by Juliette Guilbert
MIAMI, Aug 12 (AFP) - Authorities on Thursday urged one million people in Cuba and the southern US state of Florida to flee the path of Hurricane Charley as it headed toward Havana and the US coast.
"This has the potential of being the one we`ve all been warning about," Florida Governor Jeb Bush said.
"It`s going to cut a swath through the state that`s going to impact millions of people."
Charley packed winds of 165 kilometers (105 miles) per hour as it approached Cuba`s Isla de Juventud, the US National Hurricane Center reported at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Friday).
The center posted hurricane warnings for most of the Florida keys and for the southwestern Florida coast, from East Cape Sable to Bonita Beach, including Florida Bay, between the mainland and the keys.
US and Cuban weather authorities said conditions were right for Charley to develop into a Category 3 storm, with winds of 209 kilometers (130 miles) per hour.
The center warned of storm surge flooding of up to 10 feet (three meters) along the Florida coast, with potential flash floods and mudslides. Charley could also spawn tornadoes, Florida county officials said.
The hurricane was to hit the Florida coast early Friday, and the state government ordered thousands of people to leave the Florida Keys, the string of islands off the state`s southern tip, now at the peak of its tourist season.
The evacuation order by the state government extended up Florida`s Gulf coast to Tampa Bay, as Charley was predicted to strike cities as far north as Tampa, and Jacksonville, Florida`s northernmost east coast city, covering 800,000 people.
Cuban authorities ordered 200,000 residents and 2,000 foreign tourists evacuated from western Cuba, the official Cuban press said.
Cuba`s Meteorology Institute said the hurricane would hit Havana, the western province of Pinar del Rio and Isla de la Juventud any time from 1:00 am (0600 GMT) Friday. Cuban civil defense issued a storm warning for the area.
Two million Havana residents braced for the storm with a military-like discipline born of fending off some 50 storms in 80 years. However, Havana`s decrepit buildings have not withstood a hurricane since Kate in 1985.
Authorities set up shelters with food and doctors, and shut off electricity as a precaution, local reports said.
Hurricane Charley missed Jamaica but came close to the Cayman Islands, the small British colony, forcing the closure of its main airport. Tourists helped sandbag shore defenses against huge waves, local media said.
Charley comes on the heels of tropical storm Bonnie, which hit the Florida panhandle with heavy rains.
Florida residents rushed to buy plywood to board up windows of homes, restaurants and stores.
At KLI True Value Supply, a hardware store in Key Largo, one worker described the scene in the store early Thursday as "very, very busy" but said the mood was generally calm.
Oil companies were forced by the weather to cut production by about 420,000 barrels Wednesday, equal to one-quarter of the total production from the Gulf of Mexico, the Department of Interior said.
The hurricane also forced ChevronTexaco to continue evacuating oil and gas platforms in the central and eastern gulf.
"The latest information I have is that we`ve evacuated 20 platforms, two drilling rigs," ChevronTexaco spokesman Matt Carmichael told AFP.
The hurricane meant ChevronTexaco missed 114,961 barrels of daily oil production and 169,551 million cubic feet of natural gas, Carmichael said, adding that 711 employees had been evacuated from platforms.