Hurricane Frances Comes To Near Standstill Off Coast
UPDATED: 3:20 pm EDT September 4, 2004
MELBOURNE, Fla. -- The outer bands of Hurricane Frances whipped Florida's Atlantic coast with 90 mph winds Saturday as the storm stalled near the state, downing trees, knocking power out to hundreds of thousands of people and ripping parts of roofs off buildings.
Frances could bring more than a foot of rain, tornadoes and heavy flooding as tens of thousands fled the area. Forecasters expected the Category 2 storm with 105-mph top sustained winds to come ashore late Saturday or early Sunday somewhere along the middle of the state's Atlantic coast.
The arrival was about a day later than earlier predictions, as residents prepared for the worst after a dragged-out process of buying canned goods and water, putting plywood sheets over windows and finding shelter.
"I turned on the TV and when I saw the storm was still 130 miles away, I said, 'Now's the time to get out,"' Dana Goegelman said after leaving Indialantic on a barrier island early Saturday. "I was so happy to get on the other side of that bridge I could have kissed the ground."
Wind gusts in Jupiter surpassed hurricane-force at 91 mph early Saturday, crashing waves into the beaches. Boats were tossed around like toys in the water, people struggled to stand up on land and trees were knocked down. The roof and door of a hangar at Palm Beach International Airport were blown off.
A yacht struggled to maneuver in the waves off West Palm Beach as its pilot tried to tie the craft to a piling. A person on the front of the boat threw a line over the side to the pole, but the boat ripped it from its foundation. The yacht eventually was tied down, with one woman suffering minor injuries.
In Brevard County, two men were charged with looting for allegedly trying to break into the Ascension Catholic Church in Melbourne.
About 2.8 million residents were told to clear out -- the biggest evacuation request in Florida history -- but it was unknown how many did. At 2 p.m., Frances was centered about 70 miles east from Palm Beach, and had stalled. It was expected to resume drifting to the west-northwest at about 5 mph later in the day.
The storm had redeveloped an eye about 80 miles across, indicating that it could strengthen slightly while over open water, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said. After hitting land, Frances' core appeared headed toward the Panhandle across the state.
Passing through the Bahamas, Frances' top sustained winds fell to 105 mph Saturday, down from 145 mph on Thursday. But its plodding pace meant it could cause disastrous flooding. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 105 miles from its center.
"This is going to be a tough ride for us," Gov. Jeb Bush said.
State meteorologist Ben Nelson said Frances might remain over Florida for two cycles of high tide, meaning two rounds of storm surges expected to be 4 to 6 feet north of where the eye hits.
"The water has nowhere to go and gets trapped because our elevation is so low," he said. "It could be a large mess."
Frances, carrying an imposing size twice as big as the devastating Hurricane Andrew in 1992, is expected to come ashore along the middle of Florida's eastern coast, push across the state as a tropical storm just north of Tampa and weaken to a tropical depression as it moves over the Panhandle on Monday.
Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown warned that unlike Hurricane Charley, which slammed into Florida's coast three weeks ago, Frances "has an awful lot of moisture with it" that could cause dangerous floods.
"It is a massive storm," Brown said Saturday.
A hurricane warning remained in effect for Florida's Atlantic coast, from Flagler Beach south to Florida City almost to the state's tip, and Bush declared a state of emergency for the entire state. A tropical storm warning also was extended Saturday for much of the Gulf coast and also up into Georgia.
The winds toppled trees and one gust peeled half the roof off Michelle Lyons' mobile home in Davie, just west of Fort Lauderdale, but no one was hurt.
"And we didn't even get the hurricane yet," said Lyons, 30.
Power was knocked out for about 459,000 Florida Power & Light customers along the southeast coast. The storm forced the evacuation of about 3,000 state inmates and about 500 patients at more than a dozen hospitals. Pumps were left dry at many gas stations as people rushed to fill up their tanks before the storm hit, but Bush said state officials were working to resupply stations along Florida's Turnpike.
So far, there have been about 831 reports of price gouging, Attorney General Charlie Crist said. The Chinese Green Tea restaurant in Palm Bay was charging about a $1 more for meals Saturday. When told that increasing prices because of the storm was illegal, the manager said through an interpreter that he didn't care.
Frances was set to slam into Florida's coast about three weeks after Hurricane Charley killed 27 people and caused billions of dollars in damage in southwestern Florida. Frances could cross over areas such as Orlando that were also hit by Charley.
Shelters received a steady influx of residents expecting to spend an unusual Labor Day weekend indoors. As of Saturday afternoon, about 70,000 people were in shelters statewide. Other evacuees went to hotels or friends' homes further inland. At a Red Cross shelter in Davie, elderly residents quietly huddled over a game of cards while several people played a pick-up basketball game.
"It's very organized," said Lucy Campos, who left a mobile home with a neighbor. "But I can't wait to take a shower."
Many schools and government offices closed, as did major amusement parks, the Kennedy Space Center and airports serving Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Melbourne.
FEMA mobilized 4,500 workers, three times the number sent to help victims of Charley. Officials said they had enough people and supplies in the state to handle two disaster relief operations at once.
State officials said they were prepared to deliver 5.4 million meals during the next two weeks while 13,000 electrical workers awaited in staging areas in Alabama to enter Florida and restore power. To help new mothers, baby formula was being shipped to Jacksonville to be distributed throughout the state.
The American Red Cross planned a larger relief operation than the one it conducted after Hurricane Andrew. Back then, the agency spent $81 million.
Hurricane season usually peaks in early September, and the ninth named storm of the season grew stronger Saturday in the far eastern Atlantic. Tropical Storm Ivan was about 1,575 miles east-southeast of the Lesser Antilles with winds of 60 mph.
Awww! I am watching some ducks, two swans and a crane here outside my window at SSR. They are hanging out in a rope off area of the canal. 
