Three weeks to the day after Hurricane Frances raised the price
of living in paradise, storm-weary Treasure Coast residents are
bracing for a 100-mph assault from Hurricane Jeanne, a small but
ferocious storm that could cause extensive flooding and damage to
homes and businesses already shrouded in tarps.
Amid the now-familiar evacuation orders, hurricane watches and
curfew announcements Friday, residents who couldn't find essentials
before Frances stormed ashore returned to home-improvement stores,
scrambling for plywood, tarps and generators to help them endure a
reality many came to know after their first brush with a
hurricane:
Bill Ingram/Palm Beach Post
enlarge
Zoldan Szebesy (from left), Lajos Sebestyen
and Denes Nagy nail 30-pound roof paper Friday to an
International House of Pancakes restaurant in Lake Worth in
preparation for Hurricane Jeanne's arrival. Across the region,
residents and businesses rushed to protect already-battered
roofs. |
As scary as the howling winds are, the aftermath will be much
worse.
"If it comes in here, the damage is going to be severe because
everything is so weakened from the rain and wind we've already
received," said Port St. Lucie Councilman Jim Anderson. "The mental
pressure on residents is tremendous. Between the hurricanes we've
suffered and the threat of all the other ones, it's almost more than
people can handle."
Despite predictions the Category 2 hurricane could intensify
slightly and strike the Treasure Coast head-on late tonight or early
Sunday, forecasters believe Jeanne will turn to the northwest and
north as it approaches the coast.
The question for Florida residents is, will that turn take place
at sea or after coastal areas have been slammed?
Residents of the three-county region should expect "in all
likelihood, tropical-storm force winds at least, increasing to
hurricane-force winds the farther north you go" said Edward
Rappaport, National Hurricane Center deputy director.
In 1999, forecasters predicted Floyd would turn while still well
offshore, and it did, Rappaport said. This time, forecasters believe
Jeanne will turn just as it comes ashore.
"We'd like to have it happen earlier," Rappaport said. But, he
said, "If it happens earlier, it's the Carolinas and Georgia. If it
happens later, it's South Florida. We have sympathies for
everyone."
Officials are bracing for Jeanne to make landfall on the Treasure
Coast.
"Depending on where Jeanne makes landfall, Martin County will
likely be in the eye," said Steve Wolfberg, Martin County's
Emergency Operations Center director. "The damage expected from the
eye wall would be expected to be extensive, but because of the
damage already caused by Frances, the damage will be
catastrophic."
The storm sped up a little Friday, to nearly 12 mph, and
forecasters said the warm waters of the Bahamas might strengthen its
winds to a minimal-Category 3 storm's 111 mph or more.
Harsh weather conditions are expected to batter the area for 25
hours. Tropical-force winds of 40 mph are expected to arrive by 7
p.m. today, elevating to hurricane force of 74 mph by 4 a.m. Sunday.
Winds are expected to subside by 8 p.m. Sunday.
In St. Lucie County, residents of barrier islands and mobile
homes are under mandatory evacuation orders as of 7 a.m. today. No
one will be permitted on the islands after that time, and all
eastbound traffic lanes will be closed.
Martin officials said a mandatory evacuation will take effect at
8 a.m. for Hutchinson Island, Jupiter Island and all mobile
homes.
Officials strongly recommend that residents evacuate low-lying
areas prone to flooding, including old Palm City and St. Lucie
Settlement.
On Friday, Gov. Jeb Bush declared his fourth state of emergency
this year.
Like other Floridians weary of the repeated storms and threats,
Bush spoke of the disaster-riddled state with a mixture of gravity
and humor, urging South Florida residents not to succumb to
"evacuation fatigue" as they prepare to move inland.
"Sometimes it feels like this is a test of resiliency for our
state," Bush said at a 9 a.m. briefing. "Other times I feel like I'm
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day."
At 11 p.m. Friday, Jeanne was about 300 miles east of Palm Beach.
Hurricane-strength winds extended up to 70 miles from the center,
and tropical-storm force winds up to 205 miles.
Because Jeanne is smaller than Frances and moving more quickly,
it is not expected to drench the state the way its predecessor did,
but forecasters warned it could bring 5 to 10 inches of rain.
With the Treasure Coast already saturated by Frances and remnants
of Hurricane Ivan, officials warn flooding could be a serious
problem.
"The ground is like a wet sponge it's totally saturated," said
Henry Dean, executive director of the South Florida Water Management
District. "The good news is that the area's main canals are not
expected to overflow."
Huge piles of landscaping and construction debris still awaiting
pickup posed another threat for unboarded windows and roofs.
Residents with missing shingles and moldy walls made desperate
attempts to cover damaged roofs with tarps Friday, but building
officials say most temporary coverings will be gone once winds reach
40 to 60 mph.
"We hope people kept one tarp in their home to cover the roof
back up after Jeanne leaves," said Tricia Pollard, who has been
coordinating tarp giveaway programs in Port St. Lucie. "We've given
out 17,000 tarps since Frances hit, and most of those people still
haven't seen a roofer. It's going to take months before the
contractors get around to fixing all the roofs damaged."
Four shelters are opening in St. Lucie and five in Martin today,
and school officials in both counties say they're not sure whether
schools will reopen Monday.
Martin officials will impose a curfew from 8 p.m. today to 6 p.m.
Sunday.
St. Lucie's curfew will begin at 6 p.m. today and last until
further notice.
With fewer shelters available in both counties and no
special-needs shelter open in St. Lucie, officials are urging those
who fear their homes are unsafe to evacuate south or west early
today.
Hurricane forecasters also made an urgent plea for people to
update neighbors who will be celebrating Yom Kippur, Judaism's
holiest day, from sundown Friday until sundown tonight. Officials
worried that Jewish families would not be listening to broadcasts or
checking the Internet.
Although Treasure Coast residents might feel isolated in their
repeated hurricane assaults this year, forecasters say several
regions of Florida have been pounded twice by hurricanes during a
single season.
For the Treasure Coast, the last back-to-back attacks were in
1928 and 1933. In August 1928, a Category 2 storm passed through the
Martin-St. Lucie area, followed by the great Okeechobee hurricane,
which blistered West Palm Beach with 145-mph winds before roaring
toward Lake Okeechobee, where it killed as many as 3,000 people.
In 1933, a Category 3 hurricane made landfall just south of Fort
Pierce, and a second passed through Jupiter and southern Martin
County. The Category 3 storm was the last major hurricane to strike
Fort Pierce. Frances, a Category 2, wasn't considered a major
hurricane.
Try telling that to the families whose homes and lives it ripped
apart.
"After this I don't want to hear the word hurricane ever
again," said Anna Faustini of Port St. Lucie, who lost her rental
home to Frances and fears Jeanne will finish off her worldly
possessions. "I stacked all my stuff that wasn't ruined in the
driest part of the house, the garage, and covered it with a tarp,
but I don't have anywhere to move it to.
"If I can't find another house I can afford in St. Lucie County,
my daughter will miss out on her senior year at Westwood and our
lives will be destroyed," said a teary Faustini, who is living with
friends in Lake Worth. "I've called everywhere, and no one has
anything for $650 a month. It's in God's hands now."
Staff writers Pat Moore, Sarah Prohaska, Sandra Hong, Jill
Taylor and Rani Gupta and special correspondent Dara Kam contributed
to this story.
