Hurricane Frances Updates & News

[Lawnmower.Tree]

Not sure if I can post this...but here is a link to all of the Traffic Cams in the Miami area..as of now the traffic doesn't look to bad. If they stay up it may give us a birds eye view of the storm...Good Luck to all in Francis' path..

we just need to remember the Movie "Stripes" and say "Lighten Up Francis!!"

Miami Traffic Cams

[Mr. Brass Bonanza]

John, what resort are you staying at? Were you able to do Disney stuff today?

Please, stay safe, man.

[drmduval]

Stay safe all you Floridians (and guests). Hopefully this will be the last hurricane of the season for you. You guys deserve a break!! Prayers and pixie dust from Wisconsin are with you!

[ September 02, 2004, 06:09 PM: Message edited by: drmduval ]

[Timbo]

Here in Southeast Broward county it is already getting fairly breezy out of the east and we've had some rain showers move through...not the usual afternoon thunderstorms that move west to east, these are moving east to west.

My family's preparations are almost complete. I had wanted to fill our coolers with ice, but there is none to be found and I got tired of the traffic out there. We've got everything else we need including topping off our vehicle's gas tanks (30 minute wait for that).

I will continue to visit and post updates as I can. NHC still thinks it will come ashore somewhere a bit north of us, so that is some good news for my immediate area, but not for others, including many of my friends.

I am very concerned about the devastation that Frances will cause and I urge all my Florida neighbors to be smart and stay safe.

[Digger]

school's closed tomorrow over here in the Tampa area. I think this one's going to make everyone ask 'Andrew who?' it's moving way too slow for comfort. charley was bad, but at least it moved through quickly. frances is going to erase everything it touches, I'm afraid.

[Mr. Brass Bonanza]

What are they saying about the Kennedy Space Center down there? I know the hanger doors were only built to survive 115 MPH winds. At the speed of those winds and the storms snail's pace, if Frances hits land within a 30 mile radius of KSC, there is a real chance the three shuttles could be destroyed. They have two shuttle carrier aircrafts that fly the shuttles back to Florida when the shuttles land in California. I'm rather surprised they're not flying the shuttles out of Florida to avoid the storm.

This could set back the space program decades. I know that is not as important as homes and lives, but it is a potential reality of this storm.

[stitch626]

Went to IOA today as I mentioned yesterday. The park was very pleasant. Did not wait for more than 15 minutes for any ride. Asked a few crew members if they had any info on closings and no one knew anything at that point.

Took the beeline to IOA this morning and traffic was not bad at all. There was a little bit of a back up for the exit to the Florida Turnpike but could get around it in the left lane. On the way home was a different story. Luckily I was traveling eastbound. There was a back up starting at the same exit all the way past the exit for the airport. At least 8 miles. That is where I got off so who knows how much further it went. Tolls were suspended in both directions.

Was told by a co-worker( I work at Discovery Cove) that we would be closing at noon on Friday and closed on Saturday. Still up in the air about Sunday. Depends how fast Frances moves through. Reports on the local news are saying Discovery Cove and Sea World will close at 3pm Friday. Will not know which is true until I go to work tomorrow morning at 6am.

Mom is still at work (the airport) so no updates there. Have heard on several news stations that airport will close at noon.

Weather was beautiful today. I know this will change soon. Off to do more preparing. Once again will update with any news.

[Patricia]

The latest from the Orlando Sentinel

Staff and Wire Reports
Posted September 2, 2004, 7:03 PM EDT

Approaching hurricane grounds Florida tourism to a halt

Casey Parlacka planned to be at Walt Disney World on Thursday for a weekend trip with her best friend. She changed her mind at the last minute and decided to stay in Michigan after her mother-in-law sent photos of Hurricane Charley's damage from three weeks ago and warned her that the approaching Hurricane Frances would be much worse.

"We wanted to be in Florida right now, but we would rather be safe than in a hurricane," said Parlacka, 23, by telephone from Grand Rapids, Mich.

Florida's $50 billion tourism industry slowly ground to a halt as Frances and its 145 mph winds neared the state. Visitors like Parlacka canceled trips. Cruise ships rescheduled returns and departures. Airline carriers planned to stop flights out of some airports on Friday. Coastal hotels that had been expecting a profitable Labor Day weekend were evacuated.

The lost tourism revenue in Florida likely will run in the hundreds of millions of dollars, said Abe Pizam, a professor of hospitality management at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

"This is the worst time of the year to have this hurricane," Pizam said. "Labor Day weekend is very busy."

The 300-room beachfront Holiday Inn Beach Resort in Melbourne, about 70 miles southeast of Orlando, was fully booked for the holiday weekend until guests began checking out Thursday under an evacuation order and employees began leaving their vulnerable homes for Orlando or the Gulf Coast.

General manager Tim Michaud said he expected at least $100,000 in lost revenue.

"That's just rooms," Michaud said. "We're also losing functions for the weekend."

Further north along the coast, almost every business in Cocoa Beach was closed, including Ron Jon's Surf Shop, a tourist attraction that stays open 24 hours a day.

At the Ocean Palm motel in Miami Beach, 170 miles dues south, manager Robert Yengich had been expecting a profitable Labor Day weekend since its one of three holiday weekends when rates increase an average of 30 percent a night.

"We really make a lot of money so it's just a terrific loss for the owners," Yengich said.

The weekend wasn't a total loss for the state's hotels. Most of the 120,000 hotel rooms in metro Orlando, which has the second-largest hotel market in the nation behind Las Vegas, were occupied -- by evacuees. Just over 1,000 rooms were available for Friday.

