The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 13

HUrriCane FlOyd: GOing HOme METRO The Orlando Sentinel, Thursday, September 16,1999 A-13 pi? Nassau Trips back home went smoother for evacuees coukty EwBj'K iSt lLJUMCt52 'It mm tat JV JACKSONVILLE 1 Top sustained winds: 30 mph I Top gusts: 45 mph DUVAL tas COUNTY I naimaii irom storm: 1.18 inches ft 1 When the shelters emptied, drivers found the highways full but not as jammed as when the evacuations started. By Mike Oliver OF THE SENTINEL STAFF I 7 'sTJOHfisSl VCOUNTY ST. AUGUSTS Ton siKtainprt winrte- RR mnh 1 y-Fmm 'V w-- -i; 'mm mW V': I 1 Top gusts: 67 mph 1 i Kaintaii: 4.84 inches advised to evacuate 1 Nassau 2WH Duval 96,770 rsnoRre "8,9501 Flagler 23,820 rVofusia Tl375071 Brevard 191,696 TndTaTTFiiveT 47,3821 St. Lucie 97,157 PVTarirn "59,3071 Palm Beach 205,893 fBroward "TTtWl Miami-Dade 272,000 Monroe 59.E551 Total 1,348,912 FLAGLER BEACH Top sustained winds: NA Top gusts: NA Rainfall: NA FUGIM COUNTY DAYTCNA BEACH Top sustained winds: 41 mph RED HUBERTHE ORUNDO SENTINEL In South Carolina. Marcia Stile of North Charleston experiences some of the pet problems that evacuees in Central Florida did.

Rainfall: 1.25 inches Countv evacuations COUNTY I Courtenay said the Central Florida hotels responded well. Some even bent their rules to accommodate guests with pets and would have offered ballroom space if it had become necessary. Tt rfidn't. shfl nole, and Osceola counties housing nearly 8,000 people were closed by 1 p.m. In Lake County, seven shelters which had about 1,200 people were closed by mid-afternoon WpHnesHav One TITUSVILLE Top sustained winds: NA Top gusts: 70 mph Rainfall: 2 inches of the only glitch- ps came in Lake said.

natplv necu- nately, rates pancy Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Floyd evacuees who filled dozens of school gyms and nearly 20,000 hotel rooms across Central Florida left for home Wednesday, clogging major roads heading east. Despite the scale of the evacuation about 1.3 million people fled Florida's east coast this week troopers said the return went relatively smoothly. "All in all, when you look at that many people, it was a recipe for disaster. And that really didn't happen," said Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Chuck Williams.

"I think that's commendable." Many, who said they suffered hours of snail-like traffic getting away from the storm, enjoyed a better flow coming home. "It wasn't too bad," said Karen Botelho of Merritt Island, who spent the night in Orlando and returned home on State Road 528. "Two hours. It could have been worse. It was stop-and-go, stop-and-go, then Away we go." Evacuation orders were lifted for Brevard and Volusia County by midday Wednesday after hurricane warnings in those counties were dropped.

Mobile home residents in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties also were allowed to go home. "My family applauded when we came home and my little girl said, 'Daddy, our house is like said.Eduardo Costa who returned to his Ormond-by-the-Sea to find only minor damage. In east Orange County, Sandy Greco was worried about her 12 cats after leaving her mobile home to stay with her daughter in an apartment complex. "They were scared to death, terrified, but they're fine now," she said upon her return. All 22 shelters in Orange, Semi- COCOA BEACH ORLANDO If Top sustained winds: NA Top gusts: IWA Rainfall: NA 1 BREVARW COUNTY yw MELBOURNE Top sustained winds: 37 mph Top gusts: 60 mph Rainfall: 1.5 inches County's plan for handling those with special medical needs.

Lake has 275 residents registered for special attention during a hurricane evacuation. But Floyd's threat prompted more than 400 calls to the Emergency Operations Center forcing workers to find extra room for them at local hospitals, shelters and nursing homes. Emergency officials had urged use of shelters as a last resort. Based on Central Florida hotel bookings, many heeded that call. Evacuees rented an estimated 20,000 hotel rooms in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties alone, virtually filling all of the 94,000 available rooms, said Danielle Courtenay, a spokeswoman for OrlandoOrange County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Other travelers drove farther away to Tampa, Tallahassee, Miami and even south Georgia. were at a traditional low period 65 percent making more rooms available than at just about any other time of the year, she said. Traffic headaches, aside, the mass evacuation may have served several positive purposes. Emergency officials said it was essentially a well-executed disaster drill. A Circle convenience store in rural Bithlo capitalized on the cars streaming by on State Road 50 in east Orange County.

