The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 80

12A THE PALM BEACH POST THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1999 MSL rr FLOYD I i SEE Beaches erode, electricity lost in storm DC As of 11 pja Wednesday i i Latitude: 17.9N Longitude: 51.2W I Wind speed: 150 mph Direction: West at 10 mph Saturday 8 p.m. Friday 8 p.m. I i SOUTH 4 AMERICA -do oa QD ED Latest updates, tracking maps and free GERT rami 4 Beach Next storm turning earlier than Floyd packed again Wednesday as they headed home. Cars returning from the west coast were stalled for miles along State Road 7Q north of Lake Okeechobee. "We have officers at every intersection, but there's so much' traffic the roads can't handle it," Okeechobee Sheriffs Dispatcher Glenda Wilson said.

Treasure Coast officials had not had time to estimate the costs of the storm damage Wednesday. A state emergency response team toured St Lucie County Wednesday to assess the damage. In Martin, state and county officials will meet today to critique the county's performance in preparing for the hurricane, identify problems and suggest improvements. Officials said county agencies will be reimbursed 75 percent of the total cost from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "If you can have a good emergency, this is a good example of how to have one," Baxley said.

"It was so close. Had it not turned Martin County this morning would have been in shambles." Wednesday shaped up as a pleasant day off for many es-, pecially for surfers enjoying waves as high as 10 feet "He wants to go surfing and I think it's too dangerous," said Linda Turner as her 16-year-old son, Doug Edwards, eyed the waves on Hutchinson Island. She later gave in and he joined dozens of other surfers who had the day off from school or work and rarely see waves the size of those kicked up by Floyd. Students in both counties return to school today. Staff writers Jill Taylor, Pat Moore, Stephen Kiehl, Home Paul Hartnett, Michael Van Sickler, Jim Reeder and Lady Hereford contributed to this story.

Tuesday, but also 50 mph winds, said Lt. Tom Whitley. "Conditions were bad at best," Whitley said. Martin County's most serious damage appeared to be at an oceanfront home just north of Bathtub Beach that lost its patio to heavy surf. Nearby on MacArthur Boulevard, the surf broke over the dunes in several spots, leaving piles of coconuts, boards, seaweed and trash on the narrow, curving roadway that separates the ocean and the Indian River.

Many docks along the Indian River and the St. Lucie River collapsed or lost boards as high tides washed over them. One victim was the House of Refuge dock on the Indian River. Stuart came through the storm without a scratch, officials said. There was no structural damage to buildings or homes, though the city on Wednesday collected several truckloads of palm fronds and tree limbs, said public works director Sam Am-erson.

"We fared really well," Amer-son said. "We did a lot of trimming and pruning prior to the event, and I think that made a big difference." The city lost power to three of its water wells, but it had enough wells to make up for the loss, he said. The main victim of Floyd appears to be the beaches, which lost 20 percent or more of their sand. Last winter and spring, Martin County spent $7 million pumping 600,000 cubic yards of sand onto Jupiter Island beaches. It will be days before the town can determine how much was lost to Floyd, but the island's Town Manager Jim Spurgeon said, "Now we have a ramp beach instead of a platform." St.

Lucie County imposed a curfew from 7 p.m. Tuesday to noon Wednesday, when officials feared a much stronger storm. Few crimes were reported, but FLOYD From 1A A spokesman for Florida Power Light Co. said about 25,000 homes were without power in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties during the peak of the storm early Wednesday.

Up to 9,000 still without electricity in Martin County Wednesday after- noon. Martin County officials opened a shelter Wednesday night at the First United Methodist Church in Stuart for residents still without electricity. Mac Hamilton, spokesman for the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, said 1,200 homes lost power for 38 minutes at the most. FPUA was required by state rules to cut natural gas service to six mobile home parks as the storm approached. Workers started restoring service Wednesday but may not be able to complete the job until Friday.

Baxley estimated at least 6,000 people and probably more evacuated the barrier islands, mobile home parks and flood-prone areas when it appeared Floyd was aiming for the Treasure Coast. A Fort Pierce home boarded up and left behind by its fleeing owners was destroyed by fire late Tuesday as winds reached their highest force. The owners of the home on Thumb Point Drive had not been notified Wednesday. Awaiting their return is a note pinned to the plywood that stated: "Keep out. Fire scene." Inside the blackened rubble, investigators sifted through the remains trying to find a cause.

