KEY WEST, Fla. – Two years since a hurricane last lashed at Florida, many residents took a wait-and-see attitude yesterday as a strengthening Tropical Storm Fay swept across the Florida Keys and bore down on the Gulf Coast.
While tourists caught the last flight out of town and headed out of the storm's path, residents in the carefree Florida Keys put up hurricane shutters and checked their generators, but didn't do much more.
“We're not worried about it. We've seen this movie before,” said Willie Dykes, 58, who lives on a sailboat in Key West and was buying food, water and whiskey.
By early evening, locals and some tourists returned to the streets of Key West after the worst of the storm system passed the lower Keys, leaving the islands drenched but largely unscathed.
The sixth named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season was expected to be at or near hurricane strength before curling up the state's western coast and hitting Florida's mainland sometime today.
“There are bad storms and there are nice ones, and this is a nice one,” said Becky Weldon, 43, a guesthouse manager in Key West. “It cleans out all the trees, it gives people a little work to do, and it gets the tourists out of here for a few days.”
Officials were worried that complacency could cost lives, repeatedly urging people across the state to take Fay seriously. The message got through to tourists – Monroe County Mayor Mario Di Gennaro estimated that 25,000 left the Keys. Some residents have taken steps since the busy 2004-05 storm years, when eight hurricanes hammered Florida, such as buying generators and strengthening homes, but not everyone is as prepared.
“This is not the type of storm that's going to rip off a lot of roofs or cause the type of damage we normally see in a large hurricane,” said Craig Fugate, the state's emergency management chief.
However, Fugate said, “I've seen as many people die when I have a blob-shaped, asymmetrical storm that they dismiss as not being very dangerous.”
The state took every step to make sure that it was prepared. National Guard troops were at the ready and more were waiting in reserve, and 20 truckloads of tarps, 200 truckloads of water and 52 truckloads of food were ready to be distributed.
Since 2006, Florida has taken several steps to make sure that its residents are ready. More than 400,000 houses were inspected under a program that provides grants to people to strengthen their houses. Florida law now requires some 970 gas stations along hurricane evacuation routes statewide to have backup generators so they can keep pumping gas if the power goes out. Many utilities have installed stronger power poles.
A hurricane warning was in effect along southwestern Florida from Flamingo to just south of the Tampa Bay area. A tropical storm warning was in effect in the east from Flagler Beach southward and in the Keys.
As it moved through the Caribbean, Fay was blamed for at least 14 deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, including two babies who were found in a river after a bus crash.
Cuban authorities had evacuated nearly 10,000 residents in five provinces, closed ports and suspended carnival celebrations in Cienfuegos. There were no reports of major damage or flooding, and most evacuees headed home yesterday.
