MIAMI, Jan 11, 2010 (AFP) - Florida's oddly frigid weather has spelled nightmare for tourism, potential disaster for the citrus industry and cold comfort for sex offenders living rough under a bridge here.

Strict rules dictate that sex offenders registered in Miami-Dade County must stay far away from places where children congregate - so far that many have been forced to live in a tent camp under a bridge on a causeway that links Miami's white sand beaches to the mainland.

As record colds persist, sex offenders said they were poorly equipped for the bone-chilling weather.

Many huddled in tents in layers of thin sweatshirts. Fires were not allowed, they said, and a handful of generators were running low on gasoline.

"Sometimes we have gas and sometimes we don't," said a man who asked to be identified as Chuck. He wore a red sweatshirt with the hood pulled over two ski caps. "We could use some heaters."

Chuck said nearby shelters were off-limits for sex offenders, because they are too close to schools and daycare centers the men must avoid. Shelters open to families are also a no-go.

"Most of the shelters are within an area where (sex offenders) are not allowed to be," confirmed Sam Gil, vice president at Camillus House, a soup kitchen and shelter for the poor and homeless. "It's just the way they drew up the maps."

The faith-based group Pure Mercy brought gasoline, a grill and other supplies when the cold weather started, and locals have also pitched in.

A woman who went by Karen filled water canisters from a tank in the back of her truck. She and her husband said they had been distributing soup, drinking water and toilet paper to the small colony for more than a year.

Forecasters expected temperatures to dip to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (seven degrees Celsius) in Miami on Monday and Tuesday night, extending an unusually brutal cold snap for the "Sunshine State" used to year-long balmy weather.

The bracing temperatures threaten to damage Florida's multi-billion-dollar citrus crop and is wreaking havoc for tropical fish farmers in the state's mid-section.

Another sex offender who identified himself as Amado said authorities have banned fires at the camp because dead leaves or even puddles of gas near generators can easily ignite.

"I have two blankets, but when the ocean brings the wind, no one can bear it," he said.

Florida law prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of areas where children congregate, including schools and parks. But Miami-Dade has stricter requirements that set a 2,500-foot (762-meter) ban.

The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the stricter ban and the Miami-Dade County Commission is expected to consider ordinances later this month that may ease the boundary.

One proposal would set up child safety zones around schools, bus stops and playgrounds. Sex offenders would not be allowed to loiter within 300 feet (91 m).

Miami-Dade's Homeless Trust has resettled 40 offenders since the camp began three years ago, helping them with rent deposits and utility bills, said chairman Ron Book. He said 34 registered offenders remain, though the overall camp population is larger.

Squalid conditions at the site - no plumbing and no bathing facility - have sparked national debate about how to handle former prisoners convicted of sex crimes.

"We're just like refugees in a foreign country," said Chuck of the local ordinance and his homeless lifestyle. "Everyone here supposedly has done their time. If we were that bad, why didn't they leave us in prison?"

-AFP