The Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, has suspended the resettlement of residents in the city because of grave concerns Tropical Storm Rita may hit in the next few days.
'The conditions have changed. We have another hurricane approaching us,' Mr Nagin told a news conference days after encouraging residents of certain districts to return to the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina three weeks ago.
The toll from Hurricane Katrina now stands at 970 after another 90 bodies were recovered in the New Orleans region.
Mr Nagin's comments came after Admiral Thad Allen, the man leading the recovery effort in New Orleans, said that the city remained unsafe.
Tropical Storm Rita, which is moving west from the Atlantic Ocean into the Gulf of Mexico, is building in strength and may become a hurricane. Experts predict it will make landfall in Texas but various maps show it could hit southeastern Louisiana.
Earlier today Key West was ordered evacuated as Tropical Storm Rita headed toward the Florida Keys.
Rita pounded islands of the southern Bahamas this morning. Forecasters said it could eventually reach category three on the five-level Saffir Simpson intensity track, with winds of 178 to 209km/h.
While the Bahamas, Cuba and Key West were the most immediately threatened, and Texas at risk over the weekend, hurricane experts warned the storm might deviate from its forecast track and eventually slam ashore close to New Orleans, which is struggling to recover from Katrina's devastation.
Thousands of tourists had already heeded warnings yesterday to leave the Florida Keys, a chain of islands linked to the mainland by a series of bridges and a single road.
Authorities opened shelters and shut down government buildings and schools in the southern Florida Keys. Florida Governor Jeb Bush warned residents not to underestimate the hurricane's threat.
