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   400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida

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Topic: 400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida (Read 140 times)

lakelady
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400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida
« on: Aug 12^th, 2004, 3:15pm »

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400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida
Hurricane Charley strengthens, threatens state's Gulf Coast
Thursday, August 12, 2004 Posted: 3:40 PM EDT (1940 GMT)

A satellite image from 2:45 p.m. Thursday shows Hurricane Charley bearing down on Florida.

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Emergency officials ordered hundreds of thousands of residents along central Florida's Gulf Coast, including the Tampa Bay area, to evacuate Thursday as Hurricane Charley strengthened.

The storm is expected to slam ashore late Friday or early Saturday on the heels of Tropical Storm Bonnie, which dumped heavy rain on Florida's already soaked Panhandle.

Pinellas County, which covers the peninsula that shelters Tampa Bay from the Gulf and includes Clearwater and St. Petersburg, declared a state of emergency and ordered nearly 400,000 people in low-lying areas to move inland.

Sarasota County, to the south of Tampa Bay, also ordered residents in such areas and those in mobile homes to leave.

At 2 p.m. ET, Charley had strengthened to a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm was was centered about 190 miles (305 kilometers) south-southeast of Havana, Cuba, and was moving toward the northwest at about 16 mph (28 kph).

After crossing Cuba, the storm will enter the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where forecasters predict it will begin a turn to the northeast and gather strength.

"We expect to have a Category 2, perhaps a Category 3 hurricane at landfall," said hurricane center forecaster Ed Rappaport.

Charley would reach Category 3 status at 111 mph (178 kph). Hurricanes are ranked 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale measuring hurricane strength.

"We're gearing up to take a hit," Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said at a news conference in Tallahassee.

"We're going to have every pump, every sandbag out there. The only question is where do we put them."

That remained a question because forecasters have been slowly but consistently moving the storm's expected landfall north up the Gulf Coast.

"Right now the projection is it will land somewhere in the Tampa Bay area," Gov. Jeb Bush said at the same news conference. "And so we've got 24 hours to get our citizens prepared. Where the hurricane lands is relevant, of course, but it's going to affect millions of people regardless of where it lands."

While Bush said he believes most people will be mindful of the storm, several residents of Clearwater said that they would believe it when they see it. The area has not been hit by a hurricane since 1921.

After hitting the Gulf Coast, forecasters said, Charley probably will continue on a northeasterly track across Florida -- becoming the first storm to go from one side of the state to the other since Andrew, a deadly Category 5 storm, in 1992 -- and then up the Eastern Seaboard right on the heels of Bonnie. (Map: Charley's predicted path)

Warning from governor
Apalachicola on the Panhandle took a direct hit from a dissipating Tropical Storm Bonnie at 11 a.m., when it came ashore with 50 mph (80 kph) winds and torrential rains. (Map: Bonnie's predicted path)

Bush cautioned residents not to take Bonnie for granted.

"It's going to dump a ton of water on an already-drenched region of the state," he said.

Bonnie weakened as it moved inland, but at 2 p.m., it still had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (64 kph) and was dumping heavy rain.

State Attorney General Charlie Crist warned businesses against price-gouging residents for staples such as lumber, gasoline or ice as the storms approach. Crist said the state has established a toll-free number for Florida consumers, (800) 646-0444.

"Please call if you even suspect this may be happening, so the attorney general's office can protect you," he said.

Rare one-two punch
Bonnie and Charley are the second and third named storms of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. The first, Hurricane Alex, skirted the Outer Banks of North Carolina last week.

Rappaport said it is not uncommon to have several storms brewing in the Atlantic region but it is unusual to have two of them threatening the same state simultaneously.

"We don't have anything in our records -- and the hurricane center was established about 50 years ago -- to suggest that we've had a similar occurrence during that period.

"But if you go back further in the data, it looks like there may have been one other incident like this about 100 years ago. [In] 1906. Florida was hit by two storms in about a 24-hour period."

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lakelady
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Re: 400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida
« Reply #1 on: Aug 13^th, 2004, 7:37am »

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Florida Warns 2 Million to Flee Hurricane

2 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. - With a "scary, scary" Hurricane Charley zeroing in on Florida's west coast Friday, state officials urged almost 2 million tourists and residents to evacuate and avoid the path of a storm that could submerge parts of this city's downtown and neighboring areas.

Charley's expected 120 mph top sustained winds and massive storm surge could devastate coastal and low-lying areas in Tampa and St. Petersburg. Everything from waterfront condominium towers to vulnerable mobile homes were in danger on the Gulf Coast.

State meteorologist Ben Nelson said the surge could reach up to 16 feet in the Tampa area if Charley hits at 120 mph, making it a major hurricane at Category 3 strength.

About 1.9 million people from the Florida Keys north through the west coast have been advised to evacuate, although many will stay in their homes, said Kristy Campbell, spokeswoman at the state emergency management center. It was estimated that 1.1 to 1.5 million will be leaving their homes ahead of the storm, she said.

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david
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Re: 400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida
« Reply #2 on: Aug 13^th, 2004, 8:35am »

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How close is this to Ocala there is someone there I would love to see get swept away lol (MY EX)

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lakelady
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Re: 400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida
« Reply #3 on: Aug 13^th, 2004, 8:43am »

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Ocala is quite a ways north but you can bet they will feel the effects.

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luci
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Re: 400,000 ordered to evacuate in Florida
« Reply #4 on: Aug 13^th, 2004, 10:00am »

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Ocala is almost the middle of the state. Who is it, your EX? Roll Eyes

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