Hurricane victims prepare as new storm approaches
Heavy rain drenched parts of Florida early today and heavy surf pounded beaches as Tropical Storm Arlene plodded toward the south-eastern US, chasing a few weather-weary residents into shelters.
On Friday, the storm drenched western Cuba and was blamed for a drowning in southern Florida.
The storm had wind blowing at a sustained 70 mph today, and the National Hurricane Centre posted a hurricane warning along 200km (125 miles) of coast from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Destin in the north-western sliver of Florida known as the Panhandle.
Meteorologists said there was a slight chance Arlene could build into a Category 1 hurricane by landfall, with its heaviest wind and rain north of the storm’s centre. The centre of the storm was expected to hit the northern Gulf Coast during the mid to late afternoon, the hurricane centre said.
“We anticipate that Arlene will probably stay at a very strong tropical storm this afternoon,” Ben Nelson, Florida’s state meteorologist, said this afternoon. ”Those warnings are up just in case.”
Bob Garcia checked into a Red Cross shelter at Gulf Shores, Alabama, with his son, Tommy.
Garcia said they live in a mobile home, and there was “no sense in taking chances” with the possibility of tornados developing as the storm ploughed ashore. He was one of only 13 people in the shelter this morning.
One death had been blamed on the storm – a Russian exchange student died after she was pulled from the rolling waves off Miami Beach yesterday.
The worst fears were in the Florida Panhandle, still reeling from Hurricane Ivan nine months ago.
Piles of debris, gutted homes and storm-damaged roofs covered by plastic blue tarps are vivid reminders of Ivan’s wrath.
Officials urged thousands of people in low-lying areas of three Panhandle counties to evacuate.
However, Florida officials said only about 200 people had sought refuge in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, two areas hit hard last year by Ivan, and no one showed up at a shelter in Walton County.
“I really believe there are a lot of folks that were looking at this and saying ’OK, it’s not a hurricane, it’s not a Hurricane Ivan and we’re probably going to be OK to stay where we are,”’ said Escambia County spokeswoman Sonya Smith.
By midmorning, about 4,000 Gulf Power customers in Escambia County were blacked out, though most service was quickly restored.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency yesterday.
At 1500 GMT, the storm was centred 85 miles south-south-east of Mobile, Alabama, and was meandering toward the north-north-west at 14 mph. Meteorologists said Arlene could bring up to 20cm (8 ins) of rain to some areas, plus a storm surge of up to 1.5m (5ft).
