No Known Precedent: Florida Hunkers Down for Twin Tropical Storms

From: Psalm 110 (SwiftSword_at_Truth.org)
Date: 08/12/04 

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 05:23:15 GMT

"... In 150 years of reliable storm data, Nelson said, there was no
known precedent for two hurricanes striking Florida in such rapid
succession. ..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-storms12aug12,1,89996.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Florida Hunkers Down for Twin Tropical Storms

By John-Thor Dahlburg and Rennie Sloan, Times Staff Writers

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- As rare back-to-back tropical storms -- one a
hurricane, the other likely to become one -- churned Wednesday toward
Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush declared a statewide emergency and mobilized
the National Guard. Tourists were told to evacuate the low-lying
Florida Keys.

"Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day, to say the least," said
Ben Nelson, state meteorologist for the Florida Division of Emergency
Management. In 150 years of reliable storm data, Nelson said, there
was no known precedent for two hurricanes striking Florida in such
rapid succession.

The smaller storm, Bonnie, was forecast to make landfall in the
already rain-soaked Panhandle of northern Florida Thursday morning.

Charley became a hurricane Wednesday and is still growing in strength.
It was expected to hit or pass near the Lower Keys on Thursday.
Charley was forecast to pack winds of 85-105 mph and crash ashore
early Friday on the Gulf Coast somewhere between Sarasota and Fort
Myers.

"Right now, we're the bull's-eye on the target," said Gordon "Booch"
DeMarchi, a spokesman for Lee County government in Fort Myers, home to
500,000 people. Throughout the day, Lee County officials met in a
windowless bunker well inland to discuss how to deal with what would
be the area's first hurricane in 44 years.

"Most of our citizens probably underestimate a hurricane," said
DeMarchi. "They have never lived through one."

In the Keys, a 100-mile-long archipelago popular with anglers, divers
and tourists, emergency officials told visitors from the Dry Tortugas
to Ocean Reef to get out, and cars streamed northward throughout the
day on the solitary road leading to the mainland.

"Most of the tourists have left town, so this evening there won't be
any business, and tomorrow there won't be any," said Eric Adams,
manager of a Key West company that organizes a "pub crawl" of some of
the island's most celebrated saloons.

For some locals on the famously laid-back island, there was no good
reason -- yet -- to panic.

"We're not taking it too serious right now, we're sort of seeing
what's going to happen in the next 24 hours," said Kurt Pasqualle,
manager of The Lazy Gecko, a Key West eatery specializing in frozen
daiquiris and deli sandwiches. "We've had a couple of storms come up
this way before, and they usually hit Cuba and dismantle."

According to National Hurricane Center forecasters, Charley, moving at
17 mph and measuring about 200 miles in diameter, was expected to make
landfall in Jamaica late Wednesday and could traverse Cuba early
Thursday on its projected path to Florida's western coast.

Bonnie is chugging northeastward in the Gulf of Mexico at about 12
mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, and could reach
official hurricane strength -- meaning sustained winds of at least 74
mph -- later Wednesday or early Thursday, forecasters said.

Bonnie was forecast to make landfall somewhere between Panama City and
Apalachicola late Thursday morning, and could soak the Panhandle with
another 4-6 inches of rain.

"That part of the world tends to be flat as a pancake," said Frank
Lepore, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

So much precipitation, he said, could trigger localized flooding, and
state officials said some low-lying areas along Florida's northwest
coast might have to be evacuated.

The two storm systems also could cause wind and water damage far
inland. Charley was expected to remain at hurricane force as it
crosses the Florida peninsula Friday, dumping three to six inches of
rain in its path, and emerges into the Atlantic, somewhere south of
St. Augustine if the latest predictions are accurate.

In an executive order signed Wednesday morning, Bush said the twin
tropical storms threatened the state with "a major disaster," and
declared a state of emergency, which empowers state officials to order
evacuations. The governor also ordered the mobilization of the Florida
National Guard "for the duration of the emergency."

In the Keys, public schools were closed for the rest of the week. In
some of the Panhandle, schools and government offices were not to
reopen until Bonnie had passed. In Collier County, south of Fort
Myers, officials advised residents and tourists in coastal areas to
seek higher ground.

>From the Keys to the Gulf Coast, Floridians were laying in supplies,
boarding up windows, and making other hurricane preparations.

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