The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 11

I A-1 0 The Orlando Sentinel, Thursday, August 3, 1995 itnimmwm Restoring electricity This time, flooding is no-show BED HUBEHTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Wind gusts in east Orange County were so forceful that an Ameri 1 Power woes, debris top problem list: As natural disasters go, it could have been a lot worse. Erin left a ton of fallen trees and arcing power lines in Oranga County but few injuries, scant flooding and little serious proper ty damage in her wake Wednesday. At its peak near dawn, one-third of the households in Orange County were involuntarily dark! Orlando Utilities Commission and; Florida Power crews scrambled to restore electricity to more than 106,000 homes. Social workers were dispatched to a handful of homes after handi. capped residents complained that they couldn't get oxygen.

Power outages forced one emergency shelter at Conway Middle" School to close because the school failed to have a backup generator. About 20 people were encouraged to relocate to a shelter at Hunter's Creek Middle School. The Sheriffs Office was flooded by more than 1,700 calls between 3 and 7 a.m., the bulk involving fallen trees and blowing debris. Roads were cleared on a priority basis. Aside from isolated fende( benders, no major traffic problems were reported.

With the exception of two isolated reports, traditional flooding sites such as Tangelo Park, Taft and Bithlo remained waterlogged but habitable. The roof col? lapsed at a home on Cynthid Street in south Orlando, but no one was injured. One home in Southwest Orange was destroyed by raw sewage. After the electricity died, a pumg station near the Orange Tree sub division failed, causing sewage to flow downstream intq the home. More than 50 county lift stations failed, but only the one home was destroyed.

Some Orange County deputx sheriffs spent the worst hourj from about 5:30 to 6:30 a.m.f checking railroad crossing gates! in the Rosemont area. Wind snapped sorrie gatei'tmd bent others, blocking Edgewater Drive and other streets. Stacey Jackson, renting a home! for his family at 909 Bordeaux Place in Pine Hills, was jolted awake by a giant pine tree, which came to rest in his dining room. The tree, which Jackson estimated to be more than 50 feet tall, crushed his Florida room when it tipped over in the wind, around a.m. 't and smashing press box windows.

Stadium manager Don Miers said he expected the field to be ready for 7 p.m. Friday, when the Kissimmee Cobras host the West Palm Beach Expos. Several area businesses had minor damage from the storm, including lost doors or roof shingles. Downtown Kissimmee's Arcade Theatre lost its sign, which shattered in the storm. Power outages were reported countywide early Wednesday, with about 22,000 homes and businesses dark near dawn, when the winds were strongest.

Most of the power was expected to be restored by noon today, officials said. Thousands lost power, winds light NEW SMYRNA BEACH Erin nipped Volusia County, left thousands of residents stranded for hours without electricity, but many were relieved the damage wasn't worse. Officials said many of the 26,000 affected homes where power lines were loosened by the wind or knocked over by falling trees will get electricity back today. "We dodged a bullet," was how Volusia's emergency management director Jim Ryan put it. The worst damage came on the beachside.

A section of roof blew off the Pelican Condominium in New Smyrna Beach and damaged 10 cars. The steeple tumbled at First Baptist Church of New Smyrna Beach. Two homes, in Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach, had trees fall on them. No storm-related injuries were reported. The National Weather Service measured just 0.41 inches of rain and a peak wind speed of 45 mph (37 mph sustained) in Daytona Beach on Wednesday.

The rain total may be misleading because gauges don't catch rain blown sideways, officials said. In past storms, beaches have been ravaged by erosion. But only a 15-foot byJ 4-foot section at Ponce Inlet Park was washed away. About 115 people voluntarily spent the night in the county's two shelters, Ryan said. County officials believe they were right not to force an evacuation, he said, because Volusia wasn't expected to face hurricane-force winds.

Ryan said his biggest worry now is whether residents will see Erin's soft sweep across Volusia as a reason to feel overconfident the next time a major storm threatens. Seminole County escaped the kinds of flooding and impassable roads brought by Tropical Storm Gordon last November. Severe flooding was the biggest fear for public safety officials before the storm. Heavy rainfall since July 1 as much as 14 inches in some areas has left the ground saturated. "Our preparations were geared to expect major flooding problems," said Public Safety Director Gary Kaiser.

