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Clearing out, settling in and waiting
Times staff writers © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 Bath, maintenance supervisor director, spent the night helping residents of the 12-floor building evacuate. Most of the 500 people who live in the complex towering over the beach thought they had to evacuate by 6 a.m. instead of sometime after 6 a.m. That meant people were leaving at 5 a.m., 4 a.m. and even 3 a.m. It also meant Bath spent a sleepless night answering questions, carrying belongings to cars and easing their fears. "They were leaving at all hours of the night," Bath said. "I encouraged them to leave. I didn't get much sleep, but it's okay. The earlier they leave the better." * * *CLEARWATER -- The Sullivan family is spending its first year on Island Estates. But family members still knew what to do when they heard about Hurricane Georges. Chris and Jeanne Sullivan moved here with their three children from Boston, where they also lived on the water and were threatened by storms. "We've been through hurricanes before," Chris Sullivan said. "It's a mandatory evacuation and we have little kids so we decided to leave." But leaving your home is an ordeal when you have three children, ages 8 to 12, and a 150-pound dog named Missy. The family spent Friday afternoon packing up their car and sport-utility vehicle full of games, favorite foods, clothes and knickknacks. The Sullivans were headed to a friend's house in Clearwater -- just about the only place they could find that would allow them to bring Missy. * * *CLEARWATER -- Like thousands of other people in the county, Marie Costanzo had to evacuate her mobile home. But unlike most people, Costanzo ended up in yet another evacuation site. Costanzo and her husband, Gary, moved to the top floor of a two-story motel on S Gulfview Boulevard in Clearwater Beach, owned by a friend of theirs. Yes, she did know the beach was also being evacuated. No, she wasn't really worried. "I think we'll be safe here," Costanzo said Friday. "I'm a little nervous, but I think everything is going to be okay." Costanzo, who moved here from New Jersey two years ago, said she is worried about her home surviving Georges more than anything else. "I know we'll be okay," she said. "I just hope my home is there when I get back." CLEARWATER -- Bonnie Harding, 92, has spent three decades living on the 10th floor of an Island Estates condominium overlooking Clearwater Beach. From the Horizon House, Harding survived Hurricane Elena in 1985 and the no-name storm in 1993. And she plans to stay there this weekend and survive Hurricane Georges, too. "I can't see any sense in leaving," Harding said. "It's a good, solid building." Harding packed her purse, jewelry and other valuables in a suitcase stored in the bathroom. She stocked up on food, candles and water. And she is ready to sleep in her bathtub. To her, it's all worth it. "I've lived here for 30 years. I feel like it's safe," Harding said. "The people who leave are scaredy-cats." * * *CLEARWATER -- Just about every business in Clearwater Beach was taped or boarded up Friday. But not the Beach Bar Lounge. More than a dozen beach residents gathered at the bar to have a few drinks before heading to their homes to face Hurricane Georges. "Everything else is closed," said Mayerd Clemons, a fisherman who planned to spend the day at the bar. "You can't even get a cup of coffee." The television on the wall was tuned to the Weather Channel, but no one was really watching. They were talking and listening to music while gazing out the huge open windows, watching the rain. "We are hurricane-proof," said Bill Guarino, the manager and bartender. "We're going to stay open until it they tell us to go or it gets really bad." * * *INDIAN SHORES -- Speaking of bars, you couldn't buy a drink at Mahuffer's on Friday. Police told the colorful owner, John Susor, he couldn't conduct business during an emergency. So Susor, 79, spent the day gearing up for the storm. "We wouldn't have done any business anyway," Susor said. "Everybody's gone from here." Instead of serving drinks, Susor battened down some bird cages at his place. Mahuffer's is the current home of more than a dozen birds, including some wounded doves from the nearby Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, he said. Susor said that despite orders to evacuate, he planned to ride out the storm at the bar, which is his home. "If anybody comes here, I'd give 'em a drink," Susor said. "But I wouldn't charge 'em." * * *CLEARWATER -- The roads were deserted. Stores were boarded up. Homes abandoned. And, perhaps strangest of all, there was no one walking on the sand. Welcome to Clearwater Beach. It's not quite the tourist destination the city touts around the world. But it was all too real Friday as the area braced for Hurricane Georges. City and police officials say most residents and tourists left the beach, Sand Key and Island Estates late Thursday night and early Friday morning, creating a steady stream