The wind was so heavy that it took the fire and spread it around the house," said Greg Gilkey, an investigator with the state's Fire Marshal Office. "It will be hard to find a cause." About 18 firefighters fought not just the flames from the blaze For the latest radar and satellite images, stories, photo galleries, beach cams and coordinates, log on to Storm99.com Fort Pierce police arrested two people in separate incidents for violating the curfew. Plywood panic apparently got the best of some people. Two construction sites in western Port St. Lucie had a total of 100 sheets of plywood taken from them as the storm approached, Port St.

Lucie Police Department spokesman Chuck Johnson said. One of St Lucie's two shelters for people with special medical needs suffered from a shortage of nurses, respiratory therapists and other trained personnel, officials said. Volunteers didn't show up as expected and only two responded to broadcast appeals for more help at the St Lucie County Civic Center, Port St. Lucie City Councilman Jim Anderson said Wednesday. "Our fire department personnel became caregivers in the special needs shelter and they shouldn't be," Anderson told the St Lucie County Fire District Board.

"Health care agencies dumped people in the shelter and then took no responsibility for them." "I would like to make a point of requiring the health care industry be a part of our disaster planning," he said. Anderson suggested the state require home health care agencies and similar organizations to provide workers at the special needs shelters as part of their licensing. The shelters were emptied Wednesday morning as residents returned to their homes. Roads that had been clogged by fleeing residents before the storm were By Eliot Weinberg Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Hurricane Gert became the fourth storm this season to reach Category 4 status but was starting a path that could take Florida out of harm's way, forecasters said Wednesday. Gert's winds reached 131 mph, the minimum for Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, around 11 a.m.

Wednesday, and had reached 150 mph just 5 mph below Category 5 by 5 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said. As of the 11 p.m. advisory, Gert was at latitude 17.9 north, longitude 51.2 west, about 2,250 miles east of Palm Beach. It was moving west at 10 mph but was expected to begin a gradual turn to the west-northwest today. UTILITIES FPL looks for lessons in weak-storm failures DO Atlantic Ocean A Gert.

AFRICA DO ED mail advisories: www.storm99.com Todd Kimberlain, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said the storm already was showing signs of a turn to the north. "Storms that gain latitude early are more susceptible to finally turning out to sea," he said. Even if the storm suddenly aimed at Florida and stayed at present speed it was still about five days away, forecaster Richard Pasch said. A tropical disturbance squeezed between Floyd and Gert was breaking up Wednesday, and with about two weeks left in the most dangerous stretch of the hurricane season, no disturbances were coming off the African coast, forecaster James Franklin said. Worth Utilities and the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, reported few problems.

Both agencies credited tree-trimming efforts and Floyd's generous turn north. About 7,000 of Comcast Cable's 140,000 customers in Palm Beach and Martin counties went without service for parts of Tuesday and Wednesday, spokeswoman Diane Christie said. Comcast restored service to all customers by Wednesday afternoon, she said. Adelphia, which serves about 400,000 customers in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, did not return phone calls Wednesday.

More than 10,000 BellSouth customers on the Treasure Coast did not have dial tones early Wednesday, but workers restored service within two hours, spokesman Rob Seitz said. The company reported no phone problems for its 600,000 customers in Palm Beach County. "We really dodged a bullet with this one," Seitz said. There could have been more serious destruction that would have had an adverse effect on phone service." signs and trees were down, and some trailers sustained minor damage. Phone lines were down a few hours Tuesday night There were also sporadic power failures, and NASA had trouble getting its high-voltage systems back on line.

At the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Station, all four rockets left on their launch pads during the storm were said to be fine. NASA plans to reopen the space center today. The center's approximately 12,500 workers were evacuated Monday. The space agency was unable to move die shuttles to a safer location earlier in the week because it does not have enough modified jumbo jets to transport all four spaceships. In addition, the two 747s are kept out West and it takes a day to prepare a shuttle for the piggyback ride.

Also, there cannot be any rain or excessive wind during the flight; water would damage the fragile shuttle tiles. The shuttles are put atop the jets when the spaceship lands in California or when it needs to go from Cape Canaveral to California for a periodic tuneup. By Paul Owers Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Try telling thousands of local folks who lost power, cable and telephone service Tuesday that Hurricane Floyd barely bothered South Florida. About 10,000 Florida Power Light customers in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties were without power Wednesday night and some of those might not see the lights back on before tonight.

