MIAMI, Sept 20: Rapidly strengthening Hurricane Rita lashed the low-lying islands of the Florida Keys with squalls on Tuesday and Gulf coast communities to the west braced for a possible encore to devastating Hurricane Katrina.

Rita grew from a tropical storm to a hurricane with 160kph winds in a matter of hours as it battered the fragile Keys and was expected to strengthen further as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico, where Katrina wreaked havoc three weeks ago.

The storm was forecast to head west toward the Texas coastline, raising fears it could bring more rain to an already flooded New Orleans and threaten the recovery of oil production facilities damaged by the earlier hurricane.

All 80,000 residents had been ordered out of the Keys, an island chain, but many stayed behind in boarded-up homes. Stormwater submerged parts of the only highway linking them to the Florida mainland and seeped into buildings.

Rita’s centre was about 80kms south of Key West, Florida, at 1800 GMT and was expected to stay just off shore. Rita was headed west at 24kph and was expected to reach the Texas coast later in the week, the National Hurricane Centre said.

“If you’ve not left the Keys by now, stay where you are,” Gov. Jeb Bush said. “Now it’s time to hunker down.”

Rita was expected to drench the Keys, a 110-mile (177-km) island chain, with up to 30cms of rain and send a wall of seawater up to 2.7 metres high surging over the islands.

BUSH VISIT: In New Orleans, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President George Bush, on his fifth visit to the region, signed an emergency declaration for Florida because of the threat posed by Hurricane Rita, at the request of Gov. Jeb Bush. The declaration makes federal assistance available for people and businesses needing it.