Well, I was hoping to go for a walk this morning… get out of the containment field that is the house. No luck.. the wind outside is at a very strong level, and the rain is coming down in sheets.

Dan’s working on grading, and Jan’s watching TV evangelists, so I figure I’ll feed my own obsessive action by working on the journal a little bit this morn. I prefer to read Real Live Preacher to watching any carnival barker on the tube.

Jan’s making cranberry scones for breakfast this morning…they smell really good.

Though the hurricane is moving exceedingly slow, I have high hopes that I’ll be home tonight, or at worst tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and having the apartment to myself (and Newtself). Though it’s a two-bedroom house, three people tend to bump into one another a lot.

I have a half-gallon of ice cream in the freezer at home…I wonder if power stayed on long enough to keep it ice-creamy.

Latest reports are that there are 2 million people without power, and Frances is now downgraded to Category 1.

Hurricane Frances Smothers Florida With Winds, Heavy Rain; 2 Million Without Power

By Tim Reynolds Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 5, 2004

STUART, Fla. (AP) – Hurricane Frances weakened slightly Sunday after it smashed across Florida’s east coast, knocking out power to 2 million people and forcing residents to withstand a prolonged lashing that shredded roofs and uprooted trees.
Some evacuees had to evacuate a second time when a school’s roof was partially blown off.

Before dawn, maximum sustained winds were down to less than 100 mph, but forecasters said the storm track would bring the center of the hurricane back over the warm water of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, and that it was possible Frances would regain intensity by Monday evening.

The eye of the storm blew ashore at Sewall’s Point, just east of Stuart, around 1 a.m. Frances was expected to remain over the state for most of the day, dumping 8 to 12 inches of rain, with up to 20 inches in some areas. Frances was so big that virtually the entire state feared damage from wind and heavy rain – about 230 miles of coastline – from the Deerfield Beach area northward to Flagler Beach – remained under a hurricane warning as dawn approached Sunday.

“I wish somebody’d get out there and push it – get it over with,” said 72-year-old Nedra Smith, who waited out the storm in the lobby of a Palm Bay hotel.

The largest evacuation in state history, with 2.8 million residents ordered inland, sent 80,000 residents and tourists into shelters. The storm shut down much of Florida, including airports and amusement parks, at the start of the usually busy Labor Day weekend.

President Bush declared a major disaster in the counties affected by Frances, meaning residents will be eligible for federal aid.

Four people were hospitalized in Boynton Beach after breathing carbon monoxide fumes from a generator that was running in a house. No other injuries were immediately reported.

Frances’ arrival came three weeks after Hurricane Charley killed 27 people and caused billions of dollars in damage in southwestern Florida.

Before lumbering into Florida, Frances shattered windows, toppled power lines and flooded neighborhoods in the Bahamas, forcing thousands from their homes. The Freeport airport was partially submerged in water. At least two deaths in the Bahamas were blamed on the storm.

In Palm Bay, winds pried off pieces of a banquet hall roof, striking some cars in the parking lot. Trees were bent and light posts wobbled in the howling gusts. Further south in Fort Pierce, the storm shredded awnings and blew out business signs. Many downtown streets were crisscrossed with toppled palm trees.

In Stuart, where the eye came ashore, traffic lights dangled, and one hung by a single wire. Downed trees blocked at least one residential street, and signposts were bent to the ground. The facade at a flooring store collapsed, as did the roof of a storage shed at a car dealership.

In Melbourne, 65 miles north of Stuart, the wind and rain looked like a giant fire hose going off at full blast.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, and no one in my family has,” said Darlene Munson, who was riding out the storm with family members at her Melbourne restaurant.

Roads, streets and beaches were mostly deserted – the occasional surfer notwithstanding. Roads were littered with palm fronds and other debris. Businesses were shuttered and even gas stations were closed, their empty pumps covered with shrink wrap.

Sustained winds were just below 100 mph, down from 105 mph when it made landfall. The National Hurricane Center said one gust was clocked at 115 mph at Fort Pierce and damaged the mast of a truck measuring the storm’s intensity. Florida Power & Light pulled crews off the streets because of heavy wind, meaning those without power would have to wait until the storm subsided, spokesman Bill Swank said.

The utility, the state’s largest electric company, said power outages to its customers affected 2 million people. Nearly all of Vero Beach, 30 miles north of Stuart, was blackened, the city’s utility said.

In Martin County, where Stuart is located, 630 people taking shelter at a school had to move to another shelter when part of the roof blew off, flooding 16 rooms. More than 300 people were able to remain in the school.

