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500,000 on coast told to evacuate; Governor calls state of emergency
By Maya Bell
Miami Bureau
September 2, 2004, 8:12 AM EDT
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UPDATE from The Associated Press: With homes still swaddled in blue tarp and the deaths from Hurricane Charley still fresh in their minds, Florida residents lined up before dawn Thursday for supplies or made evacuation plans as they braced for what could be the mightiest storm of the season.
Up to 750,000 people in Florida were ordered to leave their homes by Thursday afternoon as Hurricane Frances inched toward the U.S. mainland. States of emergency were declared in both Georgia and Florida.
Officials in Broward County, which contains Fort Lauderdale, ordered the evacuation Thursday of up to 250,000 people living on barrier islands, in mobile homes and in low-lying areas.
Packing 145-mph top sustained winds with higher gusts and a course that has emergency officials in several Southeastern states jittery, the Category 4 storm was expected to fluctuate in intensity as it headed for a Labor Day weekend rendezvous.
At 8 a.m. EDT, Frances' center was 470 miles east-southeast of West Palm Beach. It was moving west-northwest near 13 mph, and was expected to continue that course for the next day.
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With dread, disbelief and a sense of déjà vu, Floridians the length of the state prepared Wednesday to flee Hurricane Frances, just three weeks after Hurricane Charley caused billions of dollars in damage as it ripped across the peninsula.
Late Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for about 280 miles of Florida coast from Florida City to Flagler Beach. A hurricane watch means that those areas could start feeling hurricane conditions within 36 hours.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Jeb Bush had declared a state of emergency throughout Florida, his second in 22 days. No other state in the past century has faced two such powerful storms so close together, hurricane experts said.
About twice the width of Charley, Hurricane Frances could strengthen into a Category 5 with winds of 156 mph or higher, forecasters said.
"I can't emphasize enough how powerful this is," National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield said. "If there's something out there that's going to weaken it, we haven't seen it."
Nearly a half-million people were told to get ready to evacuate as Frances headed toward a projected landfall Saturday. Palm Beach County ordered a mandatory evacuation of 300,000 residents along coastal areas beginning at 2 p.m. today, and Brevard County also told 185,000 residents in mobile homes and barrier islands to prepare to leave this afternoon.
Shelters for Brevard residents with special needs will open at 10 a.m. today. Melbourne Greyhound Park has been designated for pets. Other coastal counties were making similar evacuation plans.
Brevard and Volusia schools planned to close today and Friday. Osceola and Orange public schools will close Friday.
The governor ordered the National Guard to report today and be up to strength by Friday. All state toll roads suspended taking tolls Wednesday. Craig Fugate, director of the state Division of Emergency Management, said steps were being taken to prepare for large-scale evacuations, including possibly reversing lanes of some highways to accommodate fleeing coastal residents.
Late Wednesday, the official three-day forecast, which has an average error of 250 miles, had Frances coming ashore on Florida's central east coast Saturday evening. Forecasters cautioned Floridians not to concentrate on the forecast track, but rather on the entire projected track, known as "the cone of error."
That cone showed the entire peninsula in Frances' potential strike zone.
"Hurricanes are not points, especially in Frances' case, because it's so large," hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart said. "We don't want people to say, 'Thank goodness, I live in Daytona Beach. It's coming in Melbourne, so I'm OK.' They're not OK. By no means are people out of the woods anywhere in Florida."
In Brevard, coastal residents braced for the possibility that Frances might strike somewhere along the county's 72-mile coastline.
At Kennedy Space Center, which will close today and Friday, workers put sandbags around NASA facilities, sheltered equipment and took precautions with the three space shuttles that will ride out the storm inside their hangar.
To protect property from looters, a dusk-to-dawn curfew will be in effect in the evacuation areas beginning at sunset Friday. Alcohol sales also will be suspended in those areas.
"We've had so many problems in past storms with people having hurricane parties," said Joan Heller, spokeswoman for Brevard County's Emergency Operations Center. "Frankly, we have much bigger fish to fry than dealing with a lot of drunks."
