No. 4 and Counting: Jeanne Wreaks Havoc Across Storm-Torn Florida

HUTCHINSON ISLAND, Fla. – Jeanne, Florida’s fourth hurricane in six weeks, piled on destruction in already ravaged areas yesterday, slicing across the state with howling wind that rocketed debris from earlier storms and torrents of rain that turned streets into rivers.At least six people died in the storm, which was a cruel rerun for many still trying to recover from earlier hurricanes. Jeanne came ashore in the same area hit three weeks ago by Hurricane Frances and was headed for the Panhandle, where 70,000 homes and businesses remained without power because of Hurricane Ivan 10 days earlier.The storm peeled the roofs off buildings, toppled light poles, destroyed a deserted community center in Jensen Beach, and flooded some bridges from the mainland to the Atlantic coast’s barrier islands. Utilities estimated more than 2.5 million homes and businesses were without power late yesterday.“The last three weeks have been horrific,” said the owner of a Vero Beach mobile home park where about half the 232 trailers were damaged, Joe Stawara. “And just when we start to turn the corner, this happens.”Until this weekend, no state had suffered a four-hurricane pounding in one season since Texas in 1886. And the hurricane season still has two months to go.Rain blew sideways in wind that reached 120 miles an hour when Hurricane Jeanne’s eye hit land late Saturday night; by 8 p.m. yesterday it had weakened to a tropical storm with sustained wind near 55 mph.The storm unleashed several inches of rain in many areas. Official totals last night included 5.84 inches in Melbourne, 5.35 inches in Orlando, and 2.69 inches at Palm Beach International Airport, but meteorologists said the actual totals probably were much higher because heavy winds can make rain gauges inaccurate.At least a foot of water rushed through some streets in Vero Beach, where a mattress floated through one neighborhood.President Bush declared a major disaster area in Florida. The hurricanes have prompted the largest relief effort in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s history, eclipsing responses for the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, Calif., and the 2001 terrorist attacks, director Michael Brown said.Frances was larger, while Charley and Ivan were more powerful. But Jeanne was bad enough, once again sending the Sunshine State into a state of emergency. Governor Bush sought to reassure weary Floridians. “This will become a memory,” he said. “This does come to an end, and when it does we can probably use the term ‘normal’ again.”Jeanne made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane just before midnight Saturday at Hutchinson Island, 35 miles north of West Palm Beach. Frances struck in almost the same spot.Once inland, Jeanne’s 400-mile diameter system trudged across the state, passing northeast of Tampa. It then headed toward the Panhandle, which was still recovering from Ivan.Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, de scribed the similar paths of Jeanne and Frances as perhaps unprecedented.The toll from the latest storm extended as far north as Daytona Beach, where the famous beach was ravaged by erosion, and south to Miami, where one person was electrocuted after touching a downed power line.Two people died when the sport utility vehicle they were driving plunged into a lake beside the Sawgrass Expressway south of Boca Raton. In Clay County southwest of Jacksonville, a 15-year-old boy died after being pinned by a falling tree yesterday.In Brevard County, a man was found dead in a ditch in Palm Bay in what police called an apparent drowning. In nearby Micco, a 60-year-old man was found dead after a hurricane party at a home. He was found lying in water after the house had flooded; police said the death may be alcohol-related or the man may have drowned.Jeanne’s predecessors killed at least 70 people in Florida and caused billions of dollars in damage.

No. 4 and Counting: Jeanne Wreaks Havoc Across Storm-Torn Florida

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