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In Panhandle, a reversal: Evacuees fleeing into Florida

By CANDACE RONDEAUX, JUSTIN GEORGE and BRADY DENNIS
Published August 28, 2005

PENSACOLA - A hurricane churning toward the United States has come to mean lines of cars headed out of Florida.

But on Sunday Katrina did what Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and Dennis did not: It sent people fleeing into the Sunshine State.

Eastbound traffic on Interstate 10 was backed up for more than 100 miles along Florida's northwest corridor as Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast.

By late afternoon, service stations along I-10 near Pensacola ran out of gas as eastbound drivers swarmed the pumps. A state Department of Transportation counter near the Florida-Alabama border registered more than twice the average number of cars headed east.

"I hope we're okay out here," said Yajaira Masslow, who fled Biloxi, Miss., before dawn Sunday with her husband and 15-month-old son. They grabbed one of the last rooms available at a Comfort Inn. "I thought it was far enough, but we won't know until tomorrow."

In the storm-weary Panhandle, battered by two hurricanes and a tropical storm in a year, residents worried aloud about their neighbors to the west.

But they still had their own worries.

Even as Hurricane Katrina plowed toward Louisiana, forecasters warned that the Panhandle still could be battered by wind gusts up to 55 mph, heavy rains and storm surge of 6 to 8 feet.

State Meteorologist Ben Nelson said he expects a storm surge of about 8 feet from Pensacola to Destin, about 5 to 8 feet from Destin around the Big Bend to Cedar Key and minor coastal flooding from Cedar Key South to Lee County, especially at high tide.

Already Sunday, the Category 5 storm pushed several inches of water onto coastal roads and near homes, and officials urged residents of some barrier islands to evacuate to higher ground.

City officials planned to shut off water and sewer service to Pensacola Beach by 8 p.m., and only residents were allowed to cross the bridge into the community. Police patrolled the streets throughout the afternoon, urging people to leave.

"These hurricanes are starting to make me old quick," said Lewis Irby, a manager at Flounders Chowder House on Pensacola Beach, as workers there filled hundreds of sandbags Sunday.

Escambia County officials prepared for an influx of refugees.

All 10 of the county's shelters will remain open and plans were underway to open extra shelters to accommodate the hundreds of people streaming into Pensacola off I-10.

Many, like 37-year-old Kelly Nelson, were ill-prepared for the long journey east. She left New Orleans with her husband, Lawrence, and three young children Sunday morning. She said she was caught completely off guard by Katrina.

Her family lives in a house in New Orleans' West Bank neighborhood, a few hundred feet from the Mississippi River. She said had contemplated moving to Florida, but Katrina might make that decision for her.

"We might be moving a little sooner because there might not be anything to come back to in New Orleans," Nelson said.

Should Katrina damage the Panhandle, it would mark the storm's second brush with the state. It made landfall as a Category 1 storm with 80-mph winds, becoming the sixth hurricane to hit Florida in just over a year.

Katrina was blamed for nine deaths in South Florida, including a Davie couple who died from carbon monoxide poisoning after leaving a generator on in their garage. It left miles of streets and homes flooded and knocked out power to about 1.45-million customers. About 500,000 customers in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe Counties remained without power Sunday.

Gov. Jeb Bush said Sunday that fuel shortages in certain areas probably would continue because Katrina has forced oil rigs and refineries along the Gulf of Mexico to close. He urged people not to horde gas.

"This is a time for neighbor to help neighbor and recognize if we work together to conserve, we can get through these challenges," he said.

Bush said he contacted governors in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi to offer aid: "Florida has a lot of practice in this."

Back at Flounders Chowder House along the oceanfront, outdoor speakers played "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere," a country song by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett.

The lyrics mixed with the wind, which already had begun to gust.

Pour me something tall and strong

Make it a hurricane before I go insane.

Times staff writer Lucy Morgan contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press.

[Last modified August 28, 2005, 21:57:02]