FLORIDA Millions evacuate ahead of Frances

Thursday's evacuation order is the largest in state history.
MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) -- Fleeing what could be the most powerful storm to strike today in more than a decade, residents and tourists jammed highways and shelters today as Hurricane Frances churned toward the Atlantic Coast, where the state's second pummeling in three weeks could begin as soon as Saturday.
About 2.5 million residents were ordered Thursday to head for safety -- the largest evacuation in state history. Harried residents rushed to fortify their homes with plywood and storm shutters and waited in line, sometimes impatiently, for water, canned food and gas.
"I'm petrified," said Deena Dacey, who fled her Rockledge home near Cape Canaveral for a hotel room near Tampa's Busch Gardens on the other, leeward side of the state. "If we can get settled, we might be OK, but I doubt it."
Frances weakened today into a strong Category 3 storm packing 120 mph winds and the potential to push ashore waves up to 14 feet high, and was expected to begin affecting the state by tonight. Its top sustained winds were down from about 145 mph on Thursday, but forecasters said it could be fluctuation typical with large storms.
Location
At 5 a.m., the hurricane was centered 285 miles east-southeast of the lower Florida east coast and was moving west-northwest near 9 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 85 miles from its center.
Frances' landfall would represent the first time since 1950 that two major storms have hit Florida so close together. It comes on the heels of Hurricane Charley, which hit Aug. 13 and inflicted billions of dollars in damage to homes, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands and causing 27 deaths as it crossed from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic.
With its imposing size -- a cloud cover about as big as the state of Texas -- Frances had the potential to ravage the state with its slow movement. Forecasters said the slower the storm moves across the ocean, the longer its winds and rain could linger, increasing the possibility of serious damage.
"The good news is for the procrastinators out there, that buys you a little more time, so take advantage of it," said Jaime Rhome, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
But, he warned, a slow moving storm like this could bring 10 to 20 inches of rain.
Hurricane warning
The hurricane warning covered most of the state's eastern coast, from Florida City, near the state's southern tip, to Flagler Beach, north of Daytona Beach. Forecasters could not say with certainty where Frances would come ashore, just that the core would strike late Saturday.
About 14.6 million of Florida's 17 million people live in the areas under hurricane watches and warnings.
"I am a prayerful person and I will pray. I know a lot of other people are praying right now that this storm moves in a different direction," said Gov. Jeb Bush.
Bush estimated 2.5 million residents were under evacuation orders in 15 Florida counties based on the state's projections of people living in evacuated areas. Individual counties reported at least 1.32 million residents ordered evacuated.
The governor asked his brother, President Bush, to declare Florida a federal disaster area and make storm victims eligible for recovery aid. Federal officials promised they had enough people and supplies in the state to handle two disaster-relief operations at once.
Evacuations
Bumper-to-bumper traffic clogged state highways, leaving a stream of lights into the evening. Traffic backed up for miles on sections of Interstate 95, the main north-south highway along the state's east coast, and was heavy along Interstate 4, which connects Daytona Beach, Orlando and Tampa in central Florida.
The storm and the evacuations it forced were spoiling Labor Day trips and disrupting holiday travel across the Southeast.
Airports were packed with people hoping to depart before all flights were grounded. Hotels and motels inland filled up, and gas stations ran dry.