Erratic Ernesto is cause for alarm from Fla. to La.

An official warned that Ernesto could quickly pick up intensity again.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
MIAMI -- Hurricane Ernesto lashed southern Haiti with 75-mph winds Sunday and despite slowing to tropical-storm speeds as it bore down on Cuba, the erratic tempest prompted officials from Florida to Louisiana to scramble emergency-response teams.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency and visitors to the Florida Keys were ordered out, as well as all travel trailers, after the National Hurricane Center confirmed that Ernesto had become the season's first hurricane.
Although the storm lost force by afternoon, with winds easing to 60 mph, center director Max Mayfield warned that Ernesto could quickly pick up intensity again as it crossed the warm Caribbean waters overnight and that even as a tropical storm could inflict serious damage.
"We think it has a good chance to regain hurricane status," Mayfield told reporters at the bunker-like hurricane center west of Miami. Even if Ernesto remains a tropical storm, Mayfield warned that it appeared likely to drive through a broad swath of Florida and that "the entire state needs to pay close attention."
Concerns about Ernesto were high all along the Gulf of Mexico coast ravaged by Hurricane Katrina a year ago, despite Ernesto's change of course late Saturday that caused forecasters to project the storm would likely hit Florida harder than Mississippi or Louisiana.