Miami Beach, Fla. ? Hurricane Frances, a 300-mile-wide menace, whipped over the Bahamas on Thursday and whirled toward Florida, prompting the evacuation of as many as 2.5 million people in a state still struggling to recover from the ravages of Hurricane Charley.

Residents clogged Florida’s highways as they hoped to find refuge before the arrival of the 145-mph winds of Frances, a bigger storm than Charley and one that appeared to be gathering strength as it headed for the state’s heavily populated eastern coast.

In a potentially ominous sign, Frances’ approach toward the Bahamas and the U.S. mainland slowed from around 13 mph Thursday afternoon to 9 mph Thursday night.

“The hurricane has slowed down, so everyone is worried. That usually means the hurricane is strengthening,” said Gerald Sawyer, president of the Bahamas Red Cross.

By Thursday night, the storm’s eye was about 65 miles southeast of northern Cat Island, and gusty winds and rain were pelting Nassau.

The storm’s outer bands were expected to bring heavy winds and rain to southeastern Florida by today, with the core predicted to come ashore Saturday near Vero Beach, though forecasters said its course still could vary.

One-two punch

Emergency officials opened shelters in counties in a hurricane watch zone that stretched north almost to the Jacksonville area and south to Florida City, below Miami, covering 14.6 million of the state’s 17 million residents.

Gov. Jeb Bush, R, asked his brother, President Bush, to declare Florida a disaster area.

“This storm will have significant force to it,” Jeb Bush said.

The storm is expected to be the most powerful since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, one of the region’s most devastating hurricanes in the last half of the 20th century, which killed 62 people. A one-two punch of Frances and Charley would mark the first time in 54 years that two storms packing such a wallop have struck Florida within weeks of one another.

Charley charged ashore Aug. 14 on Florida’s Gulf Coast, killing 27 people and inflicting billions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses. Only about a fifth of the debris left in Charley’s wake had been cleared as of this week, emergency officials said. As of Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had doled out $86.4 million in Charley-related aid. More than 176,000 residents had signed up for assistance.

More than a million people in Florida threatened by Hurricane Frances were told to evacuate Thursday, ahead of what could be the state's mightiest storm in a decade. Hurricane Frances is seen just north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic in this satellite image taken at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.

“Charley had a significant impact on this state, and now you’ve got Frances coming,” said Peter Teahen, a spokesman for the American Red Cross, which has housed more than 101,000 victims in 250 shelters and spent $50 million on relief efforts in Charley’s wake. “You have people who are already exhausted physically and emotionally. They are emotionally spent, and they are still a long ways from recovering from Charley. And now they are going to get hit again.”

Stocking up

The vivid reminder of the power of such storms sent residents flocking into stores Thursday to snap up hurricane essentials such as plywood, gasoline, water, canned food and portable generators. By mid-afternoon, horns blared in traffic at South Miami’s Red-Bird Shopping Plaza, where customers waited in long lines before hauling cases of water and beer through congested parking lots.

Carlos Moreno, 45, a schoolteacher, waited more than an hour to refill his propane tanks.

“If we lose power, we will be grilling outdoors with these,” Moreno said. “Andrew made us more aware. I’m better prepared this time. I’ve got coolers filled with ice, plenty of food and a gas grill now. Then people took it for granted that it would miss us. … (Y)ou have to take it seriously.”

At Miami airport, a chaotic locale on the best of days, the scene was approaching full-scale frenzy. Anxious travelers checked their watches, fretting they would miss their flights as the afternoon waned and lines grew longer.

“People are desperate,” said David Gomez, an American Airlines agent.

Meanwhile, FEMA teams stockpiled ice, water, meals and tarpaulins for distribution in regions in the storm’s path. Federal and state officials placed emergency medical personnel and search and rescue teams on alert, and laid plans to open disaster field offices and assistance centers in the hardest hit areas.

Officials urged residents who did not evacuate to buy extra water and nonperishable food, store extra ice in their freezers and keep battery-powered radios handy to hear emergency broadcasts if power is knocked out.

“We were successful with Charley because we were massive, overwhelming and fast,” said Michael Brown, the FEMA director. “For this event I want us to be massive, overwhelming and fast squared.”