"But the storm simply didn't pack the amount of rain we anticipated." The emergency operations center at Five Points in Sanford fielded hundreds of calls before the storm made landfall, said Emergency Management Coordinator Ken Roberts. Seven to 10 operators answered up to three calls a minute each during a four-hour period. Emergency management workers at Winter Springs spotted a small funnel cloud shortly after 4 a.m. behind City Hall, although it didn't hit City Hall or any homes. It crossed State Road 434 before disappearing.

The only injury reported was a 75-year-old nursing home resident with a broken leg. After the Life Care Nursing Home in Altamonte Springs lost power and telephones, a woman got out of bed. and fell in the dark about 2 a.m. A hurricane drill had been scheduled with the emergency management team, the Sheriffs Office, the county and cities on Aug. 10.

No need for it now. The drill has been canceled. "What we have experienced preparing for Hurricane Erin far exceeds any simulated exercise we had planned," Roberts said. Windy night leaves little in damage TAVARES Erin blew over trees and damaged a handful of homes and cars across Lake County, but the area escaped with minimal damage. Power went out in several thousand homes and businesses, including the Sylvan Shores and Eudora Au 1 to take days.

South Melbourne was the hardest hit area of Brevard County, with gusts recorded officially as high as 76 mph. The damage-assessment team was still at work trying to determine if parts of the county would qualify for federal or state aid. An estimated 60 percent to 70 percent of Brevard was without power as Erin passed over in the morning. Florida Power Light said about 151,000 homes or businesses were without electricity in the morning. By 7:30 p.m., an estimated 128,000 were still without I electricity.

Crews worked through the day to restore power to thousands of customers but said it would take three to four days to get everyone I back on line. Because of the power problem, emergency workers kept shelters opened Wednesday night for those needing food and other services. I There were reports of minor damage and at least one twister. A little after 2:30 p.m., a maintenance worker at J.C. Penney in Titusville was hospitalized with facial cuts when a tornado ripped through the store and pinned him under an inch- thick glass display case.

Assistant store manager Jerry Ban- would not release the work- er's name. The twister, which struck the north side of the Miracle City Mall at 2:43 p.m., also picked up two customers and tossed them across a checkout counter. The unidentified couple landed on sales associate Ann Smith, who was ringing up their purchase. None of the three was injured. Barr said the tornado knocked out an 8- by 6-foot glass display window and rampaged through the Lingerie department.

The force of the blast knocked over racks throughout the store. The twister also cracked the front window at United National Travel and knocked in the front doors of a neighboring Walgreens, scattering merchandise. No one was injured, but the store closed while workers boarded up the windows and employees cleaned up the mess. It was apparently just a glancing blow as the tornado jumped over the mall and knocked signs off on the south side before breaking up. Mall manager Sylvia Krajna said the mall closed about 4 p.m.

Miracle City Mall is on U.S. Highway 1 north of State Road 50. A can flag left flying during the storm Road area of Mount Dora where an oak tree fell on a power line. More than 600 people some from campgrounds near Walt Disney World sought refuge from the storm in a dozen shelters scattered across the county. Only one tornado was reported it touched down in a rural area of Mascotte, damaging some trees.

High winds caused several problems. On Lakeshore Drive in Eus-tis, a tree fell on a car driven by a woman. No one was injured. At the Country Life Mobile Home Park on U.S. Highway 27 south of Leesburg, a 14-foot-square metal barn that housed pumps and circuit breakers was found pitched into nearby woods.

All but about eight or nine families left the mobile home park. "It was quiet last night, but around daybreak, their trailers were rockin' and rollin' and they got scared and called," manager Tim Combs said. "I said, 'It's a little late Clermont police evacuated Emerald Lakes mobile home park off State Road 50 after winds ripped roofs off several homes early Wednesday. Two limbs from a live oak tree crashed onto the roof of Kevin and Rosie Mulholland's home at 475 W. Minnehaha Clermont.

"We thought we'd escaped unscathed when we made it through the night," Kevin Mulholland said. High winds peeled back the tin roof of the Lake County Fire Department's station in Minneola, exposing the fire engine bay. Donna Hatley's garage behind her home at 486 W. Osceola Clermont, was leveled. "I just woke up about 5 o'clock and it was down.

I thought 'Gosh, maybe it was hit by a little was ripped in half. i i No disaster aid OK'd for county KISSIMMEE Osceola County won't qualify for federal or state aid for Erin, a state emergency official said after surveying damage throughout the county Wednesday. The storm scraped a few houses and vehicles and tore roofs and sides off several mobile homes. Trees caused minor damage on roofs in Kissimmee, St. Cloud and Buenaventura Lakes, but no injuries were reported.

