Hurricane Frances Updates & News

[imported_PolyGirl40]

Central Florida's woes may grow worse

A hit from Hurricane Frances could lead to flooding, more outages and flying debris left by Charley.

By Kevin Spear and Joe Newman
Sentinel Staff Writers

September 1, 2004, 8:39 AM EDT

A menacing Hurricane Frances crept closer Wednesday to the southeastern United States, with 140-mph winds and forecasters saying Florida -- still cleaning up after Charley -- was at risk for another hurricane strike as soon as Friday.

As Frances closed on the Bahamas, it was expected to fluctuate in intensity and could become a Category 5 storm with top sustained winds of 156 mph or higher, said Jamie Rhome, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm could hit anywhere from South Florida to South Carolina as early as late Friday.

"This still is a huge threat to the southeast U.S. coast," Rhome said. "All indications for now is that Florida is the prime candidate."

At 8 a.m. EDT, the Category 4 Frances was centered about 130 miles east of Grand Turk Island southeast of the Bahamas and 1,260 miles east-southeast of Palm Beach.

Frances was forecast to plow through the Bahamas late Wednesday or Thursday before hitting the U.S. mainland. Millions of coastal residents should be on guard. Hurricane center forecaster Jack Beven said evacuation orders were likely to be issued with warnings and watches late Wednesday.

"There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty," Rhome said. "I don't think anyone's off the hook yet."

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If Hurricane Frances strikes Central Florida late this week, it will find a region softened up by Hurricane Charley and poorly able to defend against flooding, widespread power outages and storm-swept debris.

Frances is keeping everyone guessing. Late Tuesday, the five-day forecast, which has an average error of more than 370 miles, had Frances making landfall Saturday north of Cape Canaveral.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called on city residents Tuesday to join with hundreds of hired crews to redouble the effort to cart away debris from trees knocked down Aug. 13 by Hurricane Charley.

"Assist your neighbors, assist the city," said Dyer in a news conference, imploring residents to lend their own pickups to the task. "It was community spirit that got us through Hurricane Charley. We will need that same community spirit to get us through Hurricane Frances."

With four days until its anticipated landfall, officials cautioned that it is too early to predict landfall for the hurricane, which was reported Tuesday evening as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 140 mph.

The storm brushed Puerto Rico on Tuesday with pounding surf, blustery winds and lightning, knocking out electricity to about 17,000 people in the territory as it headed toward the Bahamas. No injuries were reported.

Forecasters said that if a ridge to the north weakens in time, it could steer Frances farther north.

"If that ridge stays in place, this is a Florida hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center west of Miami.

State officials worried about finding hotel rooms and shelters for people who may need to evacuate. Many hotel rooms in the southern half of the state are occupied by people Charley left homeless and emergency workers from other states.

In Central Florida, hundreds of hotels began emergency planning in case Frances affects the region, either directly with a hit or indirectly with an influx of coastal refugees.

Residents fresh from the experience of Hurricane Charley crowded stores Tuesday to get a jump on what might be yet another disaster.

All the usual pre-storm staples -- from candles to batteries, plywood to bottled water, charcoal to plastic sheeting -- started disappearing from shelves.

Gasoline generators for home electricity proved the most elusive product in a region where more than half a million people recently suffered through at least four days without lights and electricity, and thousands went a week or more without power.

Matthew Hill, 31, a chiropractor, loaded plywood into his dad's minivan at The Home Depot in Daytona Beach, having endured a long wait at the checkout.

"It was like an Epcot line," Hill said.

The hurricane threat will trigger many responses today -- from Brevard County's opening its emergency-operations center to school officials' huddling to decide whether to cancel classes to Progress Energy Florida's activating its emergency center in Lake Mary.

Frances' timing couldn't be worse for the thousands of homeowners still repairing damage from Charley.

The biggest concern is for the homes with roofs still not repaired. More rain means more damage to those homes, Osceola building official Jeff DeBoer said.

"If it's only covered with a tarp -- that's not going to do anything," DeBoer said.

The Seminole County school district wasn't taking chances with its office building in Sanford. The roof was destroyed by Hurricane Charley, inflicting $2.5 million damage. Officials approved an emergency contract for a new roof, and workers are rushing to complete the job by Friday.

The piles of storm debris littering many Central Florida neighborhoods are also raising fears.

