COCOA, Florida (4 Sep 2004) -- Storm-weary Floridians emerged from east coast hurricane shelters on Sunday as weakened Tropical Storm Frances moved to the state's west coast after whipping off roofs, washing sailboats ashore and cutting power to 4 million people. Frances virtually shut down the fourth-largest U.S. state, home to 16 million people, for two days and promised damage not only to buildings but to the state's economy on the usually busy Labor Day weekend, normally an end-of-summer bonanza for Florida's $53 billion tourism industry. The state's largest population center and big Latin American business hub, Miami, escaped the worst of the storm but the impact on Orlando, the main tourist playground, was uncertain as massive Frances lumbered across central Florida. The $9.1 citrus industry, badly damaged by Hurricane Charley three weeks ago, was likely to take another hard blow as the storm moved across the state's best growing regions. Forecasters downgraded the large and slow-moving storm, from which 2.5 million people had been urged to flee, from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Sunday afternoon as it edged toward Tampa on the west coast and residents of eastern towns emerged from their hurricane cocoons to survey the damage. In St. Lucie County, where the eye of the storm came ashore, National Guard troops patrolled to deter looters and enforce a 24-hour curfew. Police and fire crews moved out into streets where Frances ripped off roofs, peeled away aluminum siding, tore boats from moorings, felled trees and shattered street signs and traffic signals. In Fort Pierce, sailboats washed into parking lots. "There's damage but not total destruction," said county emergency management spokeswoman Linette Trabulsy. "Parts of roofs are gone. Trees are down, big trees that you wouldn't expect to be snapped in half." "It could have been a lot worse." A sinkhole opened up on Interstate 95, the region's main traffic artery, in Palm Beach County. Frances was weakening, with top sustained winds of 70 mph, down from 105 mph on Saturday. But because it was lingering so long it increased the risk of flooding and was a test of endurance for millions of Floridians. State emergency managers said there were no confirmed reports of storm-related deaths. Television reported one person in a shelter died of a heart attack as Frances howled ashore. | | A LONG SHUTDOWN At 5 p.m. EDT, the center of the storm was about 20 miles east of Tampa, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (news - web sites) reported. It was moving west-northwest at 10 mph and was expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico by late on Sunday or early on Monday. A weakened Frances was expected to hit the Florida Panhandle on Monday. The hurricane hit hardest along a 150-mile stretch of Florida's east coast from ritzy Palm Beach, a longtime high-society winter resort, to Titusville and the Space Coast, home to NASA (news - web sites)'s space shuttle fleet. Much of the state remained shut down Sunday. Many airports were closed and big shopping malls and Disney World theme parks were shut. The only relief for hoteliers on the holiday weekend was the influx of tens of thousands of storm evacuees. Business activity ground to a halt on one of the four long weekends retailers count on for big sales. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closed 59 stores by Friday. Lowe's Cos., the home improvement chain, had 44 stores closed on Sunday. But flights resumed at Miami International Airport, the 20th busiest airport in the world, and some restaurants in Miami Beach opened. Disney expected to reopen on Monday. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said up to 1.9 million customers were without power. Power companies say a customer averages out at two people, meaning nearly 4 million people, or a quarter of the state's population, had no electricity. More than 85,000 people were housed in shelters, some of them made homeless three weeks ago when Hurricane Charley punched into southwest Florida. Charley killed more than 20 people, damaged tens of thousands of buildings and shredded mobile homes, causing $7.4 billion in insured losses. Federal Emergency Management Agency (news - web sites) director Michael Brown said federal authorities were prepared for a huge relief effort. "We're moving right behind Frances," he said. Frances could cause between $2 billion and $10 billion in insured losses, industry group Risk Management Solutions said. Frances formed 10 days ago and in a slow march through the Bahamas it killed at least one person, blew off roofs, downed trees and power lines and caused widespread flooding in the 700-island archipelago, home to 300,000 people. SOURCE - Reuters |
