miles southwest of Naples, near latitude 25.2 north, longitude 83.0 west. Highest sustained winds remained 80 mph in a few squalls near the center, forecasters reported.
Alberto's greatest threat was not its winds but an anticipated storm surge from the sea 5 to 7 feet above the high tide mark.
At 8 p.m. EDT, forecasters centered the storm about 130 miles southwest of Naples, Fla., near latitude 24.7 north, longitude 83.0 west. It was moving toward the northeast at 10 mph.
Alberto, on only the third day of the hurricane season, brought two small tornadoes, gales and blinding rains into the lower Florida Keys late Thursday. But Key West, which has suffered a direct hurricane hit for more than 50 years, was spared the full force of the storm.
Billy Wagner, Monroe County civil defense director, said the tornadoes tore off several roofs and damaged boats at Stock Island, just west of the city, and overturned a car at Cudjoe Key, 21 miles toward the mainland. No injuries were reported.
Nearby Boca Chica Naval Air Station went on emergency power and Key West International Airport was closed down shortly after 6 p.m. EDT.
The storm dumped up to 10 inches of rain on western Cuba, forcing 20,000 people to evacuate to higher ground, according to Radio Havana broadcasts.
Residents of the threatened southwest Florida coast, jammed hardware stores, supermarkets and service stations to stock up on hurricane supplies.
Civil defense officials met into the night to decide whether to order evacuation of barrier islands such as Marco and Sanibel.
Dr. Neil Frank, director of the hurricane center at Miami, described Alberto as a 'minimal hurricane, not an extreme storm' but said residents of the southwest Florida coast should begin immediate preparations to protect life and property.
'We don't anticipate the strengthening will continue, in fact it may weaken some as it approaches land,' Frank said. 'We're probably going to see a lot of local flooding from 5 to 10-inch rains falling on ground that's already been saturated in the past week.'
Florida Keys dwellers scurried to stock up on candles, flashlights and batteries, gasoline, plastic sheets, rain gear, bottled water and extra groceries when word came at 2 p.m. from the National Hurricane Center at Miami that Alberto was a threat.
The scores of marinas along the 130-mile-long chain of islands were bustling with boat owners securing their craft or moving them to protected coves. Vehicle traffic was heavy along the Overseas Highway, the Keys' only land link to the mainland, but few residents were leaving the islands.
'People aren't going crazy like they usually do,' said Richard Curry, manager of a Key West lumber yard. 'I don't think there's much to worry about. It's only 80 mile an hour winds and it's pretty close already. It probably won't be too big.'
With gale winds and heavy rains hitting Key West in late afternoon, Tommy Alfonso closed Captain Tony's Bar. The saloon manager said owner Anthony 'Capt. Tony' Tarrainco was out of town and 'we shut the doors because Capt. Tony doesn't want anyone to get hurt.'
'I'm having a hurricane party at my house tonight; all my friends, champagne -- Dom Perignon -- the best,' Alfonso said. 'I was born here. I've been through another one (hurricane) when I was little. It wasn't nothing.'
Heavy rains were reported in western Cuba and extreme south Florida. A state of emergency was declared in the Cuban Pinar del Rio province and a hurricane watch was issued for western portions of the country.
'Heavy rains continue over western and central Cuba and extreme south Florida with additional accumulations likely of 5 to 10 inches,' Lawrence said.
Rainy weather already had dropped 13.82 inches on Tavernier in the middle Keys. As much as five inches fell on the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas over a 24-hour period Wednesday and Thursday -- the 12th straight day of rain.
A Radio Havana broadcast monitored in Miami said there was a hurricane watch declared for the city and province of Havana and a watch also was posted for the Matanzas province, east of Havana.
An earlier broadcast said that in addition to the 20,000 people moved because of heavy rains, 80,000 head of cattle were taken to high ground from the low regions of western Cuba.
The hurricane center said gales extend outward 75 miles east of the center and a short distance to the west.
Rain that had forced evacuation of 20,000 people in western Cuba was continuing. A a state of emergency was declared in Pinar del Rio province and a hurricane watch was issued for western portions of the country.
Forecasters said another hurricane hunter aircraft discovered before noon that Alberto had grown from a depression into a tropical storm.
'Heavy rains continue over western and central Cuba and extreme south Florida with additional accumulations likely of 5 to 10 inches,' hurricane forecaster Miles Lawrence said.
Rainy weather already had dropped 13.82 inches on Tavernier in the middle keys. As much as five inches unofficially had fallen on the already drenched Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas over a 24-hour period Wednesday and Thursday -- the 12th straight day of rain.
Cuban civil defense officials declared a state of emergency in the western province of Pinar del Rio because of torriential rains caused by the hurricane.
The radio Havana broadcast monitored in Miami said there was a hurricane watch declared for the city and province of Havana and a watch also was posted for the Matanzas province, east of Havana.
'Inhabitants in areas of possible flooding or slides are to be particularly intent to this situation and ready to cooperate with the methods of evacuation that civil defense authorities dictate,' the broadcast said.
An earlier broadcast said that in addition to the 20,000 people evacuated because of heavy rains, 80,000 head of cattle were moved to high ground from the low regions of western Cuba.
The government-owned radio station reported no casualties because of the rain from Alberto, which has dumped up to 7.2 inches of rain on the province.
Several towns including Minas de Matahambre, Sumidero, Punta de Palma, El Corojo and La Coloma were cut off from communications because of the heavy rain, the broadcast said.
Authorities also took 'urgent measures' to save some sugar and vegetables still in the soil and moved tobacco into storehouses for protection.
A Coast Guard cutter moved into the storm to assist the 35-foot Mohawk Jet, a vessel en route from Mexico to Key West, Fla., when 15-foot seas made it impossible for it to continue on its course. It also radioed that it was low on fuel.
Also among the missing Thursday were a research vessel with three men aboard and a 44-foot sailboat. Ironically, the research ship was named Albert and the sailboat is the Blown Away.
