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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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 Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:50 pm More Than a Million Told to Evacuate |
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| Quote: | By CORALIE CARLSON, AP
PENSACOLA, Fla. (July 9) - Hurricane Dennis dealt a glancing blow to the Florida Keys on Saturday, knocking out power and leaving streets flooded with seaweed as it roared toward the storm-weary Gulf Coast, where nearly 1.4 million people were under evacuation orders.
The hurricane, blamed for at least 20 deaths in Haiti and Cuba, carried a threat of more than a half-foot of rain plus waves and storm surge that could be more than a story high when it makes landfall Sunday somewhere along the coast of the Florida Panhandle, Alabama or Mississippi.
Many Gulf residents were still patching up roofs on their homes or living in government trailers because of damage caused by Hurricane Ivan just 10 months ago. For them, Dennis meant another tense weekend of long lines for gas and searching for generators and plywood.
"I'm tired of all this packing up," said Melba Turner, 70, of Fort Walton Beach. "We look like the Beverly Hillbillies when we get all packed up and leave. I'd rather stay. We're getting too old for all this fussing."
Dennis had grown to a Category 4 storm with 150 mph sustained wind early Friday, but it weakened when it crossed Cuba. It regained strength Saturday, and by afternoon it was back up to Category 2 with top sustained wind of 100 mph. National Hurricane Center forecasters said Dennis could strengthen into a Category 3 by landfall.
Cuban state radio said hundreds of homes around Cuba's southeastern coast had been destroyed or heavily damaged, and civil defense officials said more than 1.5 million people had fled their homes.
Dennis largely spared the Florida Keys as the eye passed west of the islands, but more than 211,000 homes and businesses lost power Saturday across the southern tip of Florida, including the entire city of Key West.
Branches, street signs and other debris littered Key West's streets, waves washed sand and coral onto a main road and parts of the tourist drag of Duval Street were under about a foot and a half of water. No injuries were reported.
"We're holding up," Key West Mayor Jimmy Weekley said.
Several tornadoes in the Tampa Bay area caused minor damage such as downed trees, and more twisters were likely in parts of the Gulf of Mexico coast Sunday.
In Alabama, about 500,000 people were under evacuation orders, as were 700,000 in Florida and 190,000 in Mississippi. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley urged residents to evacuate if they were told to do so.
Traffic doubled on some Mississippi highways as people fled inland from the coasts of Florida, Alabama and Louisiana. Alabama officials turned Interstate 65 into a one-way route north from the coast to Montgomery.
However, confident that the hurricane would make landfall farther east, officials in New Orleans told nearly half a million residents they could stay home. A voluntary evacuation was lifted for suburban Jefferson Parish, including the barrier island town of Grand Isle.
"We want you to be somewhat comfortable, but not totally relaxed," New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Saturday.
At 3 p.m. EDT, Dennis' eye was about 295 miles south of Apalachicola in the Panhandle and about 425 miles southeast of Pascagoula, Miss. It was moving northwest at about 14 mph after missing Key West by about 125 miles, forecasters said.
Despite the storm's threat, many people refused to be scared away.
"I always stay," nightclub worker Clifton Pugh said in Gulf Shores, Ala. "I've never evacuated. We don't have any place to go. We'll have a couple of decks of cards and some candles and flashlights."
The 2005 hurricane season has already seen four named storms -- the first time that's happened so early. Details
"This is home. This is what we go through," Danielle Kelson said as she filled up gas cans in Pensacola.
Some neighborhoods in Mobile, Ala., had the appearance of a typical Saturday as people mowed lawns, jogged, and shopped.
"God's going to take care of me," Dorothy McGee of Prichard, Ala., said as she shopped for groceries. And besides, she said, "I have nowhere to go."
Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Pensacola, David Royse in Fort Walton Beach, Brent Kallestad in Tallahassee, Garry Mitchell in Gulf Shores, Ala., Brett Martel in New Orleans and Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.
07/09/05 15:51 EDT
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.
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Last edited by Theresa on Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:18 am; edited 1 time in total
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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madlilnerd
Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5885
Location: Slough, England
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| Sun Jul 10, 2005 1:20 pm |
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I really don't get it... why do old people go to Florida when it's always being battered by storms and it's full of sharks, alligators, crocodiles... etc etc? Old people in England run out the clock in Eastbourne, where the biggest threat is mild rain.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Sun Jul 10, 2005 4:07 pm |
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The wildlife isn't really that much of a threat to the elderly, 
I was watching CNN earlier, watched a Ramada sign, HUGE sign, blow around like it was nothing. This is a massive storm.
-------signature-------
Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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madlilnerd
Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5885
Location: Slough, England
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| Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:26 pm |
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Hmm, what can you actually do to make your house hurrancane proof? Apart from having real deep foundations?
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:07 pm |
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You can't make it proof, you can just lessen the damage it will have. Make it a bit round so that the wind don't smack into it, rather goes around it. Keep it low to the ground, stuff like that.
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Cathexis
The Angel of Avalon
Joined: 26 Dec 2001
Posts: 5901
Location: ~~ Where Dreams Have No End�
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| Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:33 pm |
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This is so weird to me cuz I just got back from Florida like a week and a half ago....strange how things work out. Got out of there just in time!
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Sarah Connor
Rear Admiral
Joined: 10 Jul 2003
Posts: 3644
Location: Kentucky
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| Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:36 am |
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Yea, Dennis is stalling over Kentucky/Indiana/Illionois and all that, so we will get atleast a foot xX
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Cathexis
The Angel of Avalon
Joined: 26 Dec 2001
Posts: 5901
Location: ~~ Where Dreams Have No End�
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| Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:30 am |
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Even better, flood Illinois and kill family and friends of mine...I think I jinxed myself with that last post *worried*
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