1st named storm of season nears Florida

<p>Windows were boarded up and the streets on this island in the Gulf of Mexico were desolate as the first tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season started moving over Florida on Tuesday. Forecasters said Alberto now had fewer chances of strengthening into a hurricane before landfall.</p><p>More than 20,000 people along Florida's Gulf Coast were ordered to evacuate, but officials worried some residents in low-lying areas prone to flooding still would not take the storm seriously. Some areas on the gulf could get hit by storm surge of 7 feet to 9 feet.</p><p>"A lot of people aren't going to leave," said Jackie Gorman, Cedar Key's community development director. "We're hoping this is going to be a small one, but who knows."</p><p>At 5 a.m. EDT, Alberto was centered about 65 miles west of Cedar Key, and was moving northeast at about 9 mph toward an expected landfall around midday near where the Florida peninsula juts out into the gulf, the National Hurricane Center said. Its top sustained winds were at 65 mph; the minimum for a hurricane is 74 mph.</p><p>A large chunk of the storm was already over Florida and its outer rain bands stretched into southeastern Georgia.</p><p>The top wind gust hit 60 mph early Tuesday in Tampa, and about 4 to 6 inches of much-needed rain had fallen in areas that had been dry, said Charles Paxton, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Ruskin. There were reports of limited power outages, minor damage and fallen trees in the Tampa Bay area.</p><p>Forecasters said Monday that Alberto could become a hurricane, although their ability to predict a storm's strength is limited. On Tuesday, they said the storm's chances of growing were "evaporating," because dry air was being sucked into its center. Storms need abundant supplies of warm, moist air to fuel their growth.</p><p>"There are no signs that Alberto is strengthening right now, so that's good news," said James Franklin, a senior hurricane specialist.</p><p>A hurricane warning was still posted for the Gulf Coast and a tropical storm warning was extended from Flagler Beach, Fla., northward to South Santee River, S.C. Gov. Jeb Bush signed a declaration of emergency allowing him to call up the National Guard and put laws against price gouging in place.</p><p>"We don't want to overdo it. It's not a Katrina or a Wilma, but storm surge and flooding could still cause loss of life," said Max Mayfield, the hurricane center's director.</p><p>The tropical depression that produced Alberto formed Saturday, nine days after the June 1 start of the hurricane season. The storm's winds accelerated with startling speed Monday from 50 mph to 70 mph in just three hours.</p><p>Evacuation orders were posted for people in mobile homes or low-lying areas in at least five coastal counties stretching more than 100 miles. Those ordered evacuated included about 21,000 residents of Citrus, Levy and Taylor counties.</p><p>Forecasters said it could bring 4 to 10 inches of rain to central Florida and southeastern Georgia. Rain started falling Monday and at least two tornadoes had formed, though there were no reports of any injuries or damage.</p><p>In Florida, homeowners gassed up their vehicles and stocked up on chain saws, plywood and other emergency supplies. Workers at a marina in St. Petersburg said they planned to work through the night securing more than 600 boats.</p><p>"This is a little earlier than I expected," said marina manager Walter Miller. "But we've had a bad couple of years, so it's not entirely unexpected."</p><p>Alberto also prevented the crew of space shuttle Discovery from flying Monday to the Kennedy Space Center from Houston for several days of dress rehearsals for their expected launch in July.</p><p>Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ramped up its emergency operations center Monday for the kind of disaster relief effort that won it praise for responding faster than the government last year after Hurricane Katrina.</p><p>Scientists say the 2006 season could produce as many as 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes. Last year's hurricane season was the most destructive on record and the busiest in 154 years of storm tracking, with a record 28 named storms and a record 15 hurricanes.</p><p>If Alberto makes landfall as a hurricane, it would be the earliest in 40 years to hit the United States, according to the National Hurricane Center. The earliest on record is Hurricane Alma, which in 1966 hit the Florida Panhandle on June 9 _ the ninth day of the hurricane season.</p><p>___</p><p>Associated Press Writers Phil Davis in Tampa, Fla., Michelle Spitzer in Miami, Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdeedc)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/6/122384