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Category 4 Charley Slams Fla. Mainland
By JILL BARTON and ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) -- Hurricane Charley struck the Florida mainland at Charlotte Harbor as a dangerous Category 4 storm Friday, pounding west-central Florida with 145 mph winds and a wall of water expected to exceed 10 feet.
Gov. Jeb Bush said damage could exceed $15 billion.
Almost 2 million people were urged to evacuate in advance of the storm, which rapidly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after swinging around the Florida Keys as a more moderate Category 2 storm Friday morning.
Charley reached landfall at 3:45 p.m. EDT, when the eye passed over the barrier islands between Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, some 110 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area that includes Tampa and St. Petersburg.
"We are ground zero for Hurricane Charley," said Wayne Sallade, director of emergency management in Charlotte County.
The hurricane struck the mainland 30 minutes later. Forecasters feared a potentially devastating storm surge of up to 20 feet that could submerge miles of coastline.
The surge "is going to be the main killer," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "This is the nightmare scenario that we've been talking about for years."
"You've got roofs blowing off. It's going to be bad. Real bad," he said.
Interactive
Hurricanes Explained
Photos: Hurricane Charley
Latest News
Category 4 Charley Slams Fla. Mainland
A Look at Tropical Storm, Hurricane Damage
Florida Residents Brace for Charley
Hurricane Charley Kills Three in Cuba
Developments With Hurricane Charley
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
Hurricane Closes Florida Theme Parks
The Nation's Weather
Audio
Miller says she's never seen a hurricane grow in strength so quickly.
AP VIDEO
Cat. 4 Charley's 145 mph Winds Target Fla.
As Charley bore down on the region, many streets were deserted as residents were told to stay home or head to shelters, and even the Charlotte County emergency operation center had to be evacuated. The wind snapped pine trees in half, and offshore the gulf churned like water in a washing machine.
As the storm approached the west coast, about 100 people refused to leave Sanibel Island. Authorities closed the bridge leading to the barrier island and didn't expect to open it until Saturday.
"It looks as if they're going to have to ride out the storm," said Gordon "Booch" DeMarchi, public information specialist for Lee County.
On Fort Myers Beach, sea water swamped the barrier island.
"We're going under," said Lucy Hunter, the hotel operator at the Pink Shell Beach Resort and Spa. "When the ocean decides to meet my bay, that's a lot of water. It's already in my pool."
Six resort employees, including Hunter's husband, hunkered down in a room in the hotel's center.
"Every now and then you hear a big whistle, but the noise isn't bad," Hunter said before the phone line went dead.
Diana Alexander hunkered in the bathroom of her Punta Gorda home with two sons, including 16-year-old Dagan, who had his wet suit on and planned to surf the dangerous waves.
"It's definitely a conflict between us, but it's his passion," Diana Alexander said.
Dagan said he was equipped with windshear goggles and a small life vest.
About 1.9 million people along the west coast and in the Keys had been advised to leave - an evacuation that rivaled the largest in state history.
"This is a very deadly storm that's approaching our beloved state," Bush said. He declared a state of emergency in Florida and requested that his brother, President Bush, consider declaring a federal state of emergency.
"This is going to be inconvenient," Bush said. "That's the way life is when you're hit with one of God's most powerful forces."
At 4 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered near latitude 26.7 north and longitude 82.2 west, 20 miles west-northwest of Fort Myers. Winds of at least 74 mph extended outward 30 miles from the eye.
Once reaching land, Charley was expected to slice north through the state, with 6.5 million of Florida's 17 million residents in the projected path. Rain totaling four to eight inches was expected along Charley's path, creating the risk of flash flooding.
The storm even affected the nerve center of the war in Iraq, MacDill Air Force Base, where residents evacuated and only essential personnel remained. Across the state, 10 Navy ships from Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville were dispatched to sea to avoid damage from the storm, the Navy said Friday.
In Cape Canaveral, traffic was bumper-to-bumper at noontime as Kennedy Space Center employees left work early. All but a skeleton crew of 200 of the nearly 13,000-person work force was sent home, or told to stay home, and the shuttle hangars and the massive Vehicle Assembly Building were sealed tight.