"Yesterday everybody is going to Orlando, now back to Titus-ville," said Mike Morley, a clerk who was called in from vacation to help with the crowds. "We ran out of bread, ice, water. Our beer cooler is wiped out." Christine Shenot, Rene Stutz-man, Kevin Spear, Ludmilla Le-lis, Kevin Connolly of the Sentinel staff contributed to this I VTRO BEACH top susiamea winas: ja mpn Tod ousts: 53 muh I Rainfall. 0.86 of an inch suucieYI C0UNTV I Vr'CT I FORT PIERCE Top sustained winds: 25 mph Top gusts: 43 mph Rainfall: 0.68 of an inch Floyd giveth, taketh away sand 4 MARTI I COUNTY PALM BEACH COUNTY I BROWARD I i COUNTY By Roger Roy and Garrett Youngblood OF THE SENTINEL STAFF VvEST PALM BEACH Top sustained winds: 30 mph Top gusts: 42 mph Raintaii. trace of Flagler Beach Pier vanished at high tide Wednesday afternoon.

Despite such losses, the extent of beach erosion from Floyd wasn't immediately clear, partly because the surf remained too rough for a detailed survey. "We all have to let the surf settle down before we think we lost more sand in winter storms that we did to Floyd." North of Cape Canaveral, however, the wind-driven waves grabbed more than sand. In Volusia county, part of a landmark Daytona Beach pier collapsed, a scene caught on videotape and replayed countless In the An estimated total of 700,000 statewide were without power at one time or another. OFF JACKSONVILLE COAST 8 people rescued from sinking tugboat 350 miles northeast of Jacksonville. JACKSONVILLE BEACH End of city pier sheared off.

FERNANBINA BEACH Waves break over dunes into 20 oceanfront homes. BEVERLY BEACH Mobile-home park damaged. FLAGLER BEACH 75-foot section of the Flagler Beach Pier falls into ocean. Sections of oceanside State Road A1 A impassable as tides wash onto roadway. DAYTCNA BEACH 100-foot section of the Main Street Pier collapses into the sea; wind damages beachside hotels; about 100,000 Volusia homes and businesses are without power after storm.

BREVARD COUNTY About 45,000 are without power. OFF CAPE CANAVERAL COAST Weather buoy 20 miles off Cape Canaveral measures 54-foot wave. PALM BEACH COUNTY Eleven shelters were set up to handle 4,475 people, but nearly 5,300 evacuees showed up, forcing the county to turn to neighboring Broward County to help with the overflow. iiuiiwi.ui.su in i Car reallv asses times on televi- I1 fjhK sion news. I Ak' the damage," FORT LAUDERDALE Top sustained winds: 30 1 Top gusts: 42 mph Rainfall: trace COCOA BEACH With every wave pounding the shore, Hurricane Floyd left a little sand on the beach.

As each wave rolled out again to sea it took sand away. Did Floyd leave more than it took? The answer varied, depending on where you looked along Florida's East Coast. In Brevard County, most beaches seemed little the worse for Floyd. As the heaviest surf began to subside Wednesday, most of the shore appeared to have eroded relatively little, although at least one house in Satellite Beach was undermined by the surf. In Indialantic, the storm seemed to do little damage to the beach.

"It looks just the same to me," said Indialantic fire captain Jim Haggas, who was watching surfers take on the foaming 12- to 14-foot waves that rolled onto city beaches. "People don't realize that the beach fluctuates all the time, that the sand comes with one storm and goes with the next" Haggas said. "But this doesn't look bad to me. I MIAMI Top sustained winds: NA Top gusts: NA Rainfall: NA I 1 MIAMI-DACE I COUNTY I said John Agard, a field worker for National Hurricane Center research division. Agard said he will make precise measurements at known reference points and compare the data to measurements taken several weeks earlier.

"Basically, it means a couple of days walking around barefoot with a tape measure," Agard said. What he has seen so far didn't look that serious. In its way, the erosion was good news. After all, Agard said, near-misses always take some of the beach sand, while direct hits by powerful hurricanes leave big piles of it usually in the ground floors of beachfront homes and business. Rich McKay of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

At Bethune Beach, south of New Smyrna Beach, and at Lighthouse Point Park in Ponce Inlet, the storm chipped away at beaches already eroded by Hurricane Dennis several weeks ago. "We probably lost about 5 feet of beach from Hurricane Dennis, and I think we lost about twice that ground this time around," said Deputy Chief Joe Wooden of the Volusia County Beach Patrol. Lost was not only part of the beach itself but also the dunes that help shield the coast from further flooding and erosion. "The dunes that normally protect the properties and sea walls were basically cut in half," Wooden said. In Flagler County, sections of State Road A1A washed out, making areas of Marineland and Flagler Beach impassable.

