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ORLANDO - Hurricane Frances's apparent slide to the north had emergency officials in Orlando bracing late Sunday morning for hurricane-force winds and up to 15 inches of rain.
Officials said about 30 percent of the Orlando area's half-million homes and business were without power by 11 a.m. That number is expected to surge as sustained winds reach 75 mph and gusts whip at close to 100 mph, officials said.
"There are trees down all over the county," Sheriff Kevin Beary said. "Eastern Orange County is getting hammered."
The roof on the building that houses the county's emergency operations center began to leak Sunday morning, forcing officials to put buckets on the floor of some rooms.
"I just got a drop on my head," one official said while sitting in a meeting of more than two dozen emergency managers. "Is that a sign of something?"
Officials said the building's roof was built to withstand 150-mph winds, but has had problems with leaking during heavy storms.
The night before, Orlando-area officials said it looked like Frances would spare them hurricane-force winds. But the last two forecast updates show the slow, fat storm meandering north.
The Orlando International Airport clocked sustained winds of 60 mph Sunday afternoon, with gusts of up to 70 mph.
Officials anticipate hurricane-force winds will last until mid-afternoon. Tropical-storm force winds will whip the area until about 10 p.m. and gale-force winds of up to 39 mph will last until about 7 a.m. Monday.
Heavy rains will swamp the area that whole time. Nearly three inches of rain had fallen on Orlando by noon Sunday, and that was expected to swell by at least a half-inch per hour through the day and night.
Traffic signs were reported disabled at at least 30 intersections, several of them major thoroughfares. Police hope to put up temporary stop signs. They urged motorists to halt at all four-way stops if they must go out Monday.
Fire-rescue continued to respond to 911 calls Sunday afternoon, which included two carbon-monoxide poisoning calls. An inmate from the jail also had to be taken to the hospital.
Orange County sheriff's officials reported four cases of looting to local businesses overnight. Deputies caught suspects in three of the incidents.
There were 7,351 people filling the county's 10,000 spaces in its 15 open emergency shelters. That included 253 special-needs patients, which is only about 10 percent of the county's special-needs population.
With widespread power outages expected, officials hope many of those folks left town. If they stayed home, loss of power could lead to medical emergencies. At least 130,000 residents in Orange County were without power Sunday afternoon.