At Titusville City Marina, Paul and Andrea Landry packed a few important papers and personal photographs and prepared to leave their 42-foot sailboat, Ta Ta, to fate. They booked hotel rooms in Ocala and begged invitations from friends in Fort Myers and South Florida, depending on which way the winds blow.
Cruising the Caribbean for 13 years has made them philosophical about material things.
"It's just stuff," said Andrea Landry, 55. "You can replace stuff."
Rooms from Tallahassee throughout North Florida and southern Georgia were booked solid on the eve of what could be the largest mass movement of Florida residents and tourists in history.
After nailing plywood to the windows of her Flagler Beach home, Mary Stevens tried to find a hotel room for herself and her husband, Bill. All the hotels, all the way to Georgia, were booked.
"Tomorrow night, we're going to get in the car and just start driving north until we find a vacant hotel," said Mary Stevens, 50, an insurance-claims adjuster.
Before Charley, emergency officials feared Floridians had developed "hurricane amnesia" since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
This time, complacency is not the problem. Instead, hurricane forecasters worry that tens of thousands of Florida's east-coast residents will drive long distances to escape the uncertain path of Frances and clog the roads. When told to evacuate, those in low-lying areas, mobile homes and oceanfront homes should head for higher ground as near as possible.
"We don't want people evacuating hundreds of miles. Go tens of miles. Move inland. Don't drive up or down the state," Mayfield said.
In Vero Beach, roads were quickly becoming clogged with fleeing residents and tourists, convincing Julie McCusker to stick out the storm with her husband and seven cats inside her husband's concrete-block office building near Interstate 95.
"It's more dangerous right now to evacuate than to stay put," she said.
The scope of the threat was unprecedented. Records from the past century show no two Category 4 storms with winds of 131 to 155 mph hitting a state within weeks of each other, hurricane-center meteorologist Rick Knabb said. Charley came ashore with top sustained winds of 145 mph.
The last time two major hurricanes hit Florida in rapid succession was in 1950. Hurricane Easy hit Tampa about Sept. 4 of that year, and Hurricane King hit Miami six weeks later on Oct. 17.
To prepare for Frances, state and federal officials are urging counties and residents to take care of the unfinished business left behind by Charley: debris removal. If the browning piles of branches, dissected tree trunks and building rubble can't be removed in time, officials are asking people to store as much as possible inside.
In Orange County, about 60 percent of Hurricane Charley's debris is still on the ground. Another concern is the availability of generators for its sewage lift stations. Many of those generators have been shipped back, but the county is in the process of recovering them, Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty said.
"You know, a few weeks ago, I said that Charley was not a drill. But I may have been wrong. Charley may be a drill for Frances," said Crotty, who returned Wednesday from the Republican National Convention to prepare for Frances.
Residents throughout the state made runs on hardware stores and grocery shelves, sometimes fighting about sheets of plywood and gas-powered generators.
Ace Hardware in Orange City sold 2605-gallon gas cans in nine minutes. At the Home Depot in Orange City, an afternoon shipment of 700 sheets of plywood was gone in less than an hour, with a limit of 10 sheets per person.
In Melbourne, Mark Zider, a 40-year-old retired roofer from Seattle, was boarding up Wildcat Tackle & Bait shop and preparing to head for West Virginia in his mobile home to wait our the storm.
Zider bought the bait shop just four months ago.
"I've enjoyed owning it," Zider said, "but if that hurricane hits and it's gone when I get back, I guess I picked the wrong year to buy, and they picked the right year to sell."
¨¨*:• Carol (aka PolyGirl40)
INTERCOT Management Team
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Sending our thoughts and prayers to all of you who may be or are in the path of Frances. Stay safe, all of you, and get the heck outta Dodge if you can!
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To everyone who may be affected by Hurricane Frances take care and keep safe. My thoughts and prayers will be with you during this time.
Angie
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Disney Closings are starting to filter in:
The Tom Joyner Family Reunion 2004 events scheduled for September 3-6 have been cancelled.