In Orlando, theme parks Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando, planned to close in the early afternoon. Disney's Animal Kingdom didn't open at all. The only previous time that the parks closed for a hurricane was in 1999 for Floyd.
Postponements included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' preseason NFL opener scheduled for Saturday night against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Charley brought occasionally heavy rain and gusts of 58 mph to the lower Keys, but officials reported of minor damage.
DeMarchi said authorities were bracing first for the wind damage.
"And after the storm goes by us, the serious flooding will start," he said. "It's a difficult day for Lee County, to say the least."
Many shelters were full. One at Sickles High School in northwest Tampa was at its capacity of 500 people by 8 a.m.
"They were very nervous, and very scared, begging us not to turn them away," assistant principal Nelson Duarte said.
Russell Baker and Adrian Miller of Darby, England arrived on Siesta Key with their families Thursday night and were greeted at the villas they rented with a notice that the island had been evacuated. They went to three shelters before finding room at an elementary school in Sarasota.
"By all accounts we are very privileged to have found this little patch of England," Miller said.
Charley threatened to become the worst hurricane to hit Florida's west coast since Donna, a Category 4 storm in 1960 that hit the Naples-Fort Myers, killed about 50 people and caused the present-day equivalent of nearly $2 billion in damage.
The last storm as strong as Charley to hit Florida was Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane in 1992 that devastated parts of South Florida with 165-mph winds, causing $30 billion in damage, killing dozens and leaving thousands homeless.
A hurricane warning remained in effect for the southern Keys and for Florida's west coast as far north as the Big Bend.
On the east coast, a tropical storm warning extended from Jupiter Inlet, Florida, to the South Santee River in South Carolina. A hurricane watch was in effect from Flagler Beach, Fla., northward to the Savannah River near the Georgia-South Carolina border, and a tropical storm watch was in effect as far north as North Carolina.
A storm surge of four to seven feet was expected along the east coast in northeast Florida and Georgia.
---
Associated Press writers Mark Long in Fort Myers, Ken Thomas in Key West and Vickie Chachere in Sarasota contributed to this report.
---
On the Net:
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
Category 4 Charley Slams Fla. Mainland
By JILL BARTON and ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) -- Hurricane Charley struck the Florida mainland at Charlotte Harbor as a dangerous Category 4 storm Friday, pounding west-central Florida with 145 mph winds and a wall of water expected to exceed 10 feet.
Gov. Jeb Bush said damage could exceed $15 billion.
Almost 2 million people were urged to evacuate in advance of the storm, which rapidly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after swinging around the Florida Keys as a more moderate Category 2 storm Friday morning.
Charley reached landfall at 3:45 p.m. EDT, when the eye passed over the barrier islands between Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, some 110 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area that includes Tampa and St. Petersburg.
"We are ground zero for Hurricane Charley," said Wayne Sallade, director of emergency management in Charlotte County.
The hurricane struck the mainland 30 minutes later. Forecasters feared a potentially devastating storm surge of up to 20 feet that could submerge miles of coastline.
The surge "is going to be the main killer," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "This is the nightmare scenario that we've been talking about for years."
"You've got roofs blowing off. It's going to be bad. Real bad," he said.
Interactive
Hurricanes Explained
Photos: Hurricane Charley
Latest News
Category 4 Charley Slams Fla. Mainland
A Look at Tropical Storm, Hurricane Damage
Florida Residents Brace for Charley
Hurricane Charley Kills Three in Cuba
Developments With Hurricane Charley
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
Hurricane Closes Florida Theme Parks
The Nation's Weather
Audio
Miller says she's never seen a hurricane grow in strength so quickly.
AP VIDEO
Cat. 4 Charley's 145 mph Winds Target Fla.
As Charley bore down on the region, many streets were deserted as residents were told to stay home or head to shelters, and even the Charlotte County emergency operation center had to be evacuated. The wind snapped pine trees in half, and offshore the gulf churned like water in a washing machine.
As the storm approached the west coast, about 100 people refused to leave Sanibel Island. Authorities closed the bridge leading to the barrier island and didn't expect to open it until Saturday.
"It looks as if they're going to have to ride out the storm," said Gordon "Booch" DeMarchi, public information specialist for Lee County.
