Hurricane Frances crashed ashore at Florida's east coast early Sunday with sustained wind of 170kph and pelting rain, knocking out power to 2 million people and forcing Floridians to endure a frightening night amid roaring gales that shredded roofs and uprooted trees.
The National Hurricane Center said the eye of the hurricane officially made landfall near Sewall's Point, just east of Stuart -- about 65km north of West Palm Beach -- at about 1am.
PHOTO: AP
Transformers popped along streets, sending sparks into darkened skies, as families huddled in shelters, bathrooms and hotel lobbies.
The wind-whipped coastal waters resembled a churning hot tub.
In Melbourne, 105km north of Stuart, the wind and rain looked like a giant fire hose going off at full blast.
"I've never seen anything like this, and no one in my family has," said Darlene Munson, who was riding out the storm with family members at her Melbourne restaurant.
The storm's slow-motion assault -- Frances crawled toward Florida at just 11kph -- came more than a day later than predicted.
The western portion of the hurricane's eye crept over parts of the east-central Florida coast Saturday night, but its strongest winds were expected to begin hitting early yesterday.
"Those folks are getting pounded, and they've got worse to come," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center.
A continued slow west-northwestward motion was expected to move the entire eye of the hurricane inland by sunrise, the weather service said.
Maximum sustained wind was near 170kph with higher gusts.
There was still a chance of some strengthening before the eastern half of the eye moved inland, the weather service said. Hurricane force winds extended up to 137km from the center.
Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electric company, said power outages to its customers affected 2 million people. Nearly all of Vero Beach, 50km north of Stuart, was blackened, the city's utility said.
In Martin County, where Stuart is located, 630 people taking shelter at a school had to move to another shelter when part of the roof blew off, flooding 16 rooms. More than 300 people were able to remain in the school.
Four people were hospitalized in Boynton Beach after breathing carbon monoxide fumes from a generator that was running in a house.
No other injuries were immediately reported.
En route, Frances shattered windows, toppled power lines and flooded neighborhoods in the Bahamas, driving thousands from their homes and leaving at least two dead.
The Freeport airport was partially submerged in water.
For many Floridians, this would be a night to remember.
Mary Beth and Jack Stiglin, evacuees from nearby Hutchinson Island, sat in their hotel room in Fort Pierce, eating ham and cheese wraps by candlelight as the power lines outside their room sparked and died.
"It's a little romantic. I brought the roses from our garden because they would have been blown away anyway," Mary Beth Stiglin said.
Frances' arrival came three weeks after Hurricane Charley killed 27 people and caused billions of dollars in damage in southwestern Florida.
The storm's leading edge pounded the Florida coast early Saturday. Frances was so big that virtually the entire state feared damage from wind and water. Forecasters said the storm would dump 20cm t0 30cm of rain, with up to 50cm in some areas.
In Washington, President George W. Bush declared a major disaster in the counties affected by Frances, meaning residents will be eligible for federal aid.
The largest evacuation in state history, with 2.8 million residents ordered inland, sent 70,000 residents and tourists into shelters. The storm shut down much of Florida, including airports and amusement parks, at the start of the usually busy Labor Day weekend.
Some evacuees, frustrated by Frances' sluggish pace, decided to leave shelters Saturday and return later.
Deborah Nicholas dashed home from a Fort Pierce shelter to take a shower, but stayed only a few minutes when the lights started flickering and trees began popping out of the ground.
She has slept in a deck chair at a high school cafeteria since Wednesday.
"I'm going stir crazy," Nicholas said.
"I'm going to be in a straitjacket by Monday. I don't know how much longer I can take it. Have mercy."
Residents could take comfort that Frances weakened as it lingered off the coast.
Forecasters downgraded it to a Category 2 hurricane as sustained winds weakened from 233 kph earlier.
But the heavy rain forecast still threatened to cause widespread flooding, and the outer bands of the storm packed plenty of punch.
Frances was expected to push across the state as a tropical storm just north of Tampa, weaken to a tropical depression and drench the Panhandle today before moving into Alabama.
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