Florida takes fourth punch
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, September 25, 2004
STUART, Fla. – Hurricane Jeanne sent wind and huge waves crashing ashore as it hit storm-weary Florida late Saturday, forcing thousands into shelters and tearing part of the roof off a hospital. The storm made landfall just weeks after Frances ravaged the same stretch of coast, and hurled debris only recently cleared from earlier hurricanes.
It was the state’s fourth hurricane of the season – an ordeal no state has faced since Texas in 1886.
About 2 million people were urged to evacuate as Jeanne’s sustained wind strengthened to 120 mph. The Category 3 storm came ashore on the state’s central Atlantic coast and was expected to turn to the north.
“Yesterday I was hoping we wouldn’t lose power again,” said Lynn Tarrington, who was leaving her Lake Worth home near the water Saturday. “Now I’m hoping I have a house left when I come back.”
The storm made landfall near the southern tip of Hutchinson Island about five miles southeast of Stuart, where palm fronds whipped amid waves of horizontal rain. Debris flew and crashed through deserted streets, making a steady roar.
A hospital lost part of its roof, said Tom McNicholas, an emergency management spokesman in Martin County. Dozens of patients at Martin Memorial Hospital North in Stuart were moved to other floors, but no injuries were reported.
Elsewhere in Stuart, part of a condominium roof collapsed. One person was rescued.
Waves of 24 feet were reported ahead of Jeanne and were moving toward the coast, where 6-foot storm surges were expected. Powerful swells knocked pieces of mobile homes out to sea on the central coast.
Jeanne follows Charley, which struck Aug. 13 and devastated southwest Florida; Frances, which struck Labor Day weekend; and Ivan, which blasted the western panhandle when it made landfall in Alabama on Sept. 16.
Earlier, Jeanne tore across the Bahamas, leaving some neighborhoods submerged under 5 feet of water. No deaths or serious injuries were reported there.
In Haiti, the death toll from Jeanne shot up to an estimated 1,500 Saturday, with hundreds of Haitians still missing as a thunderstorm drenched the homeless who were living on rooftops and sidewalks. Some 300,000 are homeless, most in the northwestern city of Gonaives.
U.N. peacekeepers sent reinforcements to help keep order among desperate survivors looting aid trucks and mobbing food distribution centers.
Helping Haiti
The following agencies are accepting contributions for assistance for those affected by the storm in Haiti:
Haiti Hurricane Response, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904, 800-424-2372, www.adra.org.
World Concern, 19303 Fremont Ave. N., Shoreline, WA 98133, 206-546-7201, www.worldconcern.org.
American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, 215-241-7000, www.afsc.org.
American Jewish World Service, 45 W. 36th St., 10th Floor, New York, NY 10018, 800-889-7146, www.ajws.org.
Catholic Relief Services, Caribbean Storms, 209 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, 410-625-2220, www.catholicrelief.org.