About 560,000 customers along the Florida coast including 150,000 in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast lost power for parts of Tuesday and Wednesday, FPL said. At 8 a.m. Wednesday, 10,000 Palm Beach County customers did not have power, but FPL restored service later in the day. The utility said it will investigate to determine why there were so many power failures from a storm that didn't hit. The short answer: Blustery weather easily damages power lines.

"It doesn't take much more than wind to cause a short circuit," FPL spokesman Bill Swank said. Two other utilities, Lake CAPE CANAVERAL -i -t4. '-'X NASA happy to find only damage about same as from thunderstorm LANNIS WATERSStaff Photographer A shantytown called The Mud near Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, was flooded and many homes were destroyed by Hurricane Floyd. IN BRIEF 'God's work' had at least one believer afraid lost 1,000 donors because it was not able to remain open Tuesday. It was able to meet hospital needs in Palm Beach, Martin and Okeechobee counties, a spokesman said Wednesday.

For information on extended hours, call (561) 845-2323. Someone's gotta do it WEST PALM BEACH Bear Lakes Middle School head custodian George Muller. said he was happy to clean up after shelter residents, but it was a challenging job. "It's worse having adults. The kids behave themselves here, because they know they can get in trouble," Muller said.

And none of the regular Bear Lakes students has ever asked Muller for hand cream, toothpaste and other "five-star hotel" accoutrements, he said. The Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL NASA's space shuttles, hangars and launch pads all escaped serious damage Wednesday from Hurricane Floyd. The space agency had feared that Floyd would wipe out the hangars and other installations if the storm came ashore with its 140 mph winds. The NASA facilities were built to take wind of no more than 125 mph. But the hurricane stayed 103 miles offshore, bringing sustained wind of 63 mph, with gusts of 80.

i NASA spokesman George Diller, one of about 100 workers who volunteered to stay behind to ride out the storm, said a preliminary inspection of the buildings housing the four space shuttles and all the equipment for the international space station found no major problems. "It's minimal, very minimal," he said. "You can get this kind of damage in a severe thunderstorm. We're just really pleased." Some weather-protection material came off one of the two shuttle launch pads, and about 30 sheet's of metal siding blew off the 525-foot-high Vehicle Assembly Building, Diller said. Several deck.

It reopened at 2 p.m. Wednesday. "I would have felt a lot safer in this building than my own house," Suncine said. Tax deadlines extended The Florida Department of Revenue extended its Friday deadline for businesses to pay their taxes and for child support to be paid. The new deadline is Sept.

20 but revenue officials said they would work with taxpayers and child support payers if the storm made payments difficult. They would have found their way around WELLINGTON Wellington-based sheriffs deputies were preparing for an Andrew-caliber storm that destroyed so much of Miami-Dade County in 1992 that even streets were unrecognizable. They used orange spray paint to spray the street's names on the asphalt at major intersections in Wellington. Blood banks feel lost business WEST PALM BEACH South Florida Blood Banks Inc. is seeking donors to replenish its supply The agency estimated it Palm Beach Post Staff and Wire Reports DELRAY BEACH An elderly woman, who would only give her name as Tucker, said she'll leave her storm shutters and plywood up until the storm season passes.

Church members came Monday to install the boards on the windows of the house where she's lived for 73 years. How long will they stay on her windows? That's God's work and I don't know," she said. Was she scared? "I was a heap afraid. When he's doing his work, I'm always afraid." Breakers bused guests out PALM BEACH The five-star Breakers resort was evacuated Tuesday, just like everywhere else on Florida's barrier islands. About 200 guests those who hadn't already left or canceled reservations because of the the approach of Floyd were bused Tuesday to hotels on Marco Island, Naples and Sarasota, said resort spokesperson Brie Suncine.

But the hotel did offer Palm Beach police 10 rooms to use forVhe night, an offer the police had to refuse. The only damage the 572-room hotel reported was sand on the pool Staff writers Noah Bierman, Brian Ellen Flannery, Angie Francalancia, Matt Mossman, Jan Norris, Alexandra Clifton Navar-Vo, Tim OMeilia, Jeff Ostrowski, John Pacetlti, Mary Lou Pickel and Julie Waresh contributed to this story..