20,000 ordered out as Alberto gains force

The earliest hurricane on record is Alma.
CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) -- More than 20,000 people along Florida's Gulf Coast were ordered to clear out Monday as Alberto -- the very first tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season -- unexpectedly picked up steam and threatened to come ashore as a hurricane.
Forecasters posted a hurricane warning for the Gulf Coast and a tropical storm warning from north of Daytona Beach to the Georgia-South Carolina line. Alberto, which could begin battering the Gulf coast early today, was expected to cross through Florida and into Georgia.
Gov. Jeb Bush signed a declaration of emergency, allowing him to call up the National Guard and put laws against price gouging into effect.
"We're talking about powerful forces of nature," Bush said. "People need to take this very seriously."
Would set record
If Alberto came ashore as a hurricane, it would be the earliest hurricane in 40 years to hit the United States, according to the National Hurricane Center. The earliest on record is Alma, which in 1966 struck the Florida Panhandle on June 9 -- the ninth day of the hurricane season.
Alberto started as a tropical depression Saturday, and forecasters were confident over the weekend it would not become a hurricane. But the storm's winds accelerated with startling speed from 50 mph to 70 mph in just three hours Monday morning. The minimum for a hurricane is 74 mph.
"We were surprised, but we've been surprised before," said Richard Pasch of the hurricane center. "The center in disorganized storms can re-form and jump."
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