Storm Claimed 2 Lives In Bahamas
STUART, Fla. -- Tropical Storm Frances is blamed for at least four deaths in Florida, including two people who were killed in central Palm Beach County Saturday when their roof caved in during the hurricane.
Another man was killed when his car hit a tree near Gainesville. And a woman was killed when a tree fell on her mobile home in Alachua County.
There were two earlier deaths in the Bahamas, where thousands were forced from their homes.
Frances, now a tropical storm, continues its trek across the peninsula after smashing ashore as a hurricane along a wide stretch of Florida's East Coast. The bad news is it will stay over the state until late Saturday or early Sunday.
A hurricane warning has been expanded to cover the Gulf Coast to Destin in the Panhandle. At 11 p.m. Sunday, the core of the storm was 25 miles north-northwest of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph.
By Derek Simmonsen staff writer
September 10, 2004
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Two people have died in the aftermath of Hurricane Frances, though their deaths have not been linked directly to the storm.
The body of a man was found floating in the Indian River Lagoon, near the Fort Pierce Utilities Sewage Plant, about 7 p.m. Tuesday, according to a Fort Pierce police report. A U.S. Coast Guard boat recovered the body and brought the man to the station on Hutchinson Island.
The victim was identified as Eric Wilson, 72, of Fort Pierce, the report states. An autopsy will be performed and the cause of death remains under investigation.
A second death was reported in the county, and it also has not been linked to the hurricane. A middle-aged man fell from a roof on Monarch Lane in Fort Pierce about 3 p.m. Tuesday. He was taken in critical condition to a local hospital and later died, said Capt. Nate Spera, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokesman.
It was the only rescue call firefighters responded to this week that ended in a fatality, Spera said.
The man was helping a neighbor clear limbs when he apparently had a seizure and fell from the roof, according to neighbor Susan Schoof.
1.5 Million Still Without Power; Citrus Industry Concerned
President Geroge W. Bush returned to storm-battered Florida on Wednesday for the third time in three and a half weeks.
This time his visit's purpose is to survey damage from Hurricane Frances and assure residents that billions more dollars in federal aid is coming.
Bush signed a bill Wednesday morning allocating $2 billion in emergency money to deliver disaster relief to areas reeling from two hurricanes. An aide says he plans to ask for still more money soon.
Bush landed in West Palm Beach. He flew by helicopter to Port St. Lucie. From the air, he saw many homes with roofs covered by blue tarps and windows boarded up in anticipation of yet another hurricane, Ivan, which could hit Florida later this week.
Bush handed out a few bags of ice and cases of water while briefly chatting with people driving up to a distribution center in Fort Pierce.
From Port St. Lucie, Bush goes to Miami to visit the National Hurricane Center.
cont....Power Problems
There are still nearly 1.5 million customers without electric power in the wake of Hurricane Frances.
But the state also says two-thirds of those who lost power because of the storm have had it restored. The most serious problems remain in areas that took the full impact of the hurricane, such as St. Lucie County.
The state says there are still 750,000 hard-wire telephone customers without service. But an average of 90 percent of wireless customers in the affected areas have their service working again.
All the service plazas on the Florida Turnpike are open again except for the one at Pompano. It's currently without food and gasoline because of a power outage.
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