| They're not too fond of Virginia lately, either... |
Hurricane Frances brushed past several Caribbean islands on its way toward Florida, as Tropical Storm Gaston moved out to sea after killing three people and leaving a trail of damage in Virginia and South Carolina. Frances was 175 miles (285 kilometers) east-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico as of 11 a.m. local time, moving west at 15 mph (24 kph), according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. The storm is expected to pass north of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico today, over the Bahamas on Thursday and then make landfall near Jacksonville, Florida, at about 8 a.m. Saturday. The storm, the fourth hurricane of the 2004 season, is a Category 4 hurricane with 135 mph winds and higher gusts, capable of blowing down trees, shrubs and signs and destroying mobile homes, and may get stronger in the next 24 hours.
``There's a lot of uncertainty associated with these forecasts,'' hurricane specialists Richard Pasch said in a telephone interview. ``Really, it's just a waiting game right now. Right now nobody's off the hook from southern Florida to the Carolinas.'' Some forecast models have Frances moving further west and closer to the U.S. coast, while others show the storm turning east away from Florida, hurricane specialist Lixion Avila said. As much as 3 inches of rain is expected, and ``large and dangerous waves'' are possible, he said. Hurricane Charley, the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. since Andrew in 1992, struck Florida's west coast earlier this month, killing at least 20 people and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power for days. |