Fla. Warns 1 Million To Flee Hurricane

[cmotherofpirl]

7 minutes ago

By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. - Officials warned about a million residents and tourists Thursday to get out of the way of Hurricane Charley, saying parts of Tampa's downtown and nearby areas could be submerged by the massive storm surge likely when the hurricane strikes Florida's central gulf coast on Friday.

"It does have the potential of devastating impact. ... This is a scary, scary thing," Gov. Jeb Bush said.


The evacuation zone stretched along Florida's west coast from Key West to north of Tampa.


Charlie was expected to pass west of the Keys at Florida's tip early Friday before hitting the Tampa Bay area in the afternoon with winds up to 110 mph, heavy rain, sporadic tornadoes and the dangerous storm surge, said Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center (news - web sites) in Miami. With winds that high, it would be a powerful Category 3 hurricane.


Residents of the Tampa Bay area, where the eye is projected to hit, south to the Naples area were told to expect a storm surge of 10-13 feet. State meteorologist Ben Nelson said the surge could reach 16 feet in the Tampa area if Charley hits at 120 mph.


The bulk of the evacuations were in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, which include Tampa and St. Petersburg, a city that sits on a peninsula.


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 (news - web sites).


"MacDill Air Force Base will probably be mostly underwater and parts of downtown Tampa could be underwater if we have a Category 3," Nelson said. "In a Category 3, you can almost get to the point where Pinellas County becomes an island."


Heavy traffic flowed across the three Tampa Bay bridges linking Pinellas with Hillsborough and the mainland


"There will be a period of time where if you stay behind and you change your mind and you want to be rescued, no one can help you. We aren't going to go out on a suicide mission," Pinellas Emergency Management Chief Gary Vickers told people in the evacuation zone.


The hurricane bore down after Tropical Storm Bonnie blew ashore Thursday morning on the Florida Panhandle with winds estimated near 50 mph. Bonnie failed to produce any reported flooding, but the one-two punch of tropical weather was highly unusual. Storms have not struck so close together in Florida since 1906.


About 6.5 million of Florida's 17 million residents were in Charley's projected path, the U.S. Census Bureau (news - web sites) reported.


The evacuation request was Florida's biggest since 1999, when Hurricane Floyd brushed the state's east coast and prompted officials to urge a record 1.3 million to evacuate.


Many residents prepared for the worst, buying plywood to board up homes and stocking up on water, canned food and batteries to ride out the hurricane. Beth Ciombor of Sarasota was at a Home Depot loading two sheets of plywood onto the top of her minivan while her 2-year-old son watched.


"I'm on the verge of tears. It's so frightening," she said.


Charley became a Caribbean hurricane Wednesday, moving past Jamaica and over the Cayman Islands. At 8 p.m. EDT, it was over the Isle of Youth off southern Cuba on its way to Florida.


Forecasters said Charley had top sustained winds of about 105 mph, up from 90 mph earlier Thursday. It was moving north-northwest near 17 mph and was expected to strengthen, meteorologists said.


Hurricane force winds extended outward 30 miles from the eye; tropical storm force winds went out 125 miles.

A hurricane warning was issued for the Keys from the Dry Tortugas to the Seven Mile Bridge and along southwestern Florida from the southern tip of the mainland to Bayport, 52 miles north of the St. Petersburg area; a watch was issued from north of Bayport to the Suwannee River; and a tropical storm warning was issued for the middle and upper Keys and Florida Bay. A tropical storm watch was in effect on the Atlantic coast for Jupiter Inlet near West Palm Beach up north to Altamaha Sound on the central Georgia coast.

In the Keys, a steady line of traffic, marked by sport utility vehicles pulling boats on trailers, drove north along U.S. 1 on Thursday as visitors and mobile home residents followed orders to evacuate the entire 100-mile-long island chain.

Al Perkins, 55, a small business owner in Key West, placed office computers and a photocopier in garbage bags while a colleague hammered metal hurricane shutters over windows.

