BAY AREA PREPARES: Schools close and long lines form for gas and plywood.
By CARRIE JOHNSON and JAMIE THOMPSON
Published September 11, 2004
[Times photo: Carrie Pratt]
Richard Cawvey of Clearwater waits in line at Lowe's at the Clearwater Mall on Friday afternoon. He had been waiting in line since 5:30 a.m. Cawney was picking up plywood for his sister-in-law's house and planned to help the women in line behind him get their plywood home.
GETTING OUT: Some residents plan to leave state; Keys evacuate in steady stream.
As tens of thousands of residents evacuated the Florida Keys on Friday, Tampa Bay and the rest of the state began preparing for Hurricane Ivan, draining gas stations, stripping grocery store shelves and waiting in long lines for plywood and generators.
Gov. Jeb Bush declared another state of emergency in anticipation of a storm that has killed 37 people.
It was another day of anxiety, uncertainty and fear as Florida braced for the possibility of being hit by three hurricanes in a single season for the first time since 1964.
"This is the time to begin to prepare if you are in the Tampa Bay area," said Bush. "Not to act on your preparations, but to prepare."
Schools in Citrus, Hillsborough and Hernando counties canceled classes for Monday, while Pinellas and Pasco are considering the same.
Ivan, which remained a Category 4 storm on Friday, could make landfall as early as Tuesday along Florida's west coast. But its path could change dramatically between now and then, and probably won't be known until hours before landfall, say National Hurricane Center forecasters.
Word about possible evacuations in Tampa Bay could come as early as today or over the weekend, depending on the storm's projected path.
But some residents weren't waiting. Thousands drained gas pumps as false rumors of rationing rippled across the state.
High anxiety over the storm had scores of residents planning to leave the state.
"I want to get as far away as possible," said Joseph Pineda of St. Petersburg, who has endured two hurricanes and six days without power.
Late Friday, Ivan's maximum sustained winds were at 155 mph, down from 160 mph a day earlier.
At 11 p.m., Ivan was about 35 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, and heading west-northwest at 10 mph. Officials urged a half million people to evacuate the island, about 600 miles south of Key West.
The hurricane center said Ivan could hit the Keys late Monday as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 131 to 155 mph, though some computers put the storm on a more westerly track.
Financial relief
Florida is still reeling from Charley, which hit Aug. 13, and Frances, which hit Sunday. The storms have killed at least 43 in Florida and caused an estimated $9-billion to $11-billion in insured damages.
President Bush is expected to ask Congress as early as Monday for at least another $3-billion to help cover the cost of Florida's recovery, aides told the Associated Press Friday.
But unlike his Sept. 4 request for $2-billion, which cleared Congress the next day, Bush's new proposal might be slowed by campaign-season politics as lawmakers consider adding money for their own states.
"There's been some history of succumbing to that temptation," Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said Friday.
The unidentified aides said the latest package would be primarily for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps individuals and state and local governments cope with disasters.
The package also might include money for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration because of damage to Cape Canaveral and the Agriculture Department and other federal agencies.
In another form of financial relief, Gov. Bush said this week that donations total more than $6-million for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund to help those who don't qualify for aid with state and federal agencies.
Donations to the fund, formerly the Hurricane Charley Relief Fund but renamed after Frances, have poured in from 34 states, Canada, Belgium, Taiwan and Singapore.
Time to go
In the Keys, a steady stream of traffic began leaving the 100-mile long island chain at dawn on Friday, traveling the mostly two-lane road to the mainland.
"We've all been through this trilogy. It's no fun, but you do what you've got to do," said Jane Fry, who loaded supplies into her car in a Walgreens parking lot, en route to stay with friends in Lakeland.
National Guardsmen from North Carolina used a C-130 transport plan to fly 14 patients from three Monroe County hospitals Friday to a facility in Gadsden, Ala. More seriously ill patients were expected to be airlifted via helicopters to Miami facilities, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
In the Tampa Bay area, residents prepared to get out of Ivan's way.
Pineda of St. Petersburg is one of countless Tampa Bay residents who say they've had enough.
If Hurricane Ivan is still headed toward the west coast of Florida on Sunday afternoon, he and his family are driving to Atlanta and hopping a plane to an uncle's house in Sacramento, Calif.
"I'm going," said Pineda, 25. "I'm going for sure. Our house might get demolished, but at least I won't have to be here."
Pineda said he had planned to drive to a relative's house in Augusta, Ga. But after watching Hurricane Frances rip all the way up the east coast, he's not taking any chances.
Because of people like him, local travel agents were busy on Friday.
"I've had people book flights to Los Angeles, Philadelphia," said Jay Getman, the owner of 66th Street Travel in St. Petersburg. "This is usually our slow season but we've had a lot of calls."
Sherri Hummel, manager of Carollwood Travel World, said her phone started ringing early Friday and never stopped.
"If you look at flight availability, it looks like Christmastime," she said. "Everyone is leaving the area."
As available flights become scarce, ticket prices climb higher, Hummel said. For example, to fly from Tampa to Hartford, Conn., on Sunday will cost $800. That same flight on Monday costs $400, she said.
Robert Kitzman, who lives in Feather Sound, is wrestling with whether to evacuate Friday afternoon.
"We don't know where to go," Kitzman said as he filled his car with gas at the Rally station on Ulmerton Road. "We could go to Georgia but that might not be far enough. Maybe by Sunday the Keys will be safe again."
State officials are cautioning those who evacuate against driving too far. Residents should stay with friends on higher ground, in a hotel room or a shelter, in that order, state officials say.
Concerned about the lack of shelter space and hotel rooms, Gov. Bush said Friday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working on opening a "super shelter" to house about 8,000 people, possibly in the Orange County Convention Center.
It would be staffed by FEMA and buses would be provided to transport people there.
"That, depending on what happens with Ivan, could be a huge godsend for us," Bush said. It can withstand Category 4 force hurricane winds, Bush said.
Many continued the trek to hotels in north Florida and beyond.
Ishmael Andrews, front desk clerk at the Days Inn Historic District in Pensacola, has greeted many weary travelers with slumped shoulders and bloodshot eyes - victims of the Charley and Frances evacuations.
On Friday, he met the first of a new batch, from Ocala and Miami, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
"We had some people check in to say they're staying until the storm gets closer and then they're leaving," Andrews said. "If the storm comes this way, they say they're going to New Orleans or somewhere."
Hotels are booking up.
"I still have some rooms available, but they're going fast." said Gary Wallace, general manager at the Holiday Inn Jacksonville Airport. The 489-room hotel has not filled up, but it's unlikely the 100 available rooms will last through the weekend.
The hotel has received calls from "just anybody who's in the eye of the storm," Wallace said.
Even residents of Key West, notoriously flippant about approaching storms, appeared to take the threat of Ivan seriously. Some areas resembled ghost towns by nightfall. But residents left messages scrawled on boarded up homes and businesses:
"Ivan, I ran. Now beat it!" one store read.
"Third not the charm," said boards covering another shop.
At the Kennedy Studios Gallery, someone had crossed off and painted over a past storm on boards that read "Goodbye Charley" to update the message for Ivan.
Times staff writers Joni James, Jade Jackson Lloyd and Alisa Ulferts contributed to this report, which also contains information from the Associated Press.
Projected path
