Hurricane hits Bahamas, threatens Florida coast

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 28, 1999 by DEBY NASH

The Associated Press

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Hurricane Dennis buffeted fragile Bahamian islands with gusty winds Friday and kicked up high surf hundreds of miles away off North Carolina's Outer Banks. Forecasters warned it could strike the east coast of Florida as soon as today.

The governor of North Carolina put state troopers on alert, and National Guard troops prepared for storm duty in South Carolina as a hurricane watch was posted for Florida's eastern coast.

Gale-force winds whipped around Harbour Island in the Bahamas, and waves from a choppy Atlantic crashed over roadways on the island of Eleuthera, residents said. Locals and tourists alike huddled behind boarded-up windows, said Sharon Rolle, owner of the Coral Sands Hotel.

Winds from the storm's weaker side bent trees and tossed around outdoor furniture in the northwest Bahamas, but the hurricane's powerful 80-mph winds threatened to strike the Abaco islands directly Friday night, said meteorologist Todd Kimberlain of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"That portion of the northern Bahamas is going to be under the gun," he said.

Friday night, Dennis was 20 miles east of Great Abaco, a sliver of an island no more than 10 miles at its widest, and 315 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral in Florida.

On its current track, moving west-northwest at nearly 7 mph, it is projected to sidle along the Florida coast by today and then head further north, near the Carolinas, within three days, Kimberlain said.

Dennis was projected, however, to turn north sometime later today, taking it farther from the U.S. coast, he added.

People began preparing for the storm from the Bahamas to the Carolinas, banging wood over windows, battening down roofs and stocking up on supplies.

In South Carolina, Gov. Jim Hodges ordered 1,000 National Guard troops and 500 state troopers to prepare for duty, but no decision was made yet on any possible coastal evacuation.

In North Carolina, emergency planners urged 150,000 coastal residents to get ready for the storm. State troopers and emergency- management personnel were placed on alert.

Dennis was expected to strengthen during the next 24 hours, bringing up to 10 inches of rain and tides up to 8 feet above normal. That would threaten fragile coral reefs and trees on islands such as Eleuthera, which already suffered widespread damage from Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

In the Abacos -- a 130-mile chain of sparsely populated islands that were settled by loyalists from New York in 1783 -- winds bent small trees to the ground early Friday.

"It's picking up already," said Club Soleil Resort owner Rudy Malone, on Great Abaco island. "We've got squalls going by, and winds are about 25 mph to 40 mph. We're expected to get the brunt of it."

All the tourists at his hotel had flown out Thursday, but others might be stranded since the closing of the island's airport Friday morning.

Malone said he saw a group of American tourists among shoppers stocking up on supplies Friday. "Some people think it's exciting, but that's probably because they've never been through (a hurricane)," he said.

Hurricane center director Jerry Jarrell said Dennis still "could become a major hurricane, a borderline Category 3, assuming landfall in South Carolina." Category 3 hurricanes have winds of 111 mph to 130 mph.

Kimberlain said the "saving grace" was Dennis was projected to approach Florida with an unusually weak western side, which Jarrell projected might carry winds of 96 mph to 110 mph.

Still, "We're not letting anyone off the hook anywhere along the coast," Kimberlain said.

In Florida, the approaching storm prompted many surfers to skip school and work to catch unseasonably good waves.

"We have the surfers that are here from all over Florida -- Tampa, Fort Lauderdale," said Bill Kokotis, owner of the beachside Blueberry Muffin restaurant in Indialantic, 50 miles southeast of Orlando. "The hurricane passing by out there creates a nice surf, and they're all loving it."

The hurricane watch stretched along 200 miles of Florida's east coast, from Sebastian Inlet north to Fernandina Beach, and was accompanied by a riptide warning.

At Marineland of Florida, 30 miles north of Daytona Beach, employees prepared to protect the park's 19 dolphins, two sea lions, three penguins, and hundreds of tropical fish and sea turtles from the storm.

"Our staff will make sure there's no debris that could go into the tanks," said general manager David Internoscia.

But Lily, 44, and Nellie, 46, were unfazed by all the commotion.