Three days after Hurricane Frances came ashore on Florida's southeastern coast, hundreds of thousands of residents were still without electricity and schools remained closed. Blamed for six deaths, the storm hit Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie hardest, destroying mobile homes, damaging roofs and windows in sturdier buildings, and toppling trees onto homes, vehicles, and businesses.
Fort Pierce's marina was wrecked, boats elsewhere sank or washed ashore, and wooden docks were swept away. Insurance company lines were jammed. Authorities handed out ice, food, water, and batteries, while relief shipments included over a million meals, baby formula for 7,700 infants, 20 truckloads of plastic sheeting, and hundreds of generators.
Governor Jeb Bush said the damage was widespread but not concentrated at any single point. Frances also worsened losses in Florida's $9 billion citrus industry, already set back by Hurricane Charley the month before.
Some 2,700 kilometers away, Hurricane Ivan was advancing through the Caribbean with sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour, its center 75 kilometers northeast of Tobago on Tuesday morning. Hurricane warnings covered Tobago, Trinidad, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and Grenada; Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao were placed on hurricane watch. Forecasters projected Ivan over Jamaica by Friday and Cuba by Sunday, a track that would bring it close to Florida.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in September 2004, in its own words.