Local residents find themselves in Frances’ path
Former Uniontown residents Dave and Beth John, who now live in Orlando, Fla., are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best as they await more news on the arrival of Hurricane Frances, a massive storm that is threatening Florida’s Atlantic coast with 145 mph winds. The new threat comes as the couple recovers from the impact of Hurricane Charley, which battered much of the Sunshine State in August.
“Much of Florida is still reeling form Hurricane Charley and living with the aftermath of the cleanup,” Beth John said. “We didn’t get hit as bad as some areas here in Orlando, but we’re not sure what this next storm will bring.”
She said the sun was shinning late Thursday afternoon but her neighbors were beginning to fortify their homes with plywood.
Even that chore is now a challenge, she said.
Many stores are out of plywood, and long lines have formed at outlets that still have it in stock.
So the Johns are using what wood they have, cleaning out a closet to store their valuables and emergency supplies and making arrangements to stay in a motel on Florida’s Gulf Coast, out of the hurricane’s projected path.
John said in the 14 years she and her husband have lived in Florida, this is the worst hurricane season that they have ever seen.
“In the past, it really hasn’t interrupted our lives,” John said. “But this year, it started out with Charley and now we have to face Frances. The weather forecasters have said that Frances is already a Category 4 storm that could make itself felt by midmorning Friday.”
The Associated Press reported Thursday that the hurricane was centered 410 miles southeast of West Palm Beach at 2 p.m. and was moving toward Florida at 13 mph.
John said even though it is really odd to have two storms of such magnitude in such a short amount of time, she and her family are not taking any chances.
“We will be leaving here soon and praying that the storm will pass over us,” John said. “But from what we heard, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Even if the eye of the storm passes us, I’m sure we are going to feel something.”
John said when Charley hit, her 5-year-old daughter, Brenna, missed seven days of school.
“I know that they have canceled school Friday, but we will have to see what happens.”
The Johns are not the only local residents watching Frances creep closer to their adopted homes.
Kent Ryan, who is originally from Brownsville and lives in Flagler Beach, near Daytona Beach, said he sent his wife to their daughter’s house in Savannah, Ga., already.
“They haven’t evacuated our area yet, but I wanted to make sure that she was safe. So I sent her to Georgia,” said Ryan, who celebrated his 52nd birthday Thursday. “I can’t leave because of my job, but I wanted to make sure that my wife was safe.”
Ryan said he and his wife have lived in Florida since 1973, so they have been through quite a few hurricane seasons.
“I think the worst was Andrew in 1992 with 165 mph winds,” Ryan said. “Charley probably came in second with 145 mph winds, but Frances, I have a feeling, may be the topper.”
Ryan said weather forecasters in his area are predicting that Frances will upstage Charley.
“They are saying that Frances is bigger than Andrew and longer than Charley,” Ryan said.
Ryan, who is on the board of directors for the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, said his hospital has not been evacuated. He also said he would ride out the storm at the hospital.
“I did go home and put the outside furniture inside the house because I didn’t want those items to become projectile missiles.”
Ryan said almost a million people in South Florida, Palm Beach County, Broward County and Miami-Dade County were told to leave their homes.
AP reported that Florida suspended tolls on major roads and said lanes on some highways may be reversed to handle the evacuation traffic. The wire service also reported that the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral was ordered completely evacuated for the first time because of the dual threats of high wind and storm surge.
The last time two major storms hit Florida back to back was 54 years ago, when Hurricane Easy hit the Tampa area and Hurricane King struck Miami about six weeks later. Neither storm was as powerful as Charley or Frances, AP reported.