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TWO MILLION WARNED OFF WEST FLORIDA COAST AS "SCARY" CHARLEY GROWS
Miami Herald ^ | 08/13/2004 | Brendan Farrington

Posted on 08/13/2004 6:56:12 AM PDT by JesseHousman

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 other 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.

Charley's center was expected to pass west of the Florida Keys early Friday before hitting the Tampa Bay area later in the day, dumping heavy rain and possibly spawning sporadic tornadoes, Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Thursday. About 6.5 million of Florida's 17 million residents were in Charley's projected path, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

"It does have the potential of devastating impact. ... This is a scary, scary thing," said Gov. Jeb Bush, who had declared a state of emergency.

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.

"In many areas, people are still leaving," Campbell said Friday.

Friday morning, the weather at the St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport was calm, said Jeff Clauss, an airport spokesman.

At 8 a.m., the hurricane was in the Florida Straits, 75 miles west of Key West.

Forecasters said Charley had top sustained winds of about 110 mph. It was moving north-northwest near 18 mph and was expected to strengthen, meteorologists said. Hurricane force winds extended outward 30 miles from the eye; tropical storm force winds went out 125 miles.

All the west coast of Florida's peninsula was under a hurricane warning, as was the lower Florida Keys. Tropical storm watches and warnings extended from the middle Keys to Cape Fear, N.C.

Most of the evacuations were in the counties of Hillsborough, which contains Tampa, and Pinellas, a peninsula that contains St. Petersburg. All residents of MacDill Air Force Base, on another peninsula in Tampa Bay, were ordered out with only essential personnel remaining. MacDill is home to U.S. Central Command, the nerve center of the war in Iraq.

"MacDill Air Force Base will probably be mostly underwater and parts of downtown Tampa could be underwater if we have a Category 3," Nelson said. "In a Category 3, you can almost get to the point where Pinellas County becomes an island."

Gary Vickers, Pinellas' emergency management chief, told people in evacuation zones there would be "a period of time where if you stay behind and you change your mind and you want to be rescued, no one can help you.

"We aren't going to go out on a suicide mission," he said.

Heavy traffic flowed Thursday afternoon away from the coast near Tampa in Florida's biggest evacuation request since 1999, when Hurricane Floyd prompted an order for a record 1.3 million people to evacuate the state's east coast.

Many residents on Florida's southwest coast tried to prepare for the worst, buying plywood to board up homes and stocking up on water, canned food and batteries to ride out Charley.

Beth Ciombor of Sarasota was at a Home Depot Thursday loading two sheets of plywood onto the top of her minivan while her 2-year-old son watched.

"It's very threatening," Ciombor said. "I'm on the verge of tears. It's so frightening."

In the Florida Keys, visitors and mobile home residents followed orders to leave the entire 100-mile-long island chain or report to shelters.

About 60 people slept at one Key West elementary school overnight, stretched out on blankets and mattresses in a hallway as a circular fan buzzed. Peter Berg, 45, from Vancouver, British Columbia, had been vacationing in Key West for a week when he and his wife were forced to leave their hostel.

"I keep telling myself it could be worse," he said.

Next to him, Audrey and Gregory Pace sat on the floor on blankets as their 4-year-old son, Stephen, watched the cartoon "Land Before Time IX" on a portable DVD player while sitting on a "Blue's Clues" sleeping bag. Gregory Pace said the family came to the shelter Thursday night because they had to leave their mobile home on nearby Stock Island.

He said their home sits beneath coconut trees, a dangerous situation with Charley approaching.

The coconuts "turn into bombs in storms," he said.

At dawn Friday, fisherman Manuel Garcia was trying to secure his boss's fishing boat, the Cowboy III, in the Stock Island marina, where heavy surf was pushing the vessel against a cement barrier.

"If the water comes up, I can do nothing," he said, smoking a thick cigar.

Power companies said they were mobilizing thousands of workers to prepare for widespread electricity outages, and out-of-state crews were being readied to rush to Florida.

On Thursday, Tropical Storm Bonnie came ashore in the Florida Panhandle, but its top sustained winds of 50 mph caused little damage. It weakened into a depression late Thursday and was no longer a threat, Cobb said.

(Associated Press writers Mitch Stacy in Tampa, David Royse in Apalachicola, Ken Thomas in Key West, Vickie Chachere in Sarasota and Rachel La Corte, Adrian Sainz and John Pain in Miami contributed to this report.)


TOPICS: Breaking News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: bush43; charley; charlie; elections; fl; florida; hurricane; hurricanecharley; hurricanecharlie; jeb; jebbush; politics; weather; westflorida
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To: Joe Brower
Take care...Charley seems to be making landfall as a Cat 3. Weather channel is saying now maybe upgraded to Cat 4. Geez...stay safe. Glad to hear you have you emer kit. SoCal is our area western Riverside Co. is under flash flood warnings all day. Storm is sitting over the mountains and the sky is very dark. Ahhhhh water. Everything is relative. Stay safe.

Red

101 posted on 08/13/2004 10:28:14 AM PDT by Conservative4Ever (I love the 1st Amendment...I can call Clinton an idiot.)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
All emergency crews have left Sanibel Island. Anyone left is on their own.

I love Sanibel. :( I hope everyone had the sense to leave.

