Florida braces for 4th storm of season

About 2 million people were urged to evacuate.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Hurricane Jeanne got stronger, bigger and faster as it battered the Bahamas and bore down on Florida on Saturday, sending huge waves crashing onto beaches and forcing thousands into shelters just weeks after Frances ravaged this area.
About 2 million people, from near the state's southern tip to the Georgia border, were urged to evacuate as Jeanne strengthened to 115 mph from 105 mph earlier in the day. It was expected to come ashore late Saturday or early today somewhere on the state's central Atlantic coast and take a last-minute turn to the north that could devastate east and central Florida.
"Yesterday I was hoping we wouldn't lose power again," said Lynn Tarrington of Lake Worth, who was leaving her home near the water early Saturday. "Now I'm hoping I have a house left when I come back."
Even before landfall, sheets of rain were falling in central coast communities. Palm trees were bent halfway to the ground. The streets were deserted, and sections of coastal highways were flooded.
Waves of 24 feet were reported ahead of Jeanne and were moving toward the coast, where 6-foot storm surges were expected. Powerful swells knocked pieces of mobile homes out to sea on the central coast.
As it made its way toward Florida, Jeanne tore across the Bahamas, leaving some neighborhoods submerged under 5 feet of water. No deaths or serious injuries were reported there, but the storm was earlier blamed for more than 1,500 deaths in floods in Haiti.
Fourth hurricane
The Category 3 storm's outer bands started lashing Florida on Saturday morning with steadily increasing rain and wind.
It will be the state's fourth hurricane of the season -- an ordeal no state has had to face since Texas in 1886.
Jeanne was expected to hit near where Hurricane Frances came ashore three weeks ago, leaving behind piles of debris that officials feared would turn into deadly, home-destroying missiles in Jeanne's wind.
"I really can't believe it's happening all over again -- and right in the same place," said Charity Brown, who moved to West Palm Beach from Chicago three months ago with her children, ages 5 and 3. They hid in a closet as Frances tore the roof off their apartment. That hole is now covered by a tarp, so the family took shelter Saturday at an elementary school that was filling with evacuees.
"I'm going to get out of [Florida]. It's scary. It's crazy."
Jeanne follows Charley, which struck Aug. 13 and devastated southwest Florida; Frances, which struck Labor Day weekend; and Ivan, which blasted the western panhandle when it made landfall in nearby Alabama on Sept. 16. The storms caused billions of dollars in combined damage and killed at least 70 people in Florida alone.
Storm-weary state
Gov. Jeb Bush warned Floridians not to let storm fatigue get the best of them, "even though we're weary and even though this is a painful process."
"They must treat this hurricane as if it's the only hurricane they've ever been through," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "This has the potential to cause loss of life."
Officials ran out of time to remove piles of debris left over from Frances -- some taller than adults -- that still sit in neighborhoods. Some people took to burning the downed trees, housing material and other debris that could become airborne, banging into homes and endangering anyone who ventures outside.
At a mobile home park on the Intracoastal Waterway, George MacArthur's home was one of the few that remained intact amid mounds of twisted metal, smashed furniture, broken tiles and garbage bins filled with trash. He feared his home was about to be smashed by all the debris Jeanne flings about.
"All the ones in the front got it last time. Now it's my turn," MacArthur said.
Power outages
The storm will make the already formidable job of keeping the lights on in Florida even more difficult -- especially if Jeanne follows in Frances' path, giving its wind piles of ammunition to topple power lines.
Electric company officials feared Hurricane Jeanne could leave millions of customers without power, some for three weeks or more; about 130,000 customers already were without power Saturday evening.
Florida Power and Light, the state's largest power company, had recruited 2,500 workers from around the country to help with the impending restoration effort, and was trying to recruit more, company president Armando Olivera said.
Gas stations and businesses were boarded up and deserted Saturday, and law enforcement took to the radio airwaves, saying that anyone who was outside their homes after the 6 p.m. curfew would end up in jail.
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