MIAMI (AFP) - Residents along Florida`s east coast braced themselves yet again as strengthening Hurricane Jeanne threatened to be the fourth major storm to hit the state in six weeks.
A million people have been ordered to evacuate as the storm approached the northwestern Bahamas with winds of 185 kilometers an hour (115 mph), threatening to batter areas still recovering from Hurricane Frances earlier this month with heavy rain, floods and damaging waves.
Virtually the entire Atlantic coast of Florida was under a hurricane warning, with officials urging residents not to let fatigue or complacency hinder preparations ahead of expected landfall before dawn Sunday. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the state`s western coast along the Gulf of Mexico.
Some 15.3 million Floridians could feel the effects of Hurricane Jeanne, the US Census Bureau warned.
"There are some reports that people are not evacuating as they have been asked to," Florida Governor Jeb Bush said.
"This storm will be stronger than Frances. This is the time ... for people to act."
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas echoed the warning. "You can`t alter your preparations just because it`s the third, fourth or fifth event of the season," he said.
Hurricane Ivan last killed more than 130 in the eastern United States and Caribbean nations. Before that, hurricanes Charley and Frances killed dozens and destroyed thousands of homes after slamming into Florida`s east coast.
Forecasters expect the center of the hurricane to hit the coast near Fort Pierce, Florida, very close to where Frances came ashore just three weeks ago.
At 1500 GMT, the center of Hurricane Jeanne was just west of Marsh Harbor on Abaco Island in the Bahamas, and about 250 kilometers (155 miles) east of the Florida coast, the US National Hurricane Center said. The storm was moving westward at 22 kilometers an hour (14 mph), and was expected to strengthen before it made landfall.
Forecasters said storm surges of (four to eight feet) were expected, and urged coastal residents to heed warnings to leave.
But Kathy Chasteen, a resident of nearby Vero Beach, said she planned to stay, as her home had already been destroyed.
"I`m not running. I`ve already lost everything," she said.
Many residents were still desperate to protect homes already damaged by Hurricane Frances from the approaching storm.
Tricia Pollard, coordinating the delivery of canvas covers in Port St. Lucie, told the Palm Beach Post daily she has already distributed 17,000 to cover the roofs of homes damaged by Frances.
"Most of those people still haven`t seen a roofer. It`s going to take months before the contractors get around to fixing all the roofs damaged," she said.
Employees of the Florida Power and Light electric company said it could take weeks to fix power outages caused by the storm amid ongoing problems from the three previous ones.
"It`s unbelievable. This year is going to be one to tell your grandchildren about," said Max Mayfield, director of the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.
More than 1,100 perished when Jeanne hit the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti at tropical-storm strength a week ago, flooding areas in the north of the country left defenseless by deforestation, population density and poverty. More than 1,200 others are still missing and feared dead.
In the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, authorities said the storm killed 27 people. There were also nine dead in the Bahamas and two in Puerto Rico.