You know what this means ... Bush is going on vacation again
for another month.
cat5 wrote:
>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9710472/
>
>Wilma most intense Atlantic storm on record
>Florida Keys evacuations begin; Central America, Cuba already see rain
>
>The Associated Press
>Updated: 10:34 a.m. ET Oct. 19, 2005
>
>
>PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Gathering strength at a record pace and on course
>for southern Florida, Hurricane Wilma grew into the most intense
>Atlantic storm ever recorded Wednesday — a Category 5 monster with 175
>mph winds.
>
>The National Hurricane Center — which bases a storm's strength on
>barometric pressure, not wind speed — said Wilma’s pressure had
>dropped to 882 millibars, the lowest minimum pressure ever measured in
>a hurricane in the Atlantic basin. Pressure drops as a hurricane gains
>strength, and the previous record was set by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988
>at 888 millibars.
>
>Center meteorologist Hugh Cobb said Wilma also set a record for the
>most rapid strengthening ever recorded in a hurricane.
>
>But Cobb added that Wilma wasn’t expected to keep its record strength
>for long, as higher disruptive atmospheric winds in the Gulf of Mexico
>around the hurricane should weaken it before landfall.
>
>Still, forecasters warned the storm was “extremely dangerous.”
>
>“It does look like it poses a significant threat to Florida by the
>weekend. Of course, these are four- and five-day forecasts, so things
>can change,” said Dan Brown, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane
>Center.
>
>One positive factor is that Wilma is not wide by storm standards, with
>hurricane force winds extending just 15 miles from the eye. Tropical
>storm force winds, however, extend 160 miles out and the storm is
>expected to widen before making landfall.
>
>
>Keys evacuations start
>In Florida, Monroe County officials have ordered visitors out of the
>Florida Keys starting at noon Wednesday, the first U.S. evacuations
>caused by Wilma. No timetable was given for residents to evacuate, but
>that was expected to be issued later Wednesday.
>
>Officials had earlier said the evacuations wouldn't start until
>Thursday.
>
>“This is our fourth storm but this one is really aggressive,” Irene
>Toner, director of emergency management for the county that
>encompasses the islands, told local radio. “This one we are taking
>seriously. The damage is going to be substantial.”
>
>The Keys are a vulnerable chain of low-lying islands connected to
>mainland Florida by a single road.
>
>The storm was expected to come ashore in southwestern Florida,
>threatening coastal areas like Punta Gorda that were hit by Charley, a
>Category 4 storm that was the first of seven hurricanes to strike or
>pass close to the state since August 2004.
>
>Cobb said Wilma was expected to move across Florida quickly, which
>means it wouldn’t weaken much over land. That means it’s possible
>Atlantic coast cities such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm
>Beach could be hit by winds nearly as strong as the west coast.
>
>The storm gathered force rapidly over the last day. It was only
>Tuesday morning that Wilma grew from a tropical storm into a weak
>hurricane.
>
>At 8 a.m. ET, the hurricane was centered about 340 miles southeast of
>Cozumel, Mexico. Maximum sustained wind was 175 mph, forecasters said.
>
>Passing through Yucatan Channel
>Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, Nicaragua and Honduras were getting heavy rain
>from the storm, though it wasn’t likely to make landfall in any of
>those countries.
>
>
>It was expected to dump up to 25 inches of rain in mountainous areas
>of Cuba through Friday, and up to up to 15 inches in the Caymans and
>Jamaica through Thursday. Up to 12 inches was possible from Honduras
>through the Yucatan peninsula, the U.S. weather service said.
>
>Forecasts showed that after moving through the narrow Yucatan Channel
>between Cuba and Mexico’s Cancun region the storm would then move into
>the Gulf.
>
>With heavy rain, high winds, and rough seas already pounding coastal
>areas, flood-prone Honduras warned that Wilma posed “an imminent
>threat to life and property” and closed two seaports on its Caribbean
>coast. Neighboring Nicaragua also declared an alert. Authorities in
>the Cayman Islands had earlier called an alert.
>
>Honduras and its neighbors already are recovering from flooding and
>mudslides caused earlier this month from storms related to Hurricane
>Stan. At least 796 people were killed, most of them in Guatemala, with
>many more still missing.
>
>Cuba issued a hurricane watch for the western end of the island from
>Matanzas to Pioneer del Rio, as well as the Isle of Youth. Mexico
>issued a hurricane watch for nearly all of its Caribbean coast from
>Punta Gruesa to Cabo Catoche, an area that includes the resort of
>Cancun.
>
>Wilma already had been blamed for one death in Jamaica as a tropical
>depression Sunday. It has flooded several low-lying communities and
>triggered mudslides that blocked roads and damaged several homes, said
>Barbara Carby, head of Jamaica’s emergency management office. She said
>that some 250 people were in shelters throughout the island.
>
>
>Getting ready in Florida
>Although the storm was not expected to approach Florida until the
>weekend, some residents began buying water, canned food and other
>emergency supplies early. Many said they take every storm seriously
>now, after witnessing the devastation from a succession of hurricanes
>that have ravaged the southern United States.
>
>“People have learned their lesson and know better how to prepare.
>We’re not waiting until the last minute anymore,” said Andrea Yerger,
>48, of Port Charlotte, Fla. She was buying material to protect her
>house, which had to be gutted because of extensive damage from
>Hurricane Charley last year.
>
>Wilma’s track could take it near Punta Gorda on Florida’s southwestern
>Gulf Coast and other areas in the state hit by Hurricane Charley, a
>Category 4 storm, in August 2004.
>
>The state has seen seven hurricanes hit or pass close by since August
>2004, causing more than $20 billion in estimated damage and killing
>nearly 150 people.
>
>In the Cayman Islands, authorities urged businesses to close early
>Tuesday to give employees time to prepare for the storm. Schools were
>ordered to close on Wednesday.
>
>In Mexico, the MTV Latin America Video Music Awards ceremony,
>originally scheduled to be held Thursday at a seaside park south of
>Cancun, were moved up to Wednesday night but then postponed
>indefinitely.
>
>Katrina, Rita areas should be safe
>Forecasters said Wilma should avoid the central U.S. Gulf coast
>devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita earlier this year which
>killed more than 1,200 people and caused billions of dollars in
>damage.
>
>“There’s no scenario now that takes it toward Louisiana or
>Mississippi, but that could change,” said Max Mayfield, director of
>the National Hurricane Center.
>
>The storm is the record-tying 12th hurricane of the season, the same
>number reached in 1969. That is the most for one season since
>record-keeping began in 1851.
>
>On Monday, Wilma became the Atlantic hurricane season’s 21st named
>storm, tying the record set in 1933 and exhausting the list of names
>for this year.
>
>The six-month hurricane season does not end until Nov. 30. Any new
>storms would be named with letters from the Greek alphabet, starting
>with Alpha.
|