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Jeanne tears path across Florida

Hurricane Jeanne tore a fresh path of destruction and despair as it continued its march up storm-ravaged Florida, where the fourth major hurricane in six weeks shut down much of the state and prompted recovery plans on a scale never before seen in the nation.

At least six people died in the storm, which plowed across Florida's midsection in a virtual rerun for many residents still trying to regroup from hurricanes that have crisscrossed the southeast since last month.

Rocketing debris scattered in earlier storms, Jeanne came ashore around midnight Saturday with 193kph winds, striking its first blow in the same area hit three weeks ago by Hurricane Frances. It was expected to weaken into a tropical depression later yesterday while moving east of the Panhandle, where 70,000 homes and businesses remained without power because of Hurricane Ivan less than two weeks ago.

"Adversity makes us strong. This dynamic state will return," Governor Jeb Bush said at the Indian River County emergency operations center Sunday, where nearly all of the county was without power and residents were told to boil tap water before drinking it to avoid contaminants.

Jeanne ripped off roofs, left stop lights dangling precariously, destroyed a deserted community center in Jensen Beach and flooded some bridges from the mainland to barrier islands straddling the Atlantic coast. More than 2.5 million homes and businesses were without power.

Florida was the first state to withstand a four-hurricane pounding in one season since Texas in 1886 -- a milestone that came with two months remaining in the hurricane season.

"We fix it and nature destroys it and we fix it again," said Rockledge bar owner Franco Zavaroni, who opened his tavern to seven friends who spread mattresses on the floor among the pool tables to ride out the storm.

Rain sprayed sideways when Jeanne's eye struck land. As it dragged across northern Florida early yesterday, it had weakened to a tropical storm with sustained wind near 88kph.

At 2am Monday, the center of the storm was about 80km south of Valdosta, Georgia. It was moving erratically, but was expected to start heading north over the next day.

Charley was a faster storm when it hammered Florida's southwest coast Aug. 13; Frances blanketed much of the peninsula after striking the state's Atlantic coast Sept. 5; and Ivan blasted the western Panhandle when it made landfall Sept. 16. The three storms caused billions of dollars in damage and killed at least 73 people in Florida alone.

Jeanne was a Category III hurricane when it made landfall at Hutchinson Island, 56km north of West Palm Beach -- almost the same spot that Frances struck.

Once inland, the 643km wide storm stretched across the state, passing northeast of Tampa and moving east of the Panhandle. Officials at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the similar paths of Jeanne and Frances were possibly unprecedented.

Near Clearwater, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer was lowered from a helicopter onto The Rogue, a 31-foot fishing vessel whose two-person crew had radioed a mayday after failing to reach port.

"No one was on board. The life raft was on board. We don't know where the guys are," said Petty Officer Robert Suddarth, a Coast Guard spokesman in St. Petersburg.
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