Posted on 08/11/2004 1:26:00 PM PDT by AVNevis
MIAMI (AP) - Tropical Storm Charley strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday after prompting officials to order visitors out of part of the Florida Keys, while Tropical Storm Bonnie chugged across the Gulf of Mexico on a path that would carry heavy rain toward the already wet Florida Panhandle.
The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for the middle and lower Florida Keys from Dry Tortugas to Craig Key. A watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. Hurricane watches were posted for western Cuba and Jamaica, and a hurricane warning was issued for the Cayman Islands.
Charley was forecast to hit or pass close to the lower Keys late Thursday.
Bonnie was expected to reach northwest Florida on Thursday morning, and a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch were in effect from the Alabama line to the Suwanee River, the Miami-based hurricane center said.
(AP) Tropical Storm Charley is seen in this NOAA satellite close-up image taken at 8:15 a.m. EDT on... Full Image
The back-to-back storms also threatened to produce rain along wide sections of the East Coast.
Charley grew to hurricane strength around midday Wednesday as its sustained wind increased to about 75 mph, just barely above the threshold of 74 mph, the hurricane center said, citing reports from an Air Force storm tracking airplane. More strengthening was forecast.
In the Keys, Monroe County emergency officials urged visitors to start leaving the part of the 100-mile-long island chain covered by the watch, because evacuation can take several hours since there's only one road to the mainland. Residents were not being told to leave.
Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency for all of Florida, said more areas may need to be evacuated and activated the National Guard.
At a Days Inn in Key West, manager Lisa Kaminski already had started telling the hotel's approximately 200 guests that they had to leave and warning off people who had reservations.
(AP) Tropical Storm Charley is seen over the Carribean Sea, foreground, as Tropical Storm Bonnie is seen... Full Image
"We're telling people that the hurricane will probably be here Friday and it's in their best interest not to come," she said.
But she said she and her employees weren't too worried. "We're staying. This isn't a big one," Kaminski said.
Government offices were closed in the Caymans. Steady drizzle fell on Jamaica as residents stocked up on groceries.
Carnival Cruise Lines was reshuffling the ports of call for several ships to avoid the storms, and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) was considering doing the same, officials said.
After striking or brushing the Keys, Charley was forecast to continue its northward path and hit the southwestern Florida mainland early Friday with sustained wind of about 85 mph, forecaster Daniel Brown said at the hurricane center.
(AP) Tropical Storm Charley is seen over the Caribbean Sea in this NOAA satellite image taken at 7:45... Full Image
Charley was likely to cross central Florida, still packing hurricane-force wind, and then exit near Daytona Beach on the Atlantic Coast. Three to 6 inches of rain is expected, with locally higher amounts possible, Brown said.
Bonnie also gathered strength Wednedsday and may have been forming an eye as it headed toward the Panhandle, the hurricane center said.
Because the Panhandle already has been soaked by days of rain from a different system, some low-lying areas may have to be evacuated if there is flooding, said Craig Fugate, the state's emergency management director. That decision would be up to local authorities.
According to Hurricane Center map projections, after Florida both storms could spread rain along the East Coast, with the remnants of Bonnie possibly arriving in New England about Saturday morning, and Charley reaching there Sunday morning.
Bonnie's expected track would take it across Georgia into South Carolina early Friday, and Charley was projected to make a second landfall near Charleston, S.C., early Saturday. State emergency officials were monitoring both storms, said Joe Farmer, a spokesman for the state Emergency Management Division.
(AP) Tropical Storm Bonnie is seen over the Gulf of Mexico in this NOAA satellite image taken at 6:15... Full Image
"Since I've been here, I don't remember two tracks like this," Farmer said of the twin storms. He has been in the South Carolina agency for 12 years.
At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Bonnie was centered about 205 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving toward the northeast at about 12 mph, up from 6 mph during the morning.
Bonnie's maximum sustained wind had accelerated to about 65 mph and would likely get stronger during the day, forecasters said. Tropical storm-force wind extended up to 70 miles from the center.
Charley was centered 90 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, as of 2 p.m. and was moving west-northwest at around 18 mph, down from 24 mph earlier in the day. Charley had maximum sustained wind near 75 mph and, like Bonnie, was expected to grow stronger, forecasters said. Tropical storm-force wind of at least 39 mph extended up to 115 miles out from the center.
Bonnie and Charley are the second and third named storms of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
Is that anything like musicians? Obstetricians? Physicians?
actually 1 tropical storm and 1 hurricane are currently heading towards florida....and neither are probably actually "breaking news".
I've been through hurricanes. They are really bad.
Just funnin' ya, kid! ;)
Charley should be renamed Chad! ;~)
I'm supposed to fly to southern Florida Friday morning and catch a cruise ship on Saturday.
I think I'm screwed.
Sorry 'bout that, bud.
Thanks for the heads up!
Hurricians are, of course, medical doctors for people unable to get in a hurry.
No, Clyde! Bonnie and Clyde!
I've lived here in Florida since 1969 and I've never been thru a Hurrician......can ya' believe that!?...
Send some to Najaf...
Good assessment.
Seriously though, I hope it all works out okay for you. I would imagine the cruise company has some kind of contingency plans. It ain't the first hurricane in FL, and it ain't the least....
Be a hurrican not a hurricant.
LOL!
lol.
Yeah, no kidding.
Hey, check out the hurricans on her........
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