The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue 9:30PM show on Friday, September 3, has been cancelled. All Hoop-Dee-Doo shows scheduled for Saturday, September 4, have been cancelled.
All Spirit of Aloha Polynesian Luau performances have been cancelled for Friday & Saturday, September 3 & 4.
The Disney Dining Experience scheduled for Friday night, September 3, at the California Grill has been cancelled.
¨¨*:• Carol (aka PolyGirl40)
INTERCOT Management Team
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I am here at my office now in Weston, FL, about 15 minutes west of Fort Lauderdale. We are beginning the process of protecting our belongings, covering our computers and files with plastic sheeting and securing things in general.
On a personal note, I FINALLY found some drinking water this morning after searching all day yesterday and for two hours this morning. Good thing I filled my vehicles with gas on Tuesday because today most gas stations here are out of gas (pardon the pun) and the rest have lines for blocks.
As long as we have power, I will keep checking in here. Y'all take care out there...this is gonna be bad. [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img]
Last trip: May 26-28, 2006
DVC Members since 2001
"When you imagine, time becomes timeless..."
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My advice to anyone who is coming this weekend. DON'T. This is a much larger and slower moving storm than Charley. If you manage to make it into OIA, you will find no gas for your rental car, no groceries (especially bread and canned goods), no restaurants open, most major highways, such as the Bee Line, only going one direction. The parks have not made any announcement yet, but expect ALL parks to be closed both Saturday and Sunday. When power is out, the roads will be dangerous. Live power lines will be down. Trees will crumple homes, cars, and even hotel rooms. This is a serious storm. Guys, we love for all of you to visit, but getting hurt or killed is no vacation. Good luck to all (including me) forced to ride this one out.
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WIll waiting to arrive Monday make a diff if I keep checking to see the status on everything all day Sat and SUN? As long as Disney doesn't run out of power, and barring I can drive in Sunday NIght/Sat morn? Oh I just hate this not knowing!!!
"Pudge controls the weather" -Lilo
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Wow, I can't believe this is happening again!
Has anything like this EVER happened before in Central Florida? TWO gigantic storms coming so close together? (And, let's not forget the storm that hit a few HOURS before Charly)
And, does anyone know the status of the national 3-on-3 basketball tournament, which is being held at WWoS this weekend? A few of my friends were scheduled to go down for it, but cancelled for a different reason, but we know others who, I believe, were still scheduled to participate.
Good luck to everyone in Central Florida.
Walt Disney World:
93, PO FQ
94-95, Caribbean
96, Off Site
99, Coronado
00, Caribbean
03, Poly & Wilderness Lodge
04, Pop Cent
06, Contemp
07, Beach Club
07, Pop Cent
09, Pop Cent
10, Off Site
11, PO FQ
12, Coronado
13, Off Site
14, PO FQ
16, PO RS
Only 1110.89 miles...
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We just cancelled our trip to WDW this weekend. We are very sad. We hope that all of you in the path of this storm stay safe. Good Luck!
Jan-2006-POP
Mar- 2003-Grand Californian, 2006-AKL
Apr- 2004-ASM, CS, 2007-POP
Sept-2005-CR
Oct- 2005-CR
Nov-2005-POR
Dec- 2001-CS, 2002-AKL, 2004-POP, AKL, 2005 POR
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I think Monday may be too early. There is a lot of damage expected. But, the worst damage depends on the exact track of the storm. Currently they are forecasting 130mph winds for Kissimmee. I can tell you, OIA definitely will NOT open until winds are below 35mph. With the speed of this storm, that will be Sunday evening. Even then, it depends also on how much damage the airport receives. Keep in mind, you may be able to get to the airport, but roads may be blocked, and taxi's/buses may not be there due to fuel problems/power outages. I have to ask, please, please, if you can postpone your trip, please do. There are hundreds of thousands of evacuees from the coast who will need hotel rooms. Charley wasn't much fun, some people went without power for two weeks. Most hotels have generators for power, but without gas they have no use. Protect yourself, and wait until at least Monday.
