Hurricane Frances engulfed the Panhandle of Florida on Monday, losing strength and unraveling as it spun northward, drenching residents of the west coast and leaving thousands in this storm-weary state to clean up the wide swath of destruction.
After crossing the state and a corner of the Gulf of Mexico, the enormous storm made its second Florida landfall at St. Marks, 20 miles south of Tallahassee, and lashed the Panhandle with 40 m.p.h. winds late Monday, down from 65 m.p.h. earlier in the day. It was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Forecasters said Frances could bring up to 10 inches of rain and a 5- to 10-foot storm surge to the Panhandle before moving into Georgia and Alabama.
As Frances was heading out of Florida, residents began keeping a wary eye on yet another storm. Ivan, the fifth hurricane of the year, had sustained winds of near 105 m.p.h. in the central Atlantic. Forecasters weren’t sure whether it would hit the United States.
Frances left at least nine dead in Florida, 3 million still without power Monday and hundreds of thousands without water, ice and other supplies. Damage estimates of insured property began at $2 billion.
Tattered homes and condominiums in tourist towns from Cocoa Beach to Palm Beach told the story of Frances’ fury. Battered for hours by 100 m.p.h. winds, rain and up to 15-foot storm surges, some structures were barely standing. Roofs were missing, palm trees stretched across the yards, and entrances were covered with sand. Screened-in pool decks and patios crumbled. And in some cases, the ocean came up to back yards.
In Tampa, 105 residents of a retirement home were evacuated in wheelchairs with floodwaters lapping at their knees. In Cape Canaveral, workers at the Kennedy Space Center found the hurricane had ripped 1,000 exterior panels from a giant building where spaceships are assembled, leaving 40,000 square feet of open area.
All along State Road A1A, from Cocoa Beach to Melbourne, the damage was scattered, but almost every structure had been touched in some way. A1A was lined with fallen tree limbs, dangling wires, downed traffic lights and piles of sand and debris. A Chevron gas station was demolished, its shelter ripped from its posts and gas tanks torn away.
In Melbourne, business was slowly attempting to return to normal. Power had been restored in some places; elsewhere, people shopped in stores without lights. Lines extended into the parking lot at two home improvement stores. A Publix grocery was giving away bags of ice. Cars stretched into the street at a Burger King, one of only a handful of restaurants that opened.
In the few places across the state with gasoline and power, lines of more than 200 motorists waited to fill up. As of midday, nearly 80,000 people remained in shelters statewide, down from about 108,000 on Sunday. The largest evacuation in state history had affected 47 of Florida’s 67 counties.
Monday night, Frances drifted northwest into southern Georgia, where thousands of homes were without electricity and dozens of schools planned to stay closed Tuesday. A woman died Monday in a storm-related car accident, authorities said.
Back in Florida, damage worsened farther south, in areas close to where the storm made landfall.
At a marina in Ft. Pierce, 100 boats sank or sustained damage and another 23 were missing. Sailboats flipped over, split in half, and piled on top of one another.
“One boat was supposed to be unsinkable–and it sank,” said Doug Fleck, 43, a yacht broker who called in damage reports to clients. “A lot of people here were [living] aboard. They didn’t lose boats, they lost their homes.”
Laurie Niemann, 44, of Ft. Pierce came to take away the life preserver from her 58-foot yacht, which she said had been destroyed. “It’s all I have left,” she said.
In Ft. Pierce and nearby Port St. Lucie, the storm seemed random in its cruelty, ripping apart one trailer home while leaving others virtually untouched.
Jonathan Gahn, 33, returned with his wife and 3-year-old daughter to salvage a few things from their wrecked trailer in Ft. Pierce, where winds had blown the roof off and flattened the four walls.
“We lost everything,” said Gahn.
Neighbors whose homes remained unscathed came outside to say goodbye. Gahn and his family walked out of the park with a single bag of toys.
In Jensen Beach, where Frances the storm made landfall, wind ripped roofs, tore off carports and left sheet metal crumpled like tin foil around the trailers at Ocean Breeze Park, a waterfront community of 650 mobile homes for people age 55 and older.
“It’s terrible,” said resident Ida Wisser, an elderly woman in a wheelchair who returned to her home Monday. “They’re all neighbors and friends,” she said of owners whose damaged structures were seen all around. Her home escaped serious harm.
For many, the sight of the destruction brought mixed feelings of sorrow and relief.
“We weren’t sure we would have a house,” said Scott Hand, 53, who lives in Ocean Breeze.
In his living room, everything was in its place, a set of delicate teacups sat lined up on a shelf. But when he opened a bedroom door, he found the ceiling gone and sheets ripped from the bed.
He and most others said they planned to rebuild. Residents of Ocean Breeze said they lived a paradise on the Indian River lagoon where they can watch dolphins swim, fish jump and moon rise over the water. A little water and ripped roofs weren’t going to drive them away permanently.
“They’re tough, the people who live here,” said Phil Stevens, 65. “They’re used to the weather. They just accept hurricanes as part of what it takes to live here. It’s worth it–that’s my opinion.”