On Fort Myers Beach, sea water swamped the barrier island.
"We're going under," said Lucy Hunter, the hotel operator at the Pink Shell Beach Resort and Spa. "When the ocean decides to meet my bay, that's a lot of water. It's already in my pool."
Six resort employees, including Hunter's husband, hunkered down in a room in the hotel's center.
"Every now and then you hear a big whistle, but the noise isn't bad," Hunter said before the phone line went dead.
Diana Alexander hunkered in the bathroom of her Punta Gorda home with two sons, including 16-year-old Dagan, who had his wet suit on and planned to surf the dangerous waves.
"It's definitely a conflict between us, but it's his passion," Diana Alexander said.
Dagan said he was equipped with windshear goggles and a small life vest.
About 1.9 million people along the west coast and in the Keys had been advised to leave - an evacuation that rivaled the largest in state history.
"This is a very deadly storm that's approaching our beloved state," Bush said. He declared a state of emergency in Florida and requested that his brother, President Bush, consider declaring a federal state of emergency.
"This is going to be inconvenient," Bush said. "That's the way life is when you're hit with one of God's most powerful forces."
At 4 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered near latitude 26.7 north and longitude 82.2 west, 20 miles west-northwest of Fort Myers. Winds of at least 74 mph extended outward 30 miles from the eye.
Once reaching land, Charley was expected to slice north through the state, with 6.5 million of Florida's 17 million residents in the projected path. Rain totaling four to eight inches was expected along Charley's path, creating the risk of flash flooding.
The storm even affected the nerve center of the war in Iraq, MacDill Air Force Base, where residents evacuated and only essential personnel remained. Across the state, 10 Navy ships from Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville were dispatched to sea to avoid damage from the storm, the Navy said Friday.
In Cape Canaveral, traffic was bumper-to-bumper at noontime as Kennedy Space Center employees left work early. All but a skeleton crew of 200 of the nearly 13,000-person work force was sent home, or told to stay home, and the shuttle hangars and the massive Vehicle Assembly Building were sealed tight.
In Orlando, theme parks Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando, planned to close in the early afternoon. Disney's Animal Kingdom didn't open at all. The only previous time that the parks closed for a hurricane was in 1999 for Floyd.
Postponements included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' preseason NFL opener scheduled for Saturday night against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Charley brought occasionally heavy rain and gusts of 58 mph to the lower Keys, but officials reported of minor damage.
DeMarchi said authorities were bracing first for the wind damage.
"And after the storm goes by us, the serious flooding will start," he said. "It's a difficult day for Lee County, to say the least."
Many shelters were full. One at Sickles High School in northwest Tampa was at its capacity of 500 people by 8 a.m.
"They were very nervous, and very scared, begging us not to turn them away," assistant principal Nelson Duarte said.
Russell Baker and Adrian Miller of Darby, England arrived on Siesta Key with their families Thursday night and were greeted at the villas they rented with a notice that the island had been evacuated. They went to three shelters before finding room at an elementary school in Sarasota.
"By all accounts we are very privileged to have found this little patch of England," Miller said.
Charley threatened to become the worst hurricane to hit Florida's west coast since Donna, a Category 4 storm in 1960 that hit the Naples-Fort Myers, killed about 50 people and caused the present-day equivalent of nearly $2 billion in damage.
The last storm as strong as Charley to hit Florida was Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane in 1992 that devastated parts of South Florida with 165-mph winds, causing $30 billion in damage, killing dozens and leaving thousands homeless.
A hurricane warning remained in effect for the southern Keys and for Florida's west coast as far north as the Big Bend.
On the east coast, a tropical storm warning extended from Jupiter Inlet, Florida, to the South Santee River in South Carolina. A hurricane watch was in effect from Flagler Beach, Fla., northward to the Savannah River near the Georgia-South Carolina border, and a tropical storm watch was in effect as far north as North Carolina.
A storm surge of four to seven feet was expected along the east coast in northeast Florida and Georgia.
---
Associated Press writers Mark Long in Fort Myers, Ken Thomas in Key West and Vickie Chachere in Sarasota contributed to this report.
---
On the Net:
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
