UPDATE 7-Storm moves toward second Florida strike
(Recasts, updates position, adds details)
KEY WEST, Fla., Aug 18 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Fay hit the Florida Keys with heavy rain and winds that knocked down trees and signs before churning toward southwest Florida on Monday after killing more than 50 people in the Caribbean.
The sixth storm of the 2008 Atlantic season did not reach hurricane strength before rolling across the vulnerable, low-lying Florida island chain with 60 mile per hour (97 km per hour) winds.
Authorities reported some flooding and minor damage and said they expected to invite tourists back on Wednesday.
But forecasters said there was a chance Fay would be at or near hurricane force -- top sustained winds of 74 mph (119 kph) -- when it strikes the west coast of Florida early on Tuesday, somewhere near the beach resort area of Naples, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Although its path was far from U.S. oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, some energy companies pulled workers from offshore platforms. Orange juice futures prices shot up on fears Fay could hit Florida's main citrus growing areas.
In Key West, the tourist-dependent party town and southernmost city in Florida where Ernest Hemingway wrote many of his novels, the mood was typically nonchalant.
Jim Garland's neighbors brought their drinks to the deck of his 35-foot (11-metre) trawler, Ilene, at Garrison Bight marina to celebrate the passage of the storm.
"I flew in two days ago to prepare the boat," said Garland, of Biloxi, Mississippi, who was on the trawler when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast three years ago. "Not much to do on a dock like this but add extra lines and make sure the boat can rise and fall with the tide."
The popular Hog's Breath Saloon was one bar that closed down due to the poor weather. But many restaurants remained open even as the wind began to pick up and a driving rain started to blow through the streets.
"This isn't a hurricane. If the media wasn't down here hyping this up, this would be a non-event," grumbled Key West Island Books proprietor Marshall Smith.
MINIMAL DAMAGE
Authorities in the archipelago had ordered visitors to evacuate on Sunday, creating bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway out of the islands on the state's tip.
Fay knocked down some trees, signs and awnings but did not cause any significant damage and authorities expected to give the all-clear for tourists to return on Wednesday. Several hundred utility customers were without power.
As Keys residents breathed a sigh of relief, shelters began to open on Florida's southern Gulf Coast. Tourists were urged to leave some resort islands and ordered off others, while mobile home dwellers and residents of flood-prone areas were urged to seek shelter as night fell. Overnight curfews were in effect in some areas. Continued...
