PUNTA GORDA - As Hurricane Charley careened off its predicted course and bore down on Charlotte Harbor today, downtown Punta Gorda emptied.
The low-lying streets of the city's downtown were empty. Stores were closed. The Post Office was sealed tight and guests grumbled as innkeepers ordered a harbor-front Holiday Inn evaquated.
Even the emergency operations center had to relocate away from the storm to the Charlotte County Airport.
At noon, the only store downtown to remain open was the G and G Cut Rate Liquores. Storekeeper Pam Miller waited with a smile, selling what she called "hurricane supplies."
Big sellers were vodka and Captain Morgan rum, she said.
Customer Jerome Thomas dropped by for a bottle of Scotch.
"I've got my Budweiser on ice. I'm ready," Thomas said. "My house is boarded up. I'll ride it out."
At 12:30 p.m., Miller locked up and headed home. A sign on the store's front door warned, "Looters and Fools: Beware."
Down the street, the Artistic Gourmet was closed, sandbags stacked against the front door, plastic taped over the windows. On the front stoop, the morning's Charlotte Sun newspaper lay in a clear plastic bag, unopened.
The headline read: "Charley Bears Down."
Power update
Although Hurricane Charley is expected to make landfall further south than originally projected, Tampa Bay area electric utilities are still expecting widespread and possibly protracted power outages.
Progress Energy Inc. of St. Petersburg said it has shut off power to evacuated Pinellas County beach towns from St. Pete Beach to Clearwater Beach. The utility also shut off a second power plant in the county as a precautionary measure. But because of the shift in the projected path of Charley, Progress is mulling bringing both that plant and another shut off Thursday back on line later Friday.
Meanwhile, Tampa Electric Co. turned off power Friday to a few buildings in downtown Tampa, including the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the Ashley Street Plaza and the Ashley Drive building that houses the Tampa bureau of the St. Petersburg Times. The company said those buildings contained electric installations that could be threatened by high water.
Water outage in Hillsborough
Water was cut off today to about 200,000 people in Hillsborough County, the result of a sudden surge in water consumption in southern Hillsborough.
"We're showing a huge loss of water and we just don't bel9ieve there's that much water being used," said Rhonda Walker, general manager of the Hillsborough County Water Department.
Meanwhile, more than 6,000 people are staying in Hillsborough County emergency shelters, officials said. Four shelters are at capacity: Sickles High School in Tampa, Shields Middle School in Tampa, Tomlin Middle School in Plant City and Middleton High School in Tampa.
Curfew for Pinellas
In response to Hurricane Charley, Pinellas County officials ordered a curfew Friday that will last the next five days.
Commissioners unanimously passed an emergency order Friday to keep people off the streets from "dusk until dawn," said Sgt. Tim Goodman, a spokesman for the Pinellas County Sheriff.
The order covers "all or any portion of the county", prohibiting persons from being on public streets, highways, parks or other public places from Friday through Aug. 18.
Goodman said the curfew could be lifted at any time, if authorities sense the danger subsiding.
"We are not going to be out there arresting people," Goodman said. "We want people to use common sense. It's going to be dark, with no power. We want to keep people off the streets."
Goodman was not sure if the order for a curfew had ever been invoked in Pinellas, but County Administrator Steve Spratt said it is commonly used in disaster areas.
