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Frances lands at Florida, leaving 3m powerless
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-05 15:01
Hurricane Frances crashed ashore at Florida's east coast early Sunday with
sustained wind of 105 mph and pelting rain, knocking out power to 2 million
people and forcing Floridians to endure a frightening night amid roaring gales
that shredded roofs and uprooted trees.
Three residents brave the winds at
the coastal pier outside their home in Jensen Beach, Florida. Residents
around central and south Florida began to feel the brunt of Hurricane
Frances as it came ashore. [AFP] | The National Hurricane Center said the eye of the hurricane officially made
landfall near Sewall's Point, just east of Stuart - about 40 miles north of West
Palm Beach - at about 1 a.m.
Transformers popped along streets, sending sparks into darkened skies, as
families huddled in shelters, bathrooms and hotel lobbies. The wind-whipped
coastal waters resembled a churning hot tub.
In Melbourne, 65 miles north of Stuart, the wind and rain looked like a giant
fire hose going off at full blast.
"I've never seen anything like this, and no one in my family has," said
Darlene Munson, who was riding out the storm with family members at her
Melbourne restaurant.
The storm's slow-motion assault - Frances crawled toward Florida at just 7
mph - came more than a day later than predicted. The western portion of the
hurricane's eye crept over parts of the east-central Florida coast Saturday
night, but its strongest winds were expected to begin hitting early Sunday.
"Those folks are getting pounded, and they've got worse to come," said Max
Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center.
This satellite image shows
Hurricane Frances stalled off the coast of Florida, lashing the area with
bands of heavy rains and strong wind.
[AFP/NASA] | A hurricane warning remained in effect for nearly 300 miles along Florida's
east coast, from Florida City north to Flagler Beach, including Lake Okeechobee.
A continued slow west-northwestward motion was expected to move the entire
eye of the hurricane inland by sunrise, the weather service said.
Maximum sustained wind was near 105 mph with higher gusts. There was still a
chance of some strengthening before the eastern half of the eye moved inland,
the weather service said.
Hurricane force winds extended up to 85 miles from the center, and tropical
storm-force winds, which range from 39 mph to 73 mph, extended up to 200 miles.
Coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels, along
with large and dangerous battering waves, were expected near and to the north of
Stuart. Storm surge flooding of 5 feet above normal levels was expected in Lake
Okeechobee.
Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric company, said power
outages to its customers affected 2 million people. Nearly all of Vero Beach, 30
miles north of Stuart, was blackened, the city's utility said.
In Martin County, where Stuart is located, 630 people taking shelter at a
school had to move to another shelter when part of the roof blew off, flooding
16 rooms. More than 300 people were able to remain in the school.
Four people were hospitalized in Boynton Beach after breathing carbon
monoxide fumes from a generator that was running in a house. No other injuries
were immediately reported.
En route, Frances shattered windows, toppled power lines and flooded
neighborhoods in the Bahamas, driving thousands from their homes. The Freeport
airport was partially submerged in water.
For many Floridians, this would be a night to remember.
Mary Beth and Jack Stiglin, evacuees from nearby Hutchinson Island, sat in
their hotel room in Fort Pierce, eating ham and cheese wraps by candlelight as
the power lines outside their room sparked and died.
"It's a little romantic. I brought the roses from our garden because they
would have been blown away anyway," Mary Beth Stiglin said.
Frances' arrival came three weeks after Hurricane Charley killed 27 people
and caused billions of dollars in damage in southwestern Florida.
For some Floridians, the second storm couldn't arrive soon enough.
"I just want it to be quick. Just get it over with," said Woodeline Jadis,
20, tired of waiting at a shelter in Orlando.
The storm's leading edge pounded the Florida coast early Saturday. Frances
was so big that virtually the entire state feared damage from wind and water.
Forecasters said the storm would dump 8 to 12 inches of rain, with up to 20
inches in some areas.
"This is the time to show some resolve and not be impatient," Gov. Jeb Bush
said. "This is a dangerous, dangerous storm."
In Washington, President Bush declared a major disaster in the counties
affected by Frances, meaning residents will be eligible for federal aid.
The largest evacuation in state history, with 2.8 million residents ordered
inland, sent 70,000 residents and tourists into shelters. The storm shut down
much of Florida, including airports and amusement parks, at the start of the
usually busy Labor Day weekend.
Some evacuees, frustrated by Frances' sluggish pace, decided to leave
shelters Saturday and return later.
Deborah Nicholas dashed home from a Fort Pierce shelter to take a shower, but
stayed only a few minutes when the lights started flickering and trees began
popping out of the ground. She has slept in a deck chair at a high school
cafeteria since Wednesday.
"I'm going stir crazy," Nicholas said. "I'm going to be in a straitjacket by
Monday. I don't know how much longer I can take it. Have mercy."
Residents could take comfort that Frances weakened as it lingered off the
coast. Forecasters downgraded it to a Category 2 hurricane as sustained winds
receded to 105 mph, down from 145 mph earlier. But the heavy rain forecast still
threatened to cause widespread flooding, and the outer bands of the storm packed
plenty of punch.
In Palm Bay, winds pried off pieces of a banquet hall roof, striking some
cars in the parking lot. Trees were bent and light posts wobbled in the howling
gusts.
In Fort Pierce, the storm shredded awnings and blew out business signs. Many
downtown streets were crisscrossed with toppled palm trees.
One gust reached 115 mph at Fort Pierce, according to the National Hurricane
Center, damaging the mast of a truck measuring the storm's intensity. Florida
Power & Light pulled crews off the streets because of heavy wind, meaning
those without power would have to wait until the storm subsided, utility
spokesman Bill Swank said.
In Stuart, traffic lights dangled, and one hung by a single wire. Downed
trees blocked at least one residential street, and signposts were bent to the
ground. The facade at a flooring store collapsed, as did the roof of a storage
shed at a car dealership.
Roads, streets and beaches were mostly deserted - the occasional surfer
notwithstanding. Roads were littered with palm fronds and other debris.
Businesses were shuttered and even gas stations were closed, their empty pumps
covered with shrink wrap.
Not everyone stayed home: Two men were charged with looting for trying to
break into a Brevard County church.
As the weather worsened, a yacht adrift on the Intercoastal Waterway
struggled for more than half an hour in choppy water to anchor in West Palm
Beach before tying up to a dock. Other boats bobbed like toys. A U.S. Coast
Guard helicopter rescued a man and his cat riding out the storm on a sailboat
anchored in Biscayne Bay.
At Palm Beach International Airport, the roof and a door were blown off a
hangar.
The storm extended vacations for about 10,000 passengers on nine cruise ships
unable return to Florida ports on schedule. They were expected to arrive late
Sunday or Monday.
Kevin Palmer, a photographer in Palm Beach County, said the wind blew so hard
at his front door that it was making the copper weather stripping around it
vibrate and shriek violently.
"It's become our high-gust alarm," Palmer said. "It sets the tone for your
ambiance when you've got the rumbling outside, you have this screeching from the
weather stripping and you keep wondering if that thumping you just heard is
another tree going over or a coconut going flying."
Frances was expected to push across the state as a tropical storm just north
of Tampa, weaken to a tropical depression and drench the Panhandle on Monday
before moving into Alabama.
In the central Atlantic Ocean, the ninth named storm of the season grew
stronger Saturday. Tropical Storm Ivan was about 1,355 miles east-southeast of
the Lesser Antilles with winds of 70 mph. Forecasters expect Ivan to become a
hurricane with winds of at least 74 mph on Sunday and to continue to strengthen.
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