of cars across the Memorial Causeway bridge. By Friday afternoon, only a few people were still packing up. "I just moved down here from up North," said resident Dennis Gould as he packed his car for his trip to his mother-in-law's house. "They said, "It's time to go,' so I'm gone." The most common sight was police cars with their sirens on and lights flashing, using bullhorns to warn residents to evacuate. Businesses boarded up, some with handwritten messages. On S Gulfview Boulevard, a board pondered what the weekend might bring: "I survived Hurrican Elaina, Andrew and No-Name Storm, My X-Wife. George?" * * *LARGO -- The children inside the Write Start Day Care Center on Seminole Boulevard haven't been asking many questions about Hurricane Georges. "We just tell them the truth: that it will get very windy and very rainy," said Nancy Brunger, the center's director. While the adults inside the center discussed their worries about the storm, the children had other things on their minds, such as cooking on the toy stove, playing with the train set and eating pizza. "We don't normally have pizza so early in the day, but this is not a normal kind of day," said teacher Jane Douglas, who moved an evacuation map from the table before serving the pizza. * * *CLEARWATER -- It's safe to say Jose Pagan was having a bad week. Pagan planned to take his wife, Laura, and his three children to Kissimmee to stay with family during the hurricane. But then his car broke down and he couldn't get it fixed without picking up his paycheck, which was all the way in Oldsmar. So Friday, the day residents were evacuating Clearwater Beach, the Pagans found themselves sitting in the rain waiting for rides. Laura Pagan and the two young children, Alex and Joylan, went to a friend's house in Clearwater. But there wasn't enough room for Pagan and his older son, Danny. So the two planned to ride out the storm at their home at Bayshore Apartments. "We're not having a good day or a good weekend," Pagan said. "We worry but you know we'll do something. We're going to have to tough it out." * * *LARGO -- At daybreak, residents of most of the city's mobile home parks were awakened to the sounds of police sirens blaring and officers yelling over loudspeakers that they must leave their homes immediately. "This is an emergency warning," officers warned. "The local authorities have ordered all persons to evacuate. This area is in danger." But Sgt. Jim Precious knew the true test of the noisy warning system would be determined by noon during the second tour of the parks. The vast majority of residents heeded the warning but others were adamant, one to the point of rudeness, that they were staying. "Get the hell out of here," one resident inside the Sunpiper RV Park said as Officer M.J. Overstreet drove around Friday. Said Overstreet: "It's a mandatory evacuation, but we're not going to physically force them to leave." * * *LARGO -- The construction zone along Walsingham Road, an evacuation route from the beaches, turned out to be no problem as traffic flowed smoothly Friday morning. A skeleton crew of a dozen workers removed barricades along the road to prevent debris from flying into area businesses. The street has been under construction for 13 months, and officials were concerned about possible damage. Work crews also were moving dirt into holes along store driveways for those who would need items before and after the storm. "We're just taking down the barricades and trying to get the water where it needs to go," said Al Everdyke, superintendent of a subcontractor hired to work on the project. * * *CLEARWATER -- Hilda and Don Cowan weren't quite sure what to do. Don Cowan is on dialysis while waiting for a kidney transplant. As officials roamed Bay Aristocrat Village mobile home park on U.S. 19 to tell residents they had to evacuate, the Cowans were trying to figure out who could accommodate them. Don Cowan cares for himself and must stay in sanitary conditions, the couple said. The Cowans came to Clearwater from Peoria, Ill., on Monday to close on the sale of their mobile home. Don Cowan is too ill to travel back and forth between Florida and Illinois, as they had for years. Friday afternoon, the Cowans were hoping to get some help from a nearby fire rescue station. Georges or no, they would be here until early next week. "We're going to stay to close on the house," Don Cowan said, with just a bit of trepidation. "If the house is still there." * * *LARGO -- While most people are dreading the impending arrival of Hurricane Georges, there are some like George Adams who see the storm as a business opportunity. Adams, owner of Stevie G's Restaurant on Walsingham Road, said his diner was packed when Hurricane Elena hit the area in 1985 and he is planning to stay open during the storm, looking for another financial windfall. "People have to go somewhere to eat," he said Friday.
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LEARWATER -- By 6 a.m. Friday, 880 Mandalay Apartments was almost empty. And Michael Bath was exhausted.
