TALLAHASSEE -- Fear of massive flooding intensified Sunday as Hurricane Frances continued its slow westward movement, saturating the peninsula with a foot of rain in some areas.
At least 1.7-million electric customers were in the dark, with power outages reported as far north as Gainesville. About 86,000 residents were in 233 emergency shelters, and public schools in most counties will be closed Monday. Two deaths were attributed to the storm but state officials said law enforcement agencies had not yet confirmed the fatalities.
With Florida resembling a giant dish rag, the snail's pace of the storm will delay the ability of rescue teams and utility workers to begin making repairs.
Gov. Jeb Bush pleaded for patience as the storm slogged its way across the center of the state, drenching Florida at a speed of 8 miles per hour.
"Please be patient," Bush said. "This is going to be a quick response by literally thousands of people, and just remember that you and your family are more valuable than your valuables. So don't go back to your homes if you're in a shelter."
State officials said Polk and Osceola counties could get as much as 19 inches of rain, with 10-15 inches elsewhere and vast parts of the state getting eight to 12 inches of rainfall. Tampa Bay should expect a storm surge of 2 to 4 feet, officials said.
"Tampa and Pinellas County are going to get a very good tropical storm out of this," said Ben Nelson, the state's meteorologist. He said much of west-central and southwest Florida will experience close to hurricane-force winds Sunday, and the possibility of tornadoes stretched north to Georgia.
Planners were working to reinforce the message of "stay put" across radio stations in Georgia, where tens of thousands of evacuees filled dozens of hotels. State officials want roads passable so rescue teams can get to affected areas.
"There's a lot of people that have left the area that are ready to come home. It is not time," emergency management chief Craig Fugate told disaster planners. "It's not something that they want to hear."
The state is urging people who want to donate to the rescue effort to call the Red Cross' toll-free number, 1-800-HELP-NOW.
The sheer magnitude of Frances complicates the rescue effort. Different parts of the state continued to experience Frances' effects, with the Panhandle the newest worry Sunday.
Bush plans to take a C-130 military transport plane to arrange a helicopter aerial tour over the worst flooding, but a spokeswoman said his departure from Tallahassee was delayed because every major airport was closed except Miami-Dade.
Many rivers were already close to flood stage before Frances' heaviest rains dumped on the state, but Lake Okeechobee did not appear to be a problem. Nelson said a 4-to-5-foot surge on the lake's northern side "is well within what the Herbert Hoover Dike can handle."
After reaching the Tampa Bay area as a tropical storm Sunday afternoon, Frances was expected to exit into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday night and make a second landfall in the Panhandle by Monday afternoon. Meteorologist Nelson said the second landfall could take place anywhere from St. Marks west to Walton County.
"Be prepared to stay put for the time being," cautioned U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello.
The economic impact of the double whammy of Charley and Frances cannot be calculated, but Bush said he expects to convene a special session of the Legislature sometime in November to deal with the effects on agriculture, insurance market, electric grid and other parts of Florida's infrastructure.
"We'll rebound," said Bush, whose buoyant optimism will continue to be sorely tested as the damage totals climb in the coming days. "I'm very optimistic about our state's economic future."
State disaster planners adopted as their mascot "Semper Gumby," after the rubbery cartoon character used by the Marines in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
"We can't wait for the sun to shine," said Craig Fugate, the state's emergency management chief. "We will find a way."
Even as they coordinate a massive response to the second major hurricane in three weeks, state officials have another concern: Ivan, still forming in the eastern Atlantic with winds of up to 75 miles per hour. But the storm was still 2,500 miles from land.
When Nelson emphasized that Frances was still the state's top priority, Bush interjected: "Good answer."
