Miami Beach Under Evacuation

Florida extended evacuation orders to 2.5 million people Thursday, including the entire population of the city of Miami Beach, as hurricane Frances worked its way toward the U.S. mainland.

Frances is already a Category 4 hurricane, the second-highest level possible, and could strengthen to Category 5 with winds topping 250 km/h by the time it hits Florida late on Friday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned.

That would make it a storm worse than hurricane Charley that blew through the area three weeks ago. Charley was a Category 4 storm system that was half as wide, killed 27 people and caused $7.4 billion US in damage in Florida.