Anheuser-Busch-owned Sea World Orlando and Discovery Cove, and Universal Orlando's two theme parks and Citywalk entertainment complex, planned to close Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. Walt Disney World stopped accepting reservations for the weekend and announced slightly altered schedules on Friday. Magic Kingdom will close at 8 p.m., Epcot at 9, MGM at 6, Animal Kingdom at 5. Downtown Disney will close at 6 p.m. and Pleasure Island will be close Friday night. Officials planned for all Disney parks and attractions to be closed Saturday.

Disney's crowds were unusually light. At the Magic Kingdom, rides like Space Mountain that can have waits up to two hours were only 10 minutes long. The short waits were a boon for visitors like Barb Delaney and her children, of Springfield, Va., who still found Pinochio signing autographs, Cinderella performing in her "Surprise Celebration" show and "Zippidity Doo Dah" blaring from loud speakers.

"We're going to look at it as one more adventure," said Delaney, a civilian Department of Defense worker whose 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son saved three years worth of pocket change totaling $600 for the trip. "We saved up three years to come here and a hurricane isn't going to stop us."

Edgar Martinez, and his new wife, Brenda, whose Mickey Mouse ears were attached with a white wedding veil, worried the hurricane would dampen their honeymoon.

"Bad luck for us," said Edgar Martinez, 28, a math teacher in Tijuana, Mexico.

Carnival Cruise Lines canceled a Bahamas cruise set to leave Friday and rescheduled six other cruises set to leave on Saturday and Sunday out of Port Canaveral, Tampa and Miami. Disney Cruise Lines rescheduled itineraries for its two ships, the Wonder and Magic.

Air carriers at Orlando International Airport planned to end passenger flights at noon Friday until the hurricane passed. The Melbourne International Airport closed Thursday.

Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday warned visitors to stay out of Florida for the next few days, but then asked them to come back after the hurricane had passed -- real soon.

"If you decide to spend Labor Day somewhere else," Bush said, "We ask that you reschedule your vacations."

[[BS]Mickey]

Originally posted by Mr. Brass Bonanza:
What are they saying about the Kennedy Space Center down there?

They have moved all 3 shuttles to safety, then issued an evac order for KSC and the air force base.
To my knowledge, none of the shuttles were in the vertical assembly building. Also, with current repairs and retrofits going on, the shuttles are in no shape to fly crosscountry.

As of 5pm, most local stations have shifted the track further south, but not by much. Of course, they really were fooled by Charley's last minute hijinx, so they are still showing a window of error as big as Florida. Bottom line is, if you live anywhere from Jax south to the Keys, be prepared.

[MauiMouse]

I just want to say that I hope that everyone in Florida stays safe and sound. Take Care! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Tink19]

Mr. Brass Bonanza...I think the shuttles will be okay b/c you figure that those shuttles are meant for re-entering the atmosphere and that alone is a lot on a shuttle so if it can make it through that then I think they will be okay.They also said the same thing on the news this morning about the shuttles and Kennedy Space Center. They said they were going to close early so they can prepare for the hurricane and so the people who work there can go home and plan for themselves. They also explaned how the shuttles should be okay.

[Mr. Brass Bonanza]

Ah yes...I forgot the three orbiters are in no condition to be in the air. I know that Discovery and Atlantis are in orbital processing facilities. Endeavour is going through its down-time maintenance in the new facility for that, but I didn't hear whether or not it was moved to the third OPF.

Miles O'Brien on CNN made it sound very grim if the eye comes close to KSC. I liked Tom Mintier for space reporting better, but nobody came close to John Hollaman, God rest his soul.

Stay safe, everyone, please.

[RazdOnDis]

DD reports that they made it to her DH's parents in Ft Myers from West Palm Beach no problem. Apparently a lot of people are spending a little extra time locking down and the roads aren't bad at all right now. Come tomorrow though, look out.

Pixie dust to all the Intercotees having to "weather" the storm. Stay safe.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Being from Louisiana and going through Hurricane Andrew I know how bad these things can get. Please everyone be smart, careful, and safe. Those of you with vacation plans, please reschedule. I love WDW just as much as everyone here, but not even Mickey is worth your safty. I hope all of you who are in the storm's path are safe and that you don't sustain too much damage. To all of our Intercot friends from Florida, please check in as soon as you can after the Hurricane to let us know you are ok! Prayers and Pixie dust on the way from Louisiana!

[ September 02, 2004, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: buzznwoodysmom ]

[mickeymousemom]

Batten down the hatches and stay safe everyone---you're all in our prayers!

[Digger]

we're getting preliminary reports that we're going to see tropical storm effects on the west coast. the kids aren't in school tomorrow because the schools are busy being set up as shelters and stations for the crush of evacuating masses. that's a little scary.

[Piglet822]

The storm shifted it's path. They eye will be coming over my house. Frances is coming!! I have nothing to serve [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img]

[Dreamin' of Disney]

Oh, Jeanne, please stay safe, I'm praying and praying for you, for all of you!! I hope all fair well, and god bless you all. Prayers and pixie dust...*~*~*~*~*

[DonnaT103]

Piglet822, I love your aditude. [img]graemlins/mixed.gif[/img] I pray you and all other Florida residences stay safe, and that Frances doesn't ask too much of you. You'll all be in my prayers tonight and for the nexst couple of nights.

[DaisylovesDonald]

I had terrible nightmares last night of a hurricane hitting us up here in Mass. I just can't imagine what you poor folks are going through. We'll be sending plenty of prayers and pixie dust to everyone. STAY SAFE!!!!!