Hurricane Jeanne Update
State braces for onslaught
East coast likely will feel wind, rain this afternoon
September 25, 2004, 4:59 AM EDT
MIAMI -- Resigned and frustrated Floridians braced Friday for Hurricane Jeanne, which forecasters said should strengthen and start pounding the state's east coast with whipping wind and rain late this afternoon.
Ports were closing, and shelters were opening. Sandbags were ready, and curfews set. Hotels filled up, and emergency-response trucks rolled.
The anxiety mounted Friday as nearly 1 million coastal residents and mobile-home dwellers from Miami-Dade to Flagler counties were ordered to begin evacuating today to avoid the fourth hurricane to torment the Sunshine State in six weeks.
At 5 a.m. today, Jeanne was a Category 2 storm with winds of about 105 mph. It was moving westward at 14 mph and was located about 240 miles east of the southeastern coast of Florida. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles.
In New Smyrna Beach, Marilee Walters sat on the sidewalk in front of her Flagler Avenue shop, the Sanctuary, and watched in disbelief as friends covered her windows with plywood.
"We're exhausted, and we're just hoping we can get through this one," Walters said. "At this point, I think we're all pretty numb."
In Tallahassee, Gov. Jeb Bush expressed an exasperation shared by the state's 17 million residents.
"Sometimes it feels like this is a test of resiliency for our state," the governor said. "Other times I feel like I'm Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. But we're going to get through this."
Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty marveled at what nature is throwing Florida's way.
"This is a weather freak show," Crotty said. "We've never dealt with a situation like this."
On Friday night, hurricane warnings covered nearly all of Florida's east coast as Jeanne barreled westward.
Forecasters are confident that Jeanne, which was expected to strengthen before landfall from a Category 2 storm to a Category 3 with at least 111-mph winds, will make a gradual curve northward. But Friday, they couldn't answer the critical question: When?
"This is just too close to call," Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Friday night. "This is not going to be an easy one."
Just how much -- and where -- Jeanne will affect the state depended on a ridge of high pressure hovering over the mid-Atlantic, which for three days has kept the storm on a beeline for the state's coast. Computer models forecast the ridge to erode sometime today, and if it does, Jeanne could be pulled more northward.
If that happens and occurs early enough, the storm might stay offshore, coming close enough to pummel the state with wind, rain and surf, but keeping its most vicious east side at sea. That would be the best scenario for Florida, but not Georgia or the Carolinas.
"It could turn just before the coast, if we're lucky," said Ed Rappaport, the hurricane center's deputy director. "But if we're lucky, someone else isn't."
If Jeanne follows the official forecast track set Friday, the storm would plow into the coastline early Sunday near St. Lucie County, not far from where Hurricane Frances struck Sept. 5.
Then it would grind its way north in a shallow arc to the Georgia-Florida border. Under that scenario, the east coast of Central Florida would begin feeling tropical-storm-force winds of at least 39 mph by this evening. The storm was expected to produce hurricane-force winds of 74 mph or higher about 70 miles from its center and tropical-storm-force winds up to 205 miles from its core.
By early Sunday, the winds would increase, sweeping the eye across Brevard, Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Flagler counties. The pounding could last all day.
Forecasters predicted rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches, prompting concerns about already swollen lakes, rivers and streams.
State emergency officials, who already have dealt with Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan in the past few weeks, said they're ready. They began rushing shipments of ice, water, food and generators to supply depots along the east coast.
"I've been asked a lot of times, 'Are we up for another hurricane?' " said Craig Fugate, director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management. "We're tired, but there is another storm threatening our state, and we're ready to go."
More than readiness, resignation prevailed in Central Florida, which is still recovering from double punches by Frances and Charley. As Gail Gregory, director of the Mental Health Association of Volusia County said, "We're all starting to show fine-line cracks along the way."
To cope, she recommended spending time with family, limiting exposure to hurricane news and taking advantage of hot water and electricity -- while they last. Gregory also said to avoid alcohol.
"There's nothing a drink won't make worse," she said.
In Brevard County, where officials banned the sale of alcohol and imposed curfews tonight and Sunday night, motorists began lining up for gas before daybreak Friday at an Exxon station in Cocoa.
"This is insane," said Donnie Hair, as he waited behind at least half a dozen cars. By 3 p.m., the station's manager, Peter Schmidt, was out in the parking lot walking from car to car.
"You might be wasting your time," he told drivers. "I'm down to my last 100 gallons and probably won't get any more today."
In Titusville, Robert Lord pulled up his truck to a service station to top off the tank before heading home to put on his last two sheets of plywood.
"It's getting to us," he said. "The last one was enough, but this is just over the limit."
Kennedy Space Center was closed to all but essential employees Friday. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration facility suffered the worst damage in its history from Frances. A team designated to ride out the storm on the site will emerge as soon as Jeanne passes to assess any further damage.
At the Super Target store at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, customers trickled in to buy water, toiletries and canned goods. But the frenzy that came ahead of Frances and Charley, which hammered Charlotte County on Aug. 13 before pummeling Central Florida, was absent.
"I think that because a lot of people have already stocked up from previous hurricanes," said Millie Douglas, a store manager, "the traffic is not as bad."
And in St. Augustine, Bill Cushion, a horse-carriage driver, vented about lost revenue. "No one comes out," he said. "I've had my fill of storms. I had my fill of them after the first one went through."
No one shared that sentiment more than the forecasters at the hurricane center, who were at a loss to explain why Florida has been in the cross hairs all season.
"It just seems Florida has that 'Kick Me' sign on it," Mayfield said.
