Saturday, September 25, 2004
By Marc Serota
FORT PIERCE (Reuters) - Hurricane Jeanne pelted Florida with blinding rain and fierce winds on Saturday as it took aim at a coastal region still scarred from Hurricane Frances three weeks ago.
Reuters Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Hurricanes & Tropical Storms
Nat'l Hurricane Center Jeanne Update (AP Video)
The hurricane strengthened and grew rapidly as it strafed the northern Bahamas on its way to deliver a record fourth hurricane strike in one season to densely populated Florida.
The powerful core of the storm was expected to come ashore in the Fort Pierce area late on Saturday -- a one-two punch for a region slammed by Hurricane Frances.
Long before landfall, Jeanne's 115 mph winds picked up debris and piles of tree limbs left behind by Frances' onslaught, and snapped power lines that had only just been fixed. The storm peeled off blue tarps that covered roofs damaged by Frances and huge waves pounded the Atlantic coast.
Jeanne's winds and 8-foot storm surge earlier lashed the northern Bahamas, a 700-island chain of 300,000 people stretching from Haiti to off the Florida coast.
Up to 3 million storm-weary Floridians were told to evacuate coastal islands, mobile homes and flood-prone areas. Many on the Atlantic coast, emboldened by having survived Frances, remained at home, to the alarm of authorities who cautioned that Jeanne was a stronger storm.
But as night fell, emergency officials said it was too dangerous to head inland and many towns imposed curfews.
"This is not the time to be traveling," Gov. Jeb Bush said. "Now is the time to find a safe place and stay there."
Bush sent a letter to his brother, President Bush (news - web sites), asking for a federal disaster declaration to speed recovery aid. Nearly 3,500 National Guard troops were deployed around the strike area to respond after the storm passed.
By 7 p.m., the eye of the storm, which has already killed up to 2,000 people in Haiti and 31 in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, was 90 miles east-southeast of Vero Beach, Florida, at latitude 27.1 north and longitude 79.1 west.
Jeanne picked up speed and was traveling west at 14 mph.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (news - web sites) said the storm, now a strong Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, could strengthen further over warm water between the Bahamas and the southeastern United States.
State officials said computer models showed 4.7 million of the state's 17 million people were in harm's way, and estimated that 1.2 million buildings could be damaged, leaving around 142,000 families without homes.
Florida Power and Light Co. said 12,000 of its customers were without electricity. The utility appealed nationwide for more linemen and tree-cutters to supplement the crews still repairing damage from the last hurricanes.
"Our resources are clearly stretched," FPL President Armando Olivera said. "In all candor we must tell our customers that they must be prepared for extended outages, perhaps three weeks or more."
When Jeanne comes ashore, it will mark the first time since records began in 1851 that Florida has been walloped by four hurricanes in a single season. The season lasts from June to the end of November.
In the Bahamas, residents of Grand Bahama and Great Abaco islands, both still recovering from the ravages of Frances, packed into shelters.
On Great Abaco, Jeanne felled trees and power lines, destroyed one house and tore the roofs off several others. Rising water submerged roads and flooded two shantytowns full of Haitian immigrants, many of them illegal aliens who resisted moving to government shelters.
Torrential rains lashed Grand Bahama Island. The center of the storm was expected to pass north of Freeport, where most of the island's 50,000 residents live.
"The warm waters of the Bahamas are fueling the storm," meteorologist Basil Dean said. "Grand Bahama will be under the gun for several hours."
In Florida, Hurricane Charley kicked off the season of misery when it slammed ashore on the southwest Gulf Coast on Aug. 13. It killed 33 people and caused $7.4 billion in insured damages.
Frances hit the Atlantic coast on Sept. 5, killing 30 and causing $4.4 billion in damages.
Ivan ripped into the Gulf Coast between Florida and Alabama with 130 mph winds on Sept. 16, killing at least 45 people across the United States and causing up to $6 billion in damages.
