Update On Hurricane Charley

Hurricane Charley roared to land near Port Charlotte late Friday, pounding Florida's west coast with 230 km/h winds and whipping up a surge of water expected to exceed three metres.

The storm – which killed four as it ripped through the Carribbean – was upgraded earlier in the afternoon to Category 4 status, enough to collapse walls, rip off roofs, destroy mobile homes and send water levels surging by as much as four metres through coastal and low-lying areas.

Officials ordered about two million people from Tampa Bay to the Florida Keys to get out of the way of the storm.