C-130 Carries Sick, Injured, To Sebring

As Tropical Storm Rita moved closer to the Florida Keys on Monday, Florida Governor Jeb Bush sent an Air National Guard C-130 Hercules transport to pick up critically ill patients from Key West's hospital in hopes of keeping them out of harm's way.

Residents and tourists have been ordered to evacuate the Keys as Rita was expected to squeeze between the US and Cuba Tuesday afternoon, making an almost direct hit on Key West.

Perhaps with the nightmare of Hurricane Katrina still on their minds -- but old hands at hurricane evacuations in any event -- Florida officials sent other aircraft to gather patients and take them to places like Sebring, FL, where they would be transferred to other care facilities. Helicopters and ground ambulances carried the worst-off patients away from the hurricane as the first rain bands began to pelt the coast of southeastern Florida.

As oil and natural gas prices spiked yet again in the face of a strengthening storm, petroleum companies began evacuating by air hundreds of workers on offshore drilling platforms. Shell Oil said it had already moved about 195 non-essential workers from the rigs on Sunday and was in the process of evacuating 350 more on Monday. BP announced it would evacuate about half of its 1,500 oil rig workers ahead of the storm.

FMI: www.nhc.noaa.gov