Hurricane edge brushes Florida; center stays offshore

KEY WEST, Fla. -- The outer edges of Hurricane Michelle blew rain across parts of South Florida on Monday as the storm headed toward the Bahamas, sparing the state from the havoc and destruction it produced in Cuba.

Beach erosion was still a concern, but residents and tourists who evacuated the 120-mile Keys island chain were allowed back Monday afternoon.

Maria Garcia and her husband pulled plywood off the windows of their Key West newsstand, getting ready to reopen after being closed Sunday.

"People have to have their New York Times," she said.

Michelle produced wind gusts to 45 at Marathon in the Keys, and to 48 mph at Miami Beach. Key West collected 2.4 inches of rain through Sunday.

"Florida is in great shape. Things are already pretty much back to normal," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Bars stayed open

Key West Mayor Jimmy Weekley checked for damage but didn't find much.

"I was a bit disappointed that the bars did not close. But I forgot, in Key West, the bars are essential businesses," Weekley said.

"This is not really anything big for us," Key West bartender Patrick Winters said early Monday as he waded barefoot in foot-deep water while light rain fell.

At noon Monday, Michelle was heading through the Bahama. It was centered about 45 miles east of Nassau.

In Florida, a tropical storm warning was lifted Monday afternoon for the Atlantic coast of Florida from the Upper Keys the West Palm Beach area. A gale warning remained posted from that area to just south of Cape Canaveral.

When Michelle hit Cuba on Sunday, its sustained wind was clocked at 135 mph. Authorities evacuated 750,000 people as the storm knocked out communications and electricity.

The Keys, made up of some 40 islands, have a little more than 80,000 permanent residents, plus visitors. They are connected by highway bridges, but only two spans connect the first island, Key Largo, to the mainland.

Elsewhere, a new hurricane, Noel, formed Monday more than 1,000 miles east of Boston, the hurricane center said.