Volusia County officials suggested that residents burn debris in the next few days. In Orange County, 1,100 people are involved in debris cleanup, County Administrator Ajit Lalchandani said.

"The resources are in place, but the problem cannot be solved in three days," he said.

Orlando officials began redeploying cleanup crews Tuesday to target the piles that posed the greatest threat to residents.

"What I'm looking for are the midsized debris piles that are definitely going to get windborne," said Alan Oyler, Orlando's deputy public-works director. "I'm not worried about the tree stumps and the logs."

Besides worrying about flying debris, officials are concerned about leaves and branches clogging drains, Lalchandani said.

"The stuff that's not picked up, if a lot of rain falls, its definitely going to get in drains and gutters and cause a whole new set of problems," he said. "It will aggravate an already bad situation."

There were eight named storms in August, setting a record for the most in that month and tying the all-time monthly record set in September 2002. The month, with about 14.5 inches of rain in Orlando, also was the third-wettest August on record, according to the National Weather Service.

That could cause flooding problems.

"We'll have more concern about local flooding if [Frances] drops 3 or 4 inches of rain," said Hank Largin, Orlando-area spokesman for the St. Johns River Water Management District.

The region's electric utilities, exhausted by Hurricane Charley, are gearing up for a possible repeat performance.

"We know what we need to do," Florida Power & Light spokesman Bill Swank said in Miami. "We've experienced it in real life."

Progress Energy, along with other regional utilities, put out-of-town utilities on notice that their crews may be needed.

Utilities also fear that countless trees harbor broken limbs, waiting for a gust of wind to dislodge them and fall on a power line.

The Orlando Utilities Commission has 17 crews trimming "hangers."

Kissimmee Utility Authority crews are braced for outages. In rebuilding its grid, the authority has not yet restored redundant power lines that would allow electricity to detour around short circuits, minimizing the number of homes that lose power.

"When a line gets knocked out, power to the whole neighborhood is knocked out," KUA spokesman Chris Gent said.

[MickeyDreamer]

Not really looking good for the people down there or those like me who are supposed to be traveling down into that area.

[Ed]

Ugh.

Just Ugh.
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[joonyer]

Things are not looking good for central Florida. Check out this link. The Orlando area seems to be in the center of the NWS Hurricane Center's latest forecasted track. Look out! Here comes round 2.

NWS Hurricane Center forecast track for Frances

[DisRuss]

I go to the Florida Institute of Technology. I checked the current projected landfall and the hurricane is forecast to go directly over me. My friends and I are planning to evacuate to Naples. We were going to goo to Orlando this weekend but that ain' happening. The school had yet to make an announcement about closure, but it is expected to close on friday. All I have to say is Im running. [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img]

[SallyP]

We just received a call from Disney Dining Experience. The special event that was planned for Friday 09/03/04 has been canceled .
They don't know if they will reschedule or not. I can understand Disney's need for precaution. They have to think about guests and cast members.
Haven't we just been through this?
Here's praying that Frances makes a sharp turn North and fizzles in the Atlantic, far away from land.

[disneymomw_3boys]

We are flying out tommorow for Orlando, we are planning to spend 3 nights at the Yatch Club Resort and visit the parks. We are still up in the air about going, looks like if we do go and Hurricane [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img] Francis [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img] hits Orlando we wont be comming home on Sunday but later next week. I called the Airline to check options to reschedual for another time later this year and they said it would be $ 100.00 per ticket . Our tickets only cost 173.00.

My wife who has been through Hurricanes before is not as worried as I, odds on it changing course are possible, and we wont be on the coast. We wont make our final decision untill tommorow, I don't know if heading to Florida at this time is such a good idea. I guess the only benifit is the parks will probalbly be empty as I am certain most wont be headed to Disney this weekend.

[GoofyGal]

Sending lots of pixie dust and prayers to those who live and work down there and for those who are travelling too. Hoping that it fizzles out or heads out to sea.

[plutogal27]

We are still planning on leaving as scheduled on Friday afternoon. My DH is not worried at all, but I'm starting to get a little anxious. While I will be severely disappointed if we don't get to go, I also don't want us to be in harm's way.

[imported_JohnY]

Ugh is right Ed. I am sceduled to fly out of Orlando late Saturday AM. If the airport closes, I could be stuck riding it out...

