Miami - Hurricane Floyd, swelling into a huge and potentially catastrophic storm, bore down on the Bahamas yesterday with winds nearing 155 mph. Florida residents also began preparing for trouble as forecasters warned it could hit the state at midweek.
As of early yesterday, the storm was as strong as Hurricane Andrew, which killed more than 40 people and destroyed 160,000 homes in the Miami area in August 1992.
"Nobody on the east coast can ignore this storm," said Jerry Jarrell, director of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami.
Floyd is strong enough to rip roofs off small residences, destroy mobile homes and cause severe flooding.