A 75-foot chunk 5 Xa i- LJuKl NaSonal Weattier Service, Sentinel r3rrh THE ORLANDO SENTINEL For continuing storm coverage For the latest on Hurricane Floyd: Stay tuned to Central Florida News 13 on Time Warner cable TV. Viewers can track the hurricane during "Tropical Updates" at 21 minutes and 51 minutes past the hour. Log on to which will provide updated information about the storm in addition to satellite images and a live tracking map. Call SentineLine, a tele Company Claims number State Farm Fire Casualty 1-800-732-5246 Allstate Floridian Insurance 1-800-547-8676 Florida RPCJUA 1-800-636-8511 Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance 1-800-421-3535 Clarendon Select Insurance 1-800-797-2526 USAA companies 1-800-531-8222 Clarendon National Insurance 1-800-216-3711 Florida Select Insurance 1-888-700-0101 Bankers Security Insurance 1 -800-725-9472 Southern Family Insurance 1-800-673-4952 First Floridian Auto Homes 1-800-252-4633 Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance t-800-637-0757 Hartford Insurance Co. 1-800-637-5410 Prudential Property Casualty 1-800-437-3535 Florida Family Mutual Insurance 1-888-486-4663 Harbor Specialty Insurance 1-800-797-2526 Florida Farm Bureau General 1-800-330-3327 Omega Insurance 1-800-216-3711 American General Property Insurance 1-800-321-2452 Fla.

Windstorm Underwriting Assn 1-800-493-9463 Includes Tower Hill Insurance Group, Clarendon Select, Clarendon National and Harbor Specialty; also 1-800-509-1592. "Personal policies only; commercial policyholders should call 1-800-635-3249. A 24-hour line is also available at 1-800-633-1833. Hartford Insurance Co. of the Midwest; also 1- 800-243-5860.

Source: Florida Insurance Department open. Most other cities expected to open. Port Canaveral open to all ships by 8 a.m. SCHOOLS Orange County: Open today. Seminole County: Open today.

Osceola County: Open today. Lake County: Open today. Volusia County: Closed today. Will reopen Friday. Athletics and extracurricular activities resume today.

Administrators and custodians asked to work today. Brevard County: Closed today. May reopen Friday. PRIVATE SCHOOLS Orlando Diocese Catholic schools and most private schools will follow the schedule of public school systems in their counties. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES University of Central Florida: Open today.

Rollins College: Open today. Valencia Community College: Open today. Seminole Community College: Open today. Stetson University: Closed today. Will reopen Friday.

Daytona Beach Community College: Closed today. Will reopen Friday. Brevard Community College: Closed today. call (407) 246-2283. Seminole County: Pickups begin today.

Curbside bundles no longer than 4 feet. Osceola County: Regular schedules resume today. Lake County: Regular schedules resume today. Volusia County: Regular schedules resume today. Brevard County: Regular schedules resume today.

CLOSINGS Orange County: All government offices open. Lynx bus service resumes 5 a.m. today. Seminole County: All government offices open. Osceola County: No court scheduled but Clerk of the Court is open.

Courts to reopen Friday. Other government offices open. Lake County: All government offices open. Volusia County: All government offices open, although County Council meeting canceled. Votran bus service resumes today Daytona International Airport resumes regularly scheduled flights.

County beaches closed for rough surf and debris in the water. Residents of Port Orange under boil-water order until further notice. Brevard County: Courts are closed. County government offices open today. City halls in Melbourne, Palm Bay and Rockledge are phone informa tion service, at I When to expect trash pickup, what to do with fallen limbs, what schools are open and what remains closed today: TRASH PICKUP Orange County: Regular schedules resume today.

Seminole County: Regular schedules resume today. Osceola County: Regular schedules resume today. Lake County: Resumes today. Pickup Saturday for Wednesday-only customers. Volusia County: Resumes today.

Wednesday pickups collected today except in Daytona Beach, where Wednesday customers will get pickup Saturday. Brevard County: Regular schedules resume today. LIMBS AND YARD TRASH Orange County: For Orange County residents, special yard trash pickup Saturday. Bundle in 3-foot-long sections not more than 60 pounds each. For Orlando residents, collection Thursday, Friday and Monday.

For fallen trees blocking rights-of-way in the city, and enter Category 9700 to hear the latest storm advisory. Vi'Aj The Orlando Sentinel orlando sentinelcom.