[Zippa D Doodah]

I am sad to see that the hurricane has central Florida in its sights. A "double whammy" is tough on any region. My prayers are with all the folks in the way of the storm. For all who have tentative plans to travel this weekend, I just hate that . As one who has had to change vacation plans because of tropical weather before, let me just say I remember how rotten that felt. May lots of pixie dust go your way as well!

[TXDisneyAddict]

Hey Plutogal27, I noticed you are in Plano -- we are from Allen, and also going down there Friday night.

Our flight leaves DFW at 9:00pm and we are supposed to get to Orlando after midnight. I have been watching the developing path since Monday and figure we should at least be able to get on the ground and to our resort fine late Friday.

What goes on Saturday and Sunday is still up in the air. I am at least hoping that being on Disney property will be the safest place to be based on reports from people that were there through Charlie several weeks ago.

Living in Texas I have never experienced a hurricane first-hand, so this could definitely be an experience. We thought about canceling, but figured it should blow through by end of the day Sunday at the latest and still have several days to enjoy, hopefully.

[pjbs35a]

From Southwest Airlines website:


Hurricane Frances Update - As of 5:30 p.m CT, August 31 - Customers holding reservations to/from Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Jacksonville (JAX), Orlando (MCO) and West Palm Beach (PBI), Florida may rebook their travel or request a refund for reservations made through Sunday, September 5th. At the present time, all flights to/from FLL, JAX, MCO, and PBI are scheduled to operate; however, subsequent flight operations to/from these airports will depend upon Hurricane Frances’ movement inland from the Atlantic Ocean. Visit Flight Status Online for the latest information regarding your flight. Call 1-800-243-8372 for assistance.

[ September 01, 2004, 11:42 AM: Message edited by: pjbs35a ]

[doublee7]

My family and I are supposed to be leaving on a Friday afternoon flight for Orlando. My 3 year old is going to be REALLY disappointed if the trip gets delayed or cancelled.

I grew up 1 block of the ocean in NYC and lived through a few hurricanes...I have NO desire to hold up in a hotel waiting it out, especially if it a Class 4 or 5.

Just wish the airlines wouldn't charge more in fees than the original cost of the tickets to change the date to next weekend.

[plutogal27]

TXDisneyAddict

Yep, we're neighbors. [img]smile.gif[/img] Our flight leaves DFW at 2pm on Friday. As for air travel, I'm not too concerned about landing or getting back to Dallas on Tuesday. I'm more concerned about Frances itself. Having lived in North Texas all my life, I've dealt with my share of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, but this seems to be a whole other ball game.

Oh well, even if we're stuck in our hotel room for a couple of days....WE'LL be in DISNEY!!!

[FROG0823]

Originally posted by doublee7:


Just wish the airlines wouldn't charge more in fees than the original cost of the tickets to change the date to next weekend.

Check back with your airline - we (American Airlines) just updated our storm policy to allow changes w/o penalties for travel to all Florida airports through Sep 9th...

My dad lives in Palm Beach so I'm worried about him as well as WDW....

Prayers and Pixie Dust to all in Florida...

[img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[stitch626]

I don't think I can take another one of these!!!!!! I'm still trying to get it together after Charley. Maybe if everyone in the state could turn fans on towards Frances it would blow her out to sea.

[Womble]

Originally posted by TXDisneyAddict:
I am at least hoping that being on Disney property will be the safest place to be based on reports from people that were there through Charlie several weeks ago.

I think WDW was lucky with Charlie. The eye of the storm went south and east of WDW! Parts of Kissimmee and Orlando were without power and drinkable tap water a week after the storm!

I’m with GoofyGal and hoping it fizzles out or does not make land!

[Donalds Duckie]

I too am praying that Frances hooks a sharp right and heads out to sea and stays there. There are too many folks who have not recovered from Charley in Florida and from Gaston in the Carolinas, Virginia, etc. to have to deal with another hurricane, especially a category 4 or 5.

Dallas may not get hurricanes but living in South Texas I can tell you it may blow through in hours but what the storm leaves behind can be devastating.

Let's all pray the storm hits that high ridge and doesn't go anywhere or heads out to sea. Also praying for everyone in the possible path of Frances.

Continental Airlines is letting folks traveling through Sept. 10th reschedule w/o penalty.

[ September 01, 2004, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: Donalds Duckie ]

[Crow]

hope all are ok this wkend. i know a former employee of mine just moved to Kissimee to teach & her apt building had leaky roof after the last storm. her parents are supposed to go down this wkend to visit her.
and im supposed to fly to Orlando Mon early...