102 posted on 08/13/2004 10:28:30 AM PDT by Snowy (Heaven is Reagan country now)
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To: JesseHousman

JMHO - you do whatever you want if it's only you that's in danger, but anybody with kids, pets, or old people, you're morally wrong to risk their lives. If things go bad, you can't dial 911 because nobody will come, it's just you versus something big, bad, and dangerous.

Most deaths, accidents and injuries caused by hurricanes were 100% preventable.


103 posted on 08/13/2004 10:31:06 AM PDT by CobaltBlue
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To: oceanview

Yikes, i didn't take this storm seriously at all. I figured where i live (45 miles east of Tampa) we'd get winds maybe up to 70 mph or so. But now with the recent shift it's headed straight for us and i'm kicking myself since about the only preperation i made was to move everything inside that wasn't nailed down. Never figured it'd go past a weak cat 3 storm or that it would aim directly at central Florida.


104 posted on 08/13/2004 10:32:02 AM PDT by Humbug (please don't read this tag yet...it's not quite ready)
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To: Humbug
I think your tag pretty much says it all....do what you can now. Stay safe. Take care. :)

Red

105 posted on 08/13/2004 10:34:21 AM PDT by Conservative4Ever (I love the 1st Amendment...I can call Clinton an idiot.)
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To: nwctwx

152MPH flight level winds, pressure down to 956mb according to TWC.


106 posted on 08/13/2004 10:35:44 AM PDT by oceanview
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To: All

107 posted on 08/13/2004 10:36:06 AM PDT by nwctwx
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To: Snowy
Last televised report I saw from Sanibel showed a few surfers bobbing up in down close to shore, waiting for those rare Gulf waves.

(*sigh*)

108 posted on 08/13/2004 10:37:04 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl ("It is high time to call what is good, good..Our people were saved and can now hope.."- Iraqi bishop)
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To: oceanview

It's strengthening quite rapidly before landfall. I would not be surprised to have surface wind sustained at 140mph+ within the inner eye wall.


109 posted on 08/13/2004 10:38:19 AM PDT by nwctwx
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl

Charley now cat. 4, winds in excess of 140 mph.


110 posted on 08/13/2004 10:39:14 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl ("It is high time to call what is good, good..Our people were saved and can now hope.."- Iraqi bishop)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Oh goodie.
111 posted on 08/13/2004 10:42:03 AM PDT by Joe Brower (The Constitution defines Conservatism.)
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To: Conservative4Ever

Thank you. And lol, you're right my tag seems to sum up my situation here pretty well.

Looking around the neighborhood, looks like everyone else is in the same situation. Living this far inland i guess we all just assumed we'd be safe enough, that the winds would die down considerably before the hurricane reaches here (as has always been the case in the past).

I wasn't scared at cat 2 but the jump up to cat 4 has got me a bit jumpy now.


112 posted on 08/13/2004 10:43:27 AM PDT by Humbug (please don't read this tag yet...it's not quite ready)
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To: Joe Brower
Stay safe, Joe.

Keeping neighbors in prayer.

113 posted on 08/13/2004 10:58:59 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl ("It is high time to call what is good, good..Our people were saved and can now hope.."- Iraqi bishop)
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To: Humbug
Do what you can now. Inner room. Get water, radio, food, flashlight...gather up kids and animals if applicable. You probably know the drill. Stay safe. Prayers to all in FL.

Red

114 posted on 08/13/2004 11:05:55 AM PDT by Conservative4Ever (I love the 1st Amendment...I can call Clinton an idiot.)
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To: LincolnLover
Ignore whatever the hell I said this morning. Up to 145?

Leave.

Now.

I'd be gone if this were New Orleans or Houston.

115 posted on 08/13/2004 11:36:35 AM PDT by LincolnLover (LSU Tigers: GEAUXING for Another National Title in 2004!)
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To: Humbug
But now with the recent shift it's headed straight for us and i'm kicking myself

While I don't think you're going to have an easy time of it, it's a hundred miles over land between Ft. Myers and Tampa. Charley will weaken considerably by then. If you have any thing loose on the house (like awnings, antennas, satellite dishes, shutters), try to get them off or secure them.

116 posted on 08/13/2004 11:57:22 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: oceanview
Definitely looks like Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda could be in the cross-hairs: the eyewall is going to rake Captiva Island as it goes by. But once it gets inland around Myakka River, it's in a fairly empty area by Florida standards before it moves into the western Tampa/Lakeland/Plant City zone.

I'm glad strawberry season is over!

117 posted on 08/13/2004 12:18:11 PM PDT by cogitator
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To: Nexus

As they say in the TV biz, "Check local listings".


118 posted on 08/13/2004 3:25:06 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Nobody But Bush | Kerry/Edwards: Re-inventing the we'll)
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To: mhking

Prayers answered for Bay area residents. Once again Tampa/St. Pete dodges a bullet. I am praying for the Punta Gorda area residents. It's been about a year since I have passed through that area--not as heavily populated as home (or Fort Myers, for that matter). Retirees, salt-of-the-earth folks...


119 posted on 08/13/2004 6:24:23 PM PDT by G-dzilla
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To: All

Well, we rode the hurricane out here in the Naples area and, although a large palm tree along with the furniture is in our pool, and flashing and overhang protection has been blown away along with trees and shrubs....it's not too bad!


120 posted on 08/14/2004 9:11:42 AM PDT by JesseHousman (Execute Mumia Abu-Jamal)
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