(Additional reporting by Frances Kerry, Jane Sutton and Michael Christie in Miami, Michael Peltier in Tallahassee and John Marquis in Nassau, Bahamas)
FORT PIERCE (Reuters) - Hurricane Jeanne pelted Florida with blinding rain and fierce winds on Saturday as it took aim at a coastal region still scarred from Hurricane Frances three weeks ago.
Reuters Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Hurricanes & Tropical Storms
Nat'l Hurricane Center Jeanne Update (AP Video)
The hurricane strengthened and grew rapidly as it strafed the northern Bahamas on its way to deliver a record fourth hurricane strike in one season to densely populated Florida.
The powerful core of the storm was expected to come ashore in the Fort Pierce area late on Saturday -- a one-two punch for a region slammed by Hurricane Frances.
Long before landfall, Jeanne's 115 mph winds picked up debris and piles of tree limbs left behind by Frances' onslaught, and snapped power lines that had only just been fixed. The storm peeled off blue tarps that covered roofs damaged by Frances and huge waves pounded the Atlantic coast.
Jeanne's winds and 8-foot storm surge earlier lashed the northern Bahamas, a 700-island chain of 300,000 people stretching from Haiti to off the Florida coast.
Up to 3 million storm-weary Floridians were told to evacuate coastal islands, mobile homes and flood-prone areas. Many on the Atlantic coast, emboldened by having survived Frances, remained at home, to the alarm of authorities who cautioned that Jeanne was a stronger storm.
But as night fell, emergency officials said it was too dangerous to head inland and many towns imposed curfews.
"This is not the time to be traveling," Gov. Jeb Bush said. "Now is the time to find a safe place and stay there."
Bush sent a letter to his brother, President Bush (news - web sites), asking for a federal disaster declaration to speed recovery aid. Nearly 3,500 National Guard troops were deployed around the strike area to respond after the storm passed.
By 7 p.m., the eye of the storm, which has already killed up to 2,000 people in Haiti and 31 in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, was 90 miles east-southeast of Vero Beach, Florida, at latitude 27.1 north and longitude 79.1 west.
Jeanne picked up speed and was traveling west at 14 mph.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (news - web sites) said the storm, now a strong Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, could strengthen further over warm water between the Bahamas and the southeastern United States.
State officials said computer models showed 4.7 million of the state's 17 million people were in harm's way, and estimated that 1.2 million buildings could be damaged, leaving around 142,000 families without homes.
Florida Power and Light Co. said 12,000 of its customers were without electricity. The utility appealed nationwide for more linemen and tree-cutters to supplement the crews still repairing damage from the last hurricanes.
"Our resources are clearly stretched," FPL President Armando Olivera said. "In all candor we must tell our customers that they must be prepared for extended outages, perhaps three weeks or more."
When Jeanne comes ashore, it will mark the first time since records began in 1851 that Florida has been walloped by four hurricanes in a single season. The season lasts from June to the end of November.
In the Bahamas, residents of Grand Bahama and Great Abaco islands, both still recovering from the ravages of Frances, packed into shelters.
On Great Abaco, Jeanne felled trees and power lines, destroyed one house and tore the roofs off several others. Rising water submerged roads and flooded two shantytowns full of Haitian immigrants, many of them illegal aliens who resisted moving to government shelters.
Torrential rains lashed Grand Bahama Island. The center of the storm was expected to pass north of Freeport, where most of the island's 50,000 residents live.
"The warm waters of the Bahamas are fueling the storm," meteorologist Basil Dean said. "Grand Bahama will be under the gun for several hours."
In Florida, Hurricane Charley kicked off the season of misery when it slammed ashore on the southwest Gulf Coast on Aug. 13. It killed 33 people and caused $7.4 billion in insured damages.
Frances hit the Atlantic coast on Sept. 5, killing 30 and causing $4.4 billion in damages.
Ivan ripped into the Gulf Coast between Florida and Alabama with 130 mph winds on Sept. 16, killing at least 45 people across the United States and causing up to $6 billion in damages.
(Additional reporting by Frances Kerry, Jane Sutton and Michael Christie in Miami, Michael Peltier in Tallahassee and John Marquis in Nassau, Bahamas)