Most of the damaged homes were insured, said John Kohnke, the state grants specialist who toured the county. "The question I have to ask is: Is it within the capabilities of the local government to handle it?" Kohnke said. "This-sized thing is." Emergency officials found the worst damage at the Kissimmee Heights Fire Department on Buenaventura Lakes Boulevard, where the storm tore off parts of the roof and water seeped through the ceiling. County fire officials pulled out all the equipment and cordoned the building Wednesday. Kohnke estimated the damage at $25,000 to $50,000.

Winds caused a similar amount of damage at Osceola County Stadium, blowing down outfield fences, crumpling a dugout roof A Cruise ship sinks, 3 crew members missing Guard picks members afternoon tr Port Canaveral I BREVARD CO. INDIAN RIVER CO. ST. LUCIE CO. MARTM CO.

Coast up crew Wednesday Ship leaves dock Monday night The Club Royale Size: 234 feet long Capacity: 500 passengers Owner: Sea Lane Baha-, mas Manager: International Shipping Partners, Miami Port: Port of Palm Beach Built: 1985 Value: About $5 million Purpose: Used for day, evening gambling excursions Sources: International Shipping Partners and previous owner, Europe Cruise Unes AP FILE ship missing! Port of Palm PALM BEACH CO. Miles MapQ area Beach DANA A. FASANOTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL If 1 I ft Jit ,4 7Sv i H'; sunken cruise 3 crew SHIP from members of A-1 i wamm i The rescued crew members, all from the Miami area, were identified by hospital officials as: Robert Acevedo, 49; Benny Holmquist, 50; Doug McAuliffe, 32; Luis Dominguez, 36; Arturo Ma-chado, 48; Carlos Delatorre, 67; and Eduaido Oquendo, 20. The names of the eighth rescued crew member and those missing were not released. The seven crew members were flown to Patrick Air Force Base where ambulances rushed them to local hospitals.

They were treated at two Brevard County for bruises and exposure. 5' The Club Royale was one of many sea! vessels told to leave the Port of Beach on Monday night, said Ben Murphy, the port's executive director. It's com- mon practice to send ships toward calmer weather before a hurricane to avoid being tossed against docks, Murphy said. J' The Club Royale set a course headings due north, which at the time made sense, said Murphy, who was surprised at the news. i "I know it to be a good oT strong ship," i he said.

Charmaine Morris, the office manager' for International Shipping Partners inJ Miami, manager of the ship, said the com- pany last spoke with the crew before they' left Palm Beach on Monday night "Everything was calm," Morris said. "We were just getting out of the port we were instructed to do so." She spent Wednesday nervously waiting and wondering about the crew and what; happened. She does not know how or why; they lost the race against Erin that other ships won. rection the crew thought would take them away from the storm. But Erin took a turn to the north, and the Club Royale was in the middle of a hurricane.

About 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, the ship began to list, the second engineer told the Coast Guard on Wednesday. He and seven others abandoned ship, but the other three stayed behind. The ship sank, and the crew never spotted their shipmates again. When rescuers arrived before 1 p.m.

Wednesday, they saw no sign of the Club Royale, which had started offering day and evening gambling cruises out of Palm Beach in July. Eight crew members were hanging on to two rafts they had been in for nearly eight hours, riding huge swells. From the helicopters, the Coast Guard struggled to keep its rescue baskets within rafters' reach. Two rescuers in wet suits jumped into the water to help crew members into the basket, one at a time. They reached seven of the eight crew members that way; a private merchant vessel picked up the eighth man.

The dramatic rescue nearly turned tragic when the raft flipped with five men still aboard. Rescuer Chuck Brannan counted heads: Only three appeared. Another flip of the raft revealed the two others, still fighting to stay afloat. The 32-year-old petty officer struggled to keep crew members from drifting apart, at one point grabbing two of them. A second helicopter arrived with rescuer Clark Evenson.

The 25-year-old, struggling against the waves, threw up twice as he rescued the remaining crew. One man panicked and had to be forced from his raft and into a rescue basket. Then there was one person left. "This huge and I mean we're talking huge wave just slams him," Evenson said. Somehow, the crew member managed to stay in the raft.

1 JOE BURBANKTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL A rescued member of the sunken gambling ship Club Royale gives sign while being treated by U.S. Coast Guard personnel Wednesday. the thumbs-up t..