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Tourists ordered out of Florida Keys ahead of Hurricane Dennis
By JOHN PAIN
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI The Florida Keys ordered an evacuation of tourists and other nonresidents Thursday as Hurricane Dennis stormed through the Caribbean on a course that forecasters said might bring it to the state by the weekend.
Monroe County officials ordered that visitors begin leaving the low-lying Keys at noon and ordered the evacuation of mobile home resident beginning at 6 p.m. The Keys were under a hurricane watch, which means winds of at least 74 mph and storm surges are possible by late Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. A tropical storm watch was in affect for the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, including Miami.
Forecasters said that although they still couldn't tell where Dennis would hit the U.S., residents on the Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana to Florida should be watching the storm.
"The central and east Gulf coasts are the most threatened," said Eric Blake, a meteorologist at the center. "This is the time to take a little bit of action to get some of the rudimentary hurricane supplies."
The skies in the Keys were still sunny and clear Thursday, but people were already preparing for Dennis. Four hurricanes struck Florida last year. Although none hit the Keys, the island chain was evacuated three times, causing the loss of at least $50 million in visitor-related sales.
Eddie Watson, a front desk supervisor at the Banyan Resort three blocks from the water in Key West, said it "looks like we have some work to do" in notifying the hotel's 70 guests to leave.
Chris Mullins, CEO of Sloppy Joe's bar on the main drag in Key West, said "Just the mere threat (of a hurricane) will keep people away. We've been through this before, so we have game plans."
State officials also cautioned people to make sure they had hurricane plans ready.
"Reality in Florida, we have a hurricane problem," State Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate said Wednesday. "If you didn't know it from last year and you haven't got it from these four tropical storms I don't know what it's gonna take."
The season's peak is still more than a month away, and Florida has already been affected by two tropical storms that brought rain and minor problems to the Florida Panhandle, an area devastated by Hurricane Ivan last year.
But oil prices hit record highs on disruptions caused by producers in the Gulf of Mexico preparing for Dennis. The flow of oil from the region was reduced by 190,000 barrels per day, or less than 1 percent of daily demand in the United States.
Traders fear a repeat of Ivan, which damaged oil platforms in the Gulf and caused others to shut down for months.
Forecaster Chris Lauer said this is "the earliest we've had this many named storms in recorded history in the Atlantic."
The Rev. Russell Levenson, a priest at Christ Episcopal Church in Pensacola just this week sent the last of the pews from his church many of which were damaged by Ivan to be repaired.
He and his parishioners talked about Dennis at a service Wednesday.
"One of the things that we prayed for was that Dennis would dissipate and if it didn't was that it wouldn't come with the force (of Ivan)," Levenson said. "It brings up all the anxieties again. And we're at least a year away from being back to normal."
At 11 a.m. EDT, Dennis' center was about 80 miles east of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 610 miles south-southeast of Miami. The storm had top sustained winds of near 105 mph and was moving northwest at about 13 mph.
Dennis is now a Category 2 hurricane, but forecasters said it could strengthen to a Category 3 with winds of 111 mph to 130 mph by the time it enters the Gulf. But they also caution that their ability to predict a storm's strength isn't very accurate.
Florida's Panhandle took a glancing hit Wednesday from Tropical Storm Cindy, but it only brought rain and winds of about 30 mph in Pensacola.
A Gulf Power spokeswoman said crews were working during the night to restore power to the remaining 769 customers in the Pensacola Bay area, out of about 7,600 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, who lost power.
Tropical Storm Arlene also caused little damage when it hit the Panhandle during this hurricane season, which started June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
___Associated Press writer Mitch Stacy in Tampa and Denise Kallette in Miami contributed to this report
By JOHN PAIN
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI The Florida Keys ordered an evacuation of tourists and other nonresidents Thursday as Hurricane Dennis stormed through the Caribbean on a course that forecasters said might bring it to the state by the weekend.
Monroe County officials ordered that visitors begin leaving the low-lying Keys at noon and ordered the evacuation of mobile home resident beginning at 6 p.m. The Keys were under a hurricane watch, which means winds of at least 74 mph and storm surges are possible by late Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. A tropical storm watch was in affect for the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, including Miami.
Forecasters said that although they still couldn't tell where Dennis would hit the U.S., residents on the Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana to Florida should be watching the storm.
"The central and east Gulf coasts are the most threatened," said Eric Blake, a meteorologist at the center. "This is the time to take a little bit of action to get some of the rudimentary hurricane supplies."
The skies in the Keys were still sunny and clear Thursday, but people were already preparing for Dennis. Four hurricanes struck Florida last year. Although none hit the Keys, the island chain was evacuated three times, causing the loss of at least $50 million in visitor-related sales.
Eddie Watson, a front desk supervisor at the Banyan Resort three blocks from the water in Key West, said it "looks like we have some work to do" in notifying the hotel's 70 guests to leave.
Chris Mullins, CEO of Sloppy Joe's bar on the main drag in Key West, said "Just the mere threat (of a hurricane) will keep people away. We've been through this before, so we have game plans."
State officials also cautioned people to make sure they had hurricane plans ready.
"Reality in Florida, we have a hurricane problem," State Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate said Wednesday. "If you didn't know it from last year and you haven't got it from these four tropical storms I don't know what it's gonna take."
The season's peak is still more than a month away, and Florida has already been affected by two tropical storms that brought rain and minor problems to the Florida Panhandle, an area devastated by Hurricane Ivan last year.
But oil prices hit record highs on disruptions caused by producers in the Gulf of Mexico preparing for Dennis. The flow of oil from the region was reduced by 190,000 barrels per day, or less than 1 percent of daily demand in the United States.
Traders fear a repeat of Ivan, which damaged oil platforms in the Gulf and caused others to shut down for months.
Forecaster Chris Lauer said this is "the earliest we've had this many named storms in recorded history in the Atlantic."
The Rev. Russell Levenson, a priest at Christ Episcopal Church in Pensacola just this week sent the last of the pews from his church many of which were damaged by Ivan to be repaired.
He and his parishioners talked about Dennis at a service Wednesday.
"One of the things that we prayed for was that Dennis would dissipate and if it didn't was that it wouldn't come with the force (of Ivan)," Levenson said. "It brings up all the anxieties again. And we're at least a year away from being back to normal."
At 11 a.m. EDT, Dennis' center was about 80 miles east of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 610 miles south-southeast of Miami. The storm had top sustained winds of near 105 mph and was moving northwest at about 13 mph.
Dennis is now a Category 2 hurricane, but forecasters said it could strengthen to a Category 3 with winds of 111 mph to 130 mph by the time it enters the Gulf. But they also caution that their ability to predict a storm's strength isn't very accurate.
Florida's Panhandle took a glancing hit Wednesday from Tropical Storm Cindy, but it only brought rain and winds of about 30 mph in Pensacola.
A Gulf Power spokeswoman said crews were working during the night to restore power to the remaining 769 customers in the Pensacola Bay area, out of about 7,600 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, who lost power.
Tropical Storm Arlene also caused little damage when it hit the Panhandle during this hurricane season, which started June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
___Associated Press writer Mitch Stacy in Tampa and Denise Kallette in Miami contributed to this report