-- AP since 2001
-- Pop Century May 2005
-- Pop Century July 2005
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has hurrican season even officialy started yet?? enough already!!
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I think hurricane season runs from July through September.
To all of those in FL- Stay safe!!!
April
Remy: You gotta taste this! This is... oh, it's got this kind of... mmm, it's burny, it's melty... it's not really a smoky taste. It's kind of like a certain... Pshah! It's got like this " Ba-boom! Zap!" kind of taste. Dont you think? What would you call that flavor?
Emile: Lightningy?
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Originally posted by JDNM2005:
has hurrican season even officialy started yet?? enough already!!
Started in June and goes through Nov.
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JohnY, I know you are committed to giving us information, but this is above and beyond the call of duty!! Seriously, you and everyone else please stay safe.
Many visits over 35+ years!
DVC member since 2004 (SSR)
Stayed at: Bay Lake Tower, Polynesian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, Beach Club, Dolphin, PO Riverside, AS Sports, AS Movies, Saratoga, Vero Beach, Hilton Head, Aulani, Disneyland Hotel, and Grand Californian.
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Yes, I believe hurricane season started awhile back--correct me if I'm wrong!
Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you--this doesn't look like one I would want to risk riding out.--Keep safe--Pixie Dust coming your way--->>>>>>>>> [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
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I'm just in tears [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img] ...litterally, I'm so scared for Florida, and it's making me sick to my stomach today. Please ALL, be safe. I'll be praying once again.
I've got a very dear friend whom lives in Melbourne Beach (where Francis is predicted to come ashore), and I'm so very worried for her. I'm hoping she came here to NH earlier this week to flee the storm, I haven't heard either way. [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]
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I dont know how im going to handle another hurricane, Im in michigan but my dad is still in florida trying to fix my grandma's house .
I was a nervous wreck last time worrying about my grandma and Sounds silly but I was worried about WDW too.
Ive been through 130-200 mile winds up here in Michigan and know just how scary it is.
you folks in florida will be in my prayers.
[ September 02, 2004, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: Howdy Partner ]
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Frankie #1440
INTERCOT Staff
Every day there is sad news, but each day itself is glad news.----Found in fortune cookie at Nine Dragons Restaurant in Epcot while having lunch during INTERCOT's 10th Anniversary Meet
But If Not
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So I go lucky last time and Charley arrived when I was out of town. Guess you can't always be lucky.
Went to Wal Mart last night with a friend...wished I'd had a camera. The aisles were like barren wastelands and the lines were miles long. Crazy....
This whole hurricane thing is bizarre to me. I'm used to tornados where they just spring up on you and are done. It's weird looking out at a beautiful sky right now and knowing in two days it's going to be a raging tempest of destruction.
Anywho....gonna go dig out the candles and board games now. Me and my roomie are hosting a few people over here and we're going to make the best of it.
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Originally posted by Red Randal:
Wow, I can't believe this is happening again!
Has anything like this EVER happened before in Central Florida? TWO gigantic storms coming so close together? (And, let's not forget the storm that hit a few HOURS before Charly)
And, does anyone know the status of the national 3-on-3 basketball tournament, which is being held at WWoS this weekend? A few of my friends were scheduled to go down for it, but cancelled for a different reason, but we know others who, I believe, were still scheduled to participate.
Good luck to everyone in Central Florida.
No this hasn't happened in over 100 years with 2 Category 4+ storms (charley officially hit Cat 4 prior to landfall) hitting the same state within weeks of each other. This is very frightening and I hope people didn't get a false sense of security from the way Charley rambled through so quickly. This is a VERY dangerous storm.
Best wishes to all, and if you have a way to get to safe place please do so within the next 24-36 hours!
[ September 02, 2004, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Toad_Passenger ]
2011 - Planning phase!
2009 - DD's First Trip - PO Riverside
2003 - PO Riverside
2002 - Wilderness Lodge (honeymoon)
1998 - Polynesian
1995 - Off-Site
1991 - Polynesian
1989 - Polynesian
1987 - Ft. Wilderness Campground
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