Florida, taking Fay seriously, starts closing, cancelling and evacuating
MIAMI — Students in Florida’s Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties won’t go back to classes today, insurance companies stopped writing new policies, tolls have been suspended and downpours are likely to move in soon.
Tropical Storm Fay, you have our attention.
“You always worry about hurricane amnesia,” Gov. Charlie Crist said Sunday afternoon, urging people to remain calm, safe — and not complacent.
The state’s emergency management director, Craig Fugate, was more blunt: “Too many people have died in a ‘minimal’ storm.”
Monroe County schools, government offices and early-voting polling stations will stay closed today and Tuesday.
Miami-Dade and Broward schools also will be closed today; district officials said they would decide today about what to do about Tuesday’s classes. Broward’s early voting locations also will close today.
Fay also had an impact on the presidential election: Republican hopeful John McCain canceled a scheduled fundraiser in Miami where he could have raised close to $1 million.
And Barack Obama canceled a scheduled stop in the Tampa, Fla., area, where Fay appears to be headed after it passes through South Florida.
As Tropical Storm Fay continued to spin with 50 mph winds along Cuba’s southern coastline Sunday, tourists in the Florida Keys were ordered to evacuate and shelters were to open later in the day. The Keys could begin to feel Fay’s effects soon, and South Florida could start to experience heavy downpours today, forecasters said.
“The whole peninsula is going to be under a threat for tornadoes and flooding,” state meteorologist Ben Nelson warned.
Traffic was bumper-to-bumper on northbound U. S. 1 from just north of Marathon to Florida City on Sunday.
Fay is still expected to be a tropical storm when it passes near the Keys, but it could intensify after it moves away from Cuba and toward the Florida Peninsula early today.
“Although some weakening is likely as Fay crosses Cuba, Fay is expected to be near hurricane strength as it approaches the Florida Keys,” National Hurricane Center forecasters said.
Hurricane watches extended from the Keys to a large stretch of Florida’s West Coast, up to Anna Maria Island near Bradenton. Parts of Southwest Florida like Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte were hammered by Hurricane Charley in 2004.
Saturday, Crist declared a state of emergency, which activates the Florida National Guard’s 9,000 available troops into readiness mode.
But officials warned all South Florida residents to get ready before the weather gets bad. Alvarez reminded people to have hurricane supplies ready and an evacuation plan if needed.
