Thousands
evacuate as hurricane Erin skips across Florida
PENSACOLA,
Fla. -- Hurricane Erin roared across the Florida
panhandle Thursday, August 3rd with high winds and
heavy rains that ripped off roofs and brought down
trees and power lines, then headed northwest toward
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Although
thousands of people fled tiny barrier islands and
coastal lowlands, emergency officials said the storm's
last-minute jog toward the Panhandle left thousands
of others stranded in flood-prone areas.
The
erratic storm made its second Florida landfall as
a minimal hurricane, but wind gusts hit 110 mph,
shredding power lines and leaving nearly a quarter-million
customers without electricity. Funnel cloud reports
abounded, and emergency officials received spotty
reports of major building damage as the eye moved
inland.
"We
know there are roofs that have blown off houses.
We have trees down everywhere," said Santa
Rosa County emergency management chief Tom Roche.
"Major power outages, boats sunk, things like
that."
Rusty
Hilbert and his family, including five children
aged 16 months to 13 years, were trapped in Fort
Walton Beach and frightened by the intensity of
the storm.
"Most
of their eyes are wide-eyed -- not saying anything,"
Hilbert said. "They saw a waterspout or tornado.
. . and they got a little serious about it.
Torrential
rains threatened extensive flooding along the low-lying
Gulf coast, where hurricane warnings remained in
effect from Apalachicola, Fla., to Morgan City,
La.
Coastal
bridges were closed and everyone but emergency personnel
was ordered off the highways.
"Power
lines are going down at a rate we cannot keep up
with," said David Miller, emergency operations
coordinator in Bay County, some 90 miles east of
Pensacola.
There
were no reported new injuries, but Florida Gov.
Lawton Chiles warned "this is a storm that
could really hurt people."
On
its charge from the Atlantic across the Florida
Peninsula on Wednesday, Erin sank two ships and
left five people missing at sea. Two people died
during storm preparations.
To
the west in Alabama, Lee Helms, director of the
state Emergency Management Agency, estimated at
least 100,000 people had been evacuated. "That
may be a conservative estimate," he said.
In
southeastern Louisiana, site of a once-in-a-century
flood three months ago, more than 9,000 residents
had been ordered to evacuate. Alabama officials
opened shelters and asked for voluntary evacuation
of Dauphin Island and low-lying areas of Mobile
County.
