Update to weather report?

From: Michelle (mishellr71_at_netscape.net)
Date: 08/13/04 

Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 18:33:12 GMT

...sorry if this is a double post - the first one never showed up.
________________________________________

 My brother & his family are near Tampa, in Oldsmar. They were evacuated to
 a high school yesterday. I sure hope they are all okay!
________________________________________

 Charley Targets Fla. With 145 Mph Winds

 By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
 Associated Press Writer
> TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Hurricane Charley strengthened to a dangerous Category
4
> storm packing 145 mph winds bearing down on Florida's west coast Friday.
>
> State officials urged almost 2 million people to evacuate, but the storm
> path moved slightly south of the heavily populated Tampa Bay region to the
> booming areas of Sarasota and Charlotte counties, meteorologist Daniel
Brown
> said.
>
> An expected massive storm surge could devastate coastal and low-lying
areas
> in the Sarasota, Port Charlotte, Tampa and St. Petersburg, where many
> streets were deserted as workers were told to stay home or head to
shelters.
>
> If it remains at its current strength, Charley would be the strongest
> hurricane since the Category 5 Andrew hit south of Miami in 1992.
>
> By noon, Charley's outer bands were already dropping rain on southwestern
> Florida, a few hours after bringing occasionally heavy wind and rain to
the
> lower Keys as the storm's center passed to the west. Only minor damage was
> immediately reported.
>
> Charley claimed at least three lives in Cuba earlier Friday in its sprint
> across the country earlier Friday, its top civil defense official said.
>
> Lt. Col. Domingo Carretero reported the casualties in a live early
afternoon
> report on state-run television, but offered no specifics except to say the
> three deaths occurred in Havana province, which rings the capital.
>
> The storm on Thursday killed a farmer in Jamaica.
> Evacuation shelters in Florida were filling to capacity Friday morning, as
> residents and tourists looked for somewhere safe to ride out the storm.
This
> potentially could be the largest evacuation in state history, officials
> said.
>
> Gov. Jeb Bush said he had sought a federal disaster declaration from
> President Bush, his brother, and urged residents to stay wherever they
were.
>
> "This is not the time to be getting on the interstate. It is time to seek
a
> safe place to be with family and friends inside of your region," the
> governor said.
>
> A shelter at Sickles High School in northwestern Tampa was full to its
> capacity of 500 at the breakfast hour. Windows had been reinforced with
> screens and tarps to prepare for the storm.
>
> "I'm scared that we're going to go home and nothing is going to be there,"
> 20-year-old Amanda Kellogg said as she played blackjack with four friends,
> their suitcases, bedding and other possessions piled beside them.
>
> The main airports in Tampa and Sarasota closed at noon, and Tampa's Busch
> Gardens and Adventure Island theme parks were closed. In the Orlando area,
> Walt Disney World closed early, while Universal Orlando and SeaWorld
Orlando
> planned to close their parks in the early afternoon.
>
> About 1,000 Florida National Guard members have been activated, and
another
> 1,000 were being called up.
>
> Earlier, the storm roared across Cuba, ripping apart roofs, downing power
> lines and yanking up huge palm trees. High wind and heavy rain battered
> Havana, home to 2.2 million people. There were no immediate reports of
> casualties or major damage, but power that had shut down for safety
reasons
> was still not restored more than eight hours later.
>
> Chunks of corrugated roof were ripped from the roof of Marlen Perez's
modest
> home.
>
> "The wind was howling and I was screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' Pieces
of
> the roof were falling everywhere," said Perez, 39. "... I thought the
walls
> were falling down."
>
> Before reaching Cuba, Charley drenched Jamaica, where one man died.
>
> The hurricane was arriving in Florida a day after Tropical Storm Bonnie
came
> ashore in the state's Panhandle and quickly moved north. Three people,
> including a child, were killed and 29 injured Friday when a tornado hit a
> North Carolina trailer park.
>
> About 6.5 million of Florida's 17 million residents were in Charley's
> projected path, including about 700,000 elderly people, officials said.
>
> At 1 p.m. Friday, the storm was 70 miles south-southwest of Fort Myers,
> moving north-northeast at about 20 mph. It was expected to make landfall
> between 4 and 7 p.m., meteorologists said. Hurricane force wind extended
> outward 30 miles from the eye; tropical storm force wind went out 105
miles.
> Gusts were measured at 58 mph in the lower Keys.
>
> 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 Oregon Inlet, N.C.
>
> About 1.9 million people from the Florida Keys north through the west
coast
> were advised to evacuate, although only 1.1 million to 1.5 million were
> expected to do so before the storm hit, said Kristy Campbell, spokeswoman
at
> the state emergency management center.
>
> After Florida, Charley was expected to head north along Georgia's coast,
> arriving in South Carolina around midday Saturday.
>
> Campers were asked Friday to leave Georgia's Cumberland Island, and South
> Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford called Friday for a voluntary evacuation of
> low-lying areas along his state's southern coast.
>
> The hurricane's predicted track could take the storm into lush fields of
> corn, cotton and soybeans, as well as large cattle, poultry and hog farms
> from Florida into Virginia. Vegetable, greenhouse and citrus growers in
> Florida faced the first impact.
>
> Florida's evacuation request was its biggest since 1999, when Hurricane
> Floyd prompted an order for a record 1.3 million people to evacuate the
> state's east coast. Charley's evacuation could break that record, said
Craig
> Fugate, the state's emergency management director.
>
> Most 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.
>
> ---
>
> On the Net:
>
> National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
>
> © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
> published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
> >

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