Re: Update to weather report?

From: K. Carp (kathycarp_at_comcastexcess.net)
Date: 08/13/04 

Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 12:23:08 -0700

Yikes. This is sounding very bad. We have friends on Sanibel, and I am
wondering about them. They have always bragged to us that the hurricanes
always miss Sanibel. :-(

Kathy

"Michelle" <mishellr71@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:IP7Tc.670$SC1.480@nwrddc03.gnilink.net...
> ...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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