Florida may beat hurricane records

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 &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/society/2001/10/29/19511.html' target=_blank>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, Channel News Asia reported.

Flooding from Hurricane Jeanne has already killed more than 1,000 people in Haiti, and the storm is expected to cause considerable damage to Florida's hurricane-battered east coast.

No state in the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/27/33295.html' target=_blank>United States has been struck by four hurricanes in one year since 1886, when four storms hit Texas. Since August, hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan have killed at least 70 people in Florida, and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Authorities say Jeanne is on track to strike the same area around Palm Beach County that &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/accidents/2001/06/21/8312.html' target=_blank>Hurricane Frances devastated three weeks ago, says Voice of America.

Florida Power & Light Co., a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc., said today some residents may be without power for as long as three weeks following the storm, as the state searches for out-of- state linemen and tree trimmers to help return services to normal.

"Our resources are clearly stretched," Armando Olivera, president of Florida Power and Light, said in a news conference.