Sept. 13, 2004

ST. MARK'S, Fla. — People who evacuated the Florida Keys were told they could go back Monday as 160-mph Hurricane Ivan appeared to spare them a direct hit and instead took aim at the Panhandle, where residents weren't taking any chances ahead of the killer storm.

Even though crisp, sunny weather Sunday belied a danger that still could be days away, people in the rural fishing villages and beach communities along the Gulf of Mexico got serious about boarding up windows, stocking food and worrying.

Emergency officials in several Panhandle counties were expected to decide Monday whether to order evacuations amid fresh images of destruction in the Caribbean and two earlier hurricanes in their state.

"It's a scary-looking hammer knocker," said 57-year-old Billy Porter, a building contractor who was gearing up for a day of fishing. Porter said he's prepared to ride out the storm at his log house about 4 miles from the water. "I've got a generator for my TV — as long I've got my TV, I'm all right," he said.

Forecasters said Ivan, which strengthened back to a Category 5 storm Sunday night, could strike somewhere along a huge swath of the Gulf Coast by Wednesday. They advised residents from west-central Florida to the Louisiana marshes to be leery of a storm which already has killed at least 65 people and injured hundreds in the Caribbean.

With Ivan's path unsettled, Virginia Gros, who lives in a mobile home near Fowl River, Ala., was busy Sunday.

"I think it's going to take the trailer. I'm packing up as much as I can," Gros said, pointing to the vacant concrete pads of neighbors who had already fled.

While Gulf coast residents were on alert, people in the tourist haven of the Keys and populous South Florida were able to relax because Ivan's westward-shifting track meant they were no longer the hurricane's prime target.

At 5 a.m. Monday, Monroe County officials lifted mandatory evacuation orders that began Thursday for tourists and the roughly 79,000 residents in the Keys, a 120-mile island chain.

Ivan had top sustained wind near 160 mph, up from 150 mph on Sunday. The minimum sustained wind speed for Category 5 status is 156 mph. At 8 a.m. it was centered about 110 miles south-southeast of Cuba's western tip, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The storm was moving toward the west-northwest at 9 mph and was expected to turn gradually toward the northwest. Depending on the exact motion, forecasters said, the storm's center could miss the western tip of Cuba and could possibly move near the tip of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula by Tuesday morning.

State and federal officials and disaster relief crews who already have dealt with Hurricanes Frances and Charley were preparing for Ivan. Federal Emergency Management Agency head Michael Brown said federal aid is in place to help with recovery from the storm.

On Sunday, a few Key West restaurants reopened, beach-goers went kite surfing and shoppers returned to grocery stores.

Tom Bordovsky, 51, was among the Key West residents who never left, saying travel was too expensive. He thought evacuating was necessary, but worried about the effects of so many close calls.

"It's going to harden the hearts of a lot of people because you can only cry wolf so many times," he said.

Keys officials estimated Sunday that the island chain could lose between $16 million to $20 million in tourism-related sales because of Ivan by Thursday, when they're encouraging tourists to return. Already, officials said the evacuation from Hurricane Charley last month cost the Keys $35 million in tourism sales.

Susan Poston, a manager at the Flora-Bama lounge on the Alabama-Florida line, said she hopes Ivan goes to Texas, but wouldn't wish the hurricane on anyone. She said some customers from Florida have been in, but not in much of a party mood because of all the devastation in that state from Hurricanes Frances and Charley.

"It's just depressing," she said.

Insured losses from Hurricane Charley last month were estimated at just under $7 billion, and those from Frances were pegged at $2 billion to $4 billion.

About 335,000 homes and businesses in 28 counties still had no electricity Sunday as a result of Hurricane Frances, which plowed ashore on the Florida Panhandle on Sept. 5.

Steve Lousberg, who manages Ace Hardware in the Panhandle town of Woodville, said he thinks people started preparing early for Ivan because of Charley and Frances.

"They've been seeing how devastated it is down south and the fact that these other two hurricanes have gone through and there are still reports that people haven't returned to power," he said. "They're definitely worried about it."

In south Fort Myers, Julian Morano, 42, bought lumber to board up her windows. She said she prepared for Charley, which affected Fort Myers but hit north at Punta Gorda.

"I keep thinking about those people in Punta Gorda and what a surprise they got, and I just don't want that surprise," she said.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/s2317.htm