For thousands of Floridians spending the night in a shelter, the storm forced them to pause.

“It’s just a matter of patience,” said Bishop G.A. White, 77, pastor of the Fort Pierce Church of the Living God. “Wait on the Lord, and wait on the weather.”

Forecasters said the slow movement and large eye would mean several hours of calm for some locations after they were battered by the strongest winds.

Frances was expected to push across the state as a tropical storm just north of Tampa, weaken to a tropical depression and drench the Panhandle on Monday before moving into Alabama.

“I just urge people to be close to their families, love their children, stay safe and stay with them … and know that help is on the way,” Gov. Jeb Bush said.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Ivan formed Sunday in the central Atlantic. The fifth hurricane of the season was about 1,210 miles east-southeast of the Lesser Antilles with winds of 75 mph.

—

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Florida Emergency Management: http://www.floridadisaster.org

I’m not going to go much more into stormblogging… plenty of other sources out there for that. There really isn’t much to say except for “my goodness, it sure is windy and rainy today”.

Ants have found their way into the house, but Janet’s vacuuming them up. We don’t want to worry about pesticides at this point in the game.

URRICANE FRANCES ADVISORY NUMBER 47
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
11 AM EDT SUN SEP 05 2004

…FRANCES HITTING FLORIDA HARD…

AT 11 AM EDT…1500Z…A HURRICANE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE
GULF COAST OF FLORIDA FROM THE MOUTH OF THE SUWANNEE RIVER TO
DESTIN.

A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA
FROM NORTH OF DEERFIELD BEACH NORTHWARD TO FLAGLER BEACH…INCLUDING
LAKE OKEECHOBEE.

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE FLORIDA
PENINSULA…ON THE WEST COAST…FROM THE SUWANNEE RIVER SOUTHWARD
AROUND THE PENINSULA TO DEERFIELD BEACH…AND FOR ALL OF THE FLORIDA
KEYS…INCLUDING FLORIDA BAY AND THE DRY TORTUGAS. A TROPICAL STORM
WARNING ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NORTH OF FLAGLER BEACH TO
ALTAMAHA SOUND.

AT 11 AM EDT…1500Z…ALL WARNINGS FOR THE BAHAMAS HAVE BEEN
DISCONTINUED.

AT 11 AM EDT…1500Z…THE HURRICANE WATCH FROM NORTH OF FLAGLER
BEACH TO FERNANDINA BEACH HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED.

AT 11 AM EDT…1500Z…THE CENTER OF HURRICANE FRANCES WAS LOCATED
BY RADAR NEAR LATITUDE 27.7 NORTH…LONGITUDE 81.2 WEST…ABOUT 25
MILES NORTHEAST OF SEBRING AND 80 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF TAMPA
FLORIDA.

THE LARGE CIRCULATION OF FRANCES IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST
NEAR 9 MPH. A CONTINUED WEST TO WEST-NORTHWESTWARD TRACK ACROSS
THE PENINSULA IS EXPECTED TODAY AND FRANCES SHOULD MOVE OVER THE
GULF OF MEXICO LATE TONIGHT OR MONDAY MORNING.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 90 MPH…150 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. SOME ADDITIONAL WEAKENING IS EXPECTED AS THE CORE OF FRANCES
MOVES OVER LAND.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES…110 KM…
FROM THE CENTER…AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 200 MILES…325 KM.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 975 MB…28.79 INCHES.

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 4 TO 6 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS…ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES…IS
STILL POSSIBLE NEAR AND TO THE NORTH OF WHERE THE CENTER MADE
LANDFALL ON THE FLORIDA EAST COAST BUT SHOULD GRADUALLY SUBSIDE.
STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 5 FEET ABOVE NORMAL LEVELS IS
EXPECTED IN LAKE OKEECHOBEE. ALONG THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
COAST…STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 1 TO 3 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE
LEVELS IS EXPECTED SOUTH OF THE PATH OF FRANCES. STORM SURGE
FLOODING OF UP TO 4 TO 6 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS IS
EXPECTED ALONG THE NORTHEAST GULF COAST OF FLORIDA.

RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 8 TO 12 INCHES…WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS…
TO NEAR 20 INCHES…ARE EXPECTED OVER THE FLORIDA PENINSULA IN
ASSOCIATION WITH FRANCES.

ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND NORTH
FLORIDA TODAY.

REPEATING THE 11 AM EDT POSITION…27.7 N… 81.2 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD…WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 9 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS… 90
MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE… 975 MB.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA…PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE
CENTER AT 2 PM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 5 PM
EDT.

more updates here