Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508030060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Erin sank two ships, killed two people and knocked out power to more than 1 million others. Five more people were missing at sea.
Erin blew ashore with 85 mph winds shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday near Vero Beach, on Florida's Atlantic Coast, and roared across the state's midsection in 10 hours.
It soaked up strength from the warm gulf waters and became a hurricane again 140 miles southeast of Pensacola early today as it headed toward low-lying Louisiana and Mississippi.
Across Florida, Erin's tailwinds spawned tornadoes and late Wednesday brought intense thunderstorms and some localized flooding.
By late Wednesday, wind gusts of 74 mph and heavy rains pounded Apalachicola.
About 20 miles west in Cape San Blas, Lyn Waymire, 56, said she did not expect the storm to cause many problems.
``We've had worse rain storms,'' she said standing outside her home after firefighters asked her to evacuate. ``There's never a dull moment. You kind of live on the edge when you live on the coast.''
Low-lying New Orleans, ``the most vulnerable city in the United States,'' seemed to be the storm's target area - complicating the job for forecasters, said Bob Burpee, National Hurricane Center director.
Coastal residents scrambled for cover as the storm targeted the Gulf Coast from Apalachicola, Fla., to Mississippi. More than 200 aircraft from military bases along the Florida Panhandle were flown inland, and 9,000 people in Louisiana were ordered to evacuate.
On its path across central Florida, Erin uprooted trees, knocked down power lines and peeled back the roofs of buildings. But it lacked the fury of Andrew, which devastated south Dade County in 1992.
``This is not a hurricane. It's a pussycat,''said Jim Godwin, a fisherman who lives along the Gulf coast near Homosassa Springs.
Walt Disney World came through unscathed except for a few downed trees on the edges of the Magic Kingdom.
State insurance officials had no immediate damage estimates but expected a large number of minor claims.
``It's a big letdown,'' said Bill Ribkee, a 28-year-old carpet company owner from Spring Hill along the Gulf coast. ``I was hoping it would flood so my business would pick up.''
The highest drama came about 90 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral when the Club Royale, a 234-foot gambling ship, sank in heavy seas with a crew of 11.
Coast Guard helicopters and ships rescued eight crew members. The ship had put to sea Monday with a skeleton crew to ride out the storm.
``When it started listing, eight of them abandoned ship in the life rafts, and the other three stayed on board, and they never saw them after the boat sank,'' said Coast Guard Petty Officer Chris Rose.
The Coast Guard also was searching for a father and daughter whose small raft was blown out to sea off Cape San Blas in the Florida Panhandle.
Erin also sank a tugboat off the coast of Georgia. All five crew members were rescued.
Florida officials blamed two deaths on the storm: a 75-year-old woman who suffered a heart attack after she was evacuated to a Tampa shelter hours before the storm hit land, and a Palm City man who was crushed to death under a stack of plywood as he boarded up his home.
The storm left 1 million people without electricity in Florida, and utility officials warned it could take several days to restore power to everyone. But by early evening, electricity was back on in about half the affected homes.
Keywords:
INFOLINE
by CNB