"If it gets over 150 miles per hour winds, I'm outta here. Anything less than that, I've already been in, so it's not a problem," he said.

Key West International Airport closed Thursday in anticipation of Charley, and St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport was closing after the last flight Thursday night. Operations at Tampa International Airport and at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport were continuing into Friday.

Amtrak suspended train service between New York City and Miami for Friday. Amtrak's Auto Train that operates between Lorton, Va. and Sanford, Fla., was also canceled Friday. Service between Boston, Washington, D.C., and Newport News, Va. was not affected.

Bonnie chugged ashore Thursday morning, bringing rain and wind up to 50 mph. But by midday, the sun was shining in Apalachicola, flags were limp and the surf was calming after a couple of hours of steady rain. By late afternoon Bonnie was downgraded to a tropical depression as it headed into Georgia.

Bonnie and Charley are the second and third named storms of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

___

Associated Press Writers David Royse in Apalachicola, Ken Thomas in Key West, Vickie Chachere in Sarasota and Adrian Sainz and John Pain in Miami contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: [url="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov"]http://www.nhc.noaa.gov[/url]

000
WTNT33 KNHC 130235
TCPAT3
BULLETIN
HURRICANE CHARLEY ADVISORY NUMBER 15
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
11 PM EDT THU AUG 12 2004

...CHARLEY BECOMING BETTER ORGANIZED AS IT APPROACHES WESTERN
CUBA...

AT 11 PM EDT...0300Z...THE HURRICANE WARNING IS EXTENDED NORTHWARD
ALONG THE FLORIDA WEST COAST TO THE MOUTH OF THE SUWANNEE RIVER. A
HURRICANE WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS FROM THE
DRY TORTUGAS TO THE SEVEN MILE BRIDGE...AND FOR THE FLORIDA WEST
COAST FROM EAST CAPE SABLE NORTHWARD TO THE MOUTH OF THE SUWANNEE
RIVER. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
PREPARATIONS SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

A HURRICANE WARNING ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING
PROVINCES OF WESTERN CUBA...PINAR DEL RIO...LA HABANA...CIUDAD DE
LA HABANA...MATANZAS...AND THE ISLE OF YOUTH.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE FLORIDA KEYS FROM
THE SEVEN MILE BRIDGE TO OCEAN REEF...AND ALONG THE SOUTH FLORIDA
MAINLAND FROM OCEAN REEF TO EAST CAPE SABLE...INCLUDING FLORIDA BAY.
AT 11 PM...0300Z...A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR LAKE
OKEECHOBEE.

AT 11 PM EDT...0300Z...THE TROPICAL STORM WATCH HAS BEEN EXTENDED
SOUTHWARD ALONG THE FLORIDA EAST COAST FROM JUPITER INLET TO OCEAN
REEF...AND NORTHWARD ALONG THE GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA COASTS TO
SOUTH SANTEE RIVER. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS NOW IN EFFECT FOR
THE SOUTHEASTERN U. S. COAST FROM OCEAN REEF NORTHWARD TO SOUTH
SANTEE RIVER SOUTH CAROLINA.

AT 11 PM EDT...0300Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE CHARLEY WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 22.2 NORTH...LONGITUDE 82.4 WEST OR BETWEEN THE ISLE
OF YOUTH AND THE CUBAN MAINLAND 55 MILES...90 KM...SOUTH OF HAVANA
CUBA.

CHARLEY IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHWEST NEAR 14 MPH...22 KM/HR.
A TURN TOWARD THE NORTH IS EXPECTED LATER TONIGHT OR FRIDAY. THIS
MOTION SHOULD BRING THE CENTER OF CHARLEY NEAR HAVANA IN THE NEXT
FEW HOURS...THEN ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO TOWARD THE
FLORIDA WEST COAST LATER FRIDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 105 MPH...165 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. THIS MAKES CHARLEY A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE
SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. SOME STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST
DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS...AND CHARLEY IS FORECAST TO BE A MAJOR
HURRICANE AS IT APPROACHES THE FLORIDA WEST COAST.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 30 MILES... 45 KM...
FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 125 MILES...205 KM.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE RESERVE
HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT IS 975 MB...28.79 INCHES.

STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 10 TO 14 FEET CAN BE EXPECTED ALONG THE
SOUTH COAST OF CUBA NEAR AND EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES
LANDFALL. IN ADDITION...STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 2 TO 4 FEET...ALONG
WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE
FLORIDA KEYS. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 10 TO 13 FEET IS ALSO
POSSIBLE NEAR AND SOUTH OF THE WHERE THE CENTER CROSSES THE FLORIDA
WEST COAST.

RAINFALL TOTALS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE LIKELY IN ASSOCIATION WITH
CHARLEY. THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS.

ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS PARTS OF THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA
PENINSULA AND THE FLORIDA KEYS TONIGHT.

REPEATING THE 11 PM EDT POSITION...22.2 N... 82.4 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD...NORTH-NORTHWEST NEAR 14 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED
WINDS...105 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 975 MB.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL
HURRICANE CENTER AT 2 AM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT
COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 5 AM EDT.

FORECASTER BEVEN

Edited August 13, 2004 by cmotherofpirl

[franciscanheart]

thast so scary. praying for all the families!!!!

[VeraMaria]

I live in Miami....we're on Tornado warning tomorrow and tropical storm warning too.

[geetarplayer]

I'm on the east coast of Florida, and we'll get the outer edge of Charlie, but I'll definately be praying for those in its direct path.

-Mark

[VeraMaria]

The funny thing is its spelled "Charley"

[geetarplayer]

Ouch Vera... LOL

-Mark

[VeraMaria]

Mark I didn't mean to correct you! lol, I didn;t notice it sounded like that

All I wanted to say is that I thought its weird its spelled "Charley" instead of "Charlie", lol, I didn't even notice it sounded like I was correcting you

wow, i need sleep

[Iacobus]

That is why I live in the Midwest. Hehe.

[geetarplayer]

It is strange, Vera, I agree! What is also strange is how they spell it two different ways in the article!

Check it out~~

[quote]TAMPA, Fla. - Officials warned about a million residents and tourists Thursday to get out of the way of Hurricane [b]Charley[/b], saying parts of Tampa's downtown and nearby areas could be submerged by the massive storm surge likely when the hurricane strikes Florida's central gulf coast on Friday.

"It does have the potential of devastating impact. ... This is a scary, scary thing," Gov. Jeb Bush said.


The evacuation zone stretched along Florida's west coast from Key West to north of Tampa.


[b]Charlie[/b] was expected to pass west of the Keys at Florida's tip early Friday before hitting the Tampa Bay area...[/quote]

Pick one spelling and stick to it, people! Be consistent!

-Mark

[Iacobus]

NHS and NOAA call it Charley.

[VeraMaria]

lol!!!

I didn't notice that.

I think it's Charley though...not sure

[Iacobus]

Charley for sure. Hehe. I live in IL. Our exciting weather systems are... the rain showers. LOL! So we watch other peoples weather often. LOL! I was even reading the warnings for FL (We know a guy in Orange County that is partly why). I am going with NHS or whatever and NOAA (seeing as they are the ones who classify the storms and make up the name list).

[geetarplayer]

They only spell it "Charlie" once in the whole article. The rest is "Charley". Perhaps we should just refer to it as Charlee from now on...

-Mark

[Paladin D]

I feel bad for Florida, living on such a large penisula isn't always that good when hurricanes come. Yet again, the Carolinas and Virginia get hit hard with hurricanes too.

[VeraMaria]

We're on tornado warning till 5 pm today. There were 23 tornadoes from the Carolinas through FL the worst being one in Jacksonville. It already passed through Key West and is heading towards Tampa.

Gotta love the weather channel.

The wind is very very strong outside...