Experts said they could not rule out another disaster like last year's Hurricane Katrina, though forecasters say they can't tell at this stage whether major hurricanes would again pound the US Gulf and Atlantic coasts this year.

"Is it worth your life, your family's life not to have a plan?" asked Craig Fugate, who heads Florida's Emergency Management Division. "The message is you get ready every year, because there is no certainty your home will not receive the full force a major landfalling hurricane," he said at a conference on hurricane preparations.

Fugate said that taking into account today's demographics, a hurricane similar to the one that killed 372 people in Miami in 1926 would be far more devastating if it hit today, and would cause about 100 billion dollars in damage.

Florida officials are particularly worried about the possibility a hurricane could smash an aging levee that rings the 1,800-square-kilometer (700-square-mile) Lake Okeechobee, in central Florida, which provides drinking water to millions of people.

A recent official report shows there is a 50 percent chance the dike could break within the next four years. "If there is a breach in Lake Okeechobee it would be ugly," said Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who hosted the conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

He said he discussed the issue with his brother, US President George W. Bush, and stressed federal aid would be needed to reinforce the levee and to prepare for a possible evacuation of the 40,000 people who live around the lake if a major hurricane threatens the area.

"I think it's appropriate not to have people panic, but this needs to be a high priority in Washington, and I intend to lobby to make sure that it is," the governor said.

Should a major hurricane pound the area, Florida officials could face the formidable challenge of evacuating residents from both the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts of Florida, as well as those who live around the lake.

But officials insisted that people not in an immediate danger zone should batten down at home rather than join an exodus that could easily clog highways.

"The nightmare scenario would be having people stuck in gridlock when a major hurricane makes landfall ... people would drown, cars would flip over as trees come falling down," said Max Mayfield, who heads the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.

Making matters worse, some 100,000 people displaced by the hurricanes that slammed parts of the US Gulf coast and southeast Florida last year are still living in temporary shelters, mostly trailers and mobile homes that offer little protection from the killer storms.

In addition, thousands of home owners have yet to fix roof damage caused by last year's hurricanes.

Researchers at the University of Colorado say they expect nine hurricanes, five of them particularly intense, to form in the Atlantic basin during the season, which officially runs